Homemade Pizza!

I have a feeling the "dumb idea fairies" snook into my house this evening and possessed me to bake up a storm even though it's the middle of July and really hot! Phew... I made pizza and brownies today - so hot in my house at the moment! Anyway, it was worth it - the pizza was really yummy and the brownies look great (haven't tried those yet). Here's the pizza recipe... We'll be having leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I posted this under the vegetarian label since it's really easy to convert it to veggie pizza. I just did mine half non-meat since DH is a total carnivore! There are lots of great vegetables which are wonderful on pizza.

Best thing about this pizza - it was even better the second time around! I heated it up (zapped in the microwave for a couple minutes due to a lack of time!) for lunch today and it tasted just as good if not better than it did last night. Yeay! I am definitely making this one again... shame there's no way to make it fat-free... lol

Crust:
I made the dough for my crust in my bread maker; this is the recipe which came with the machine. The recipe will make one 1.5 pound crust which was a bit much for what we needed. I think next time I'll split it in half... wonder if the dough will freeze?
Ingredients:
**All need to be at room temperature**
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 cup water
2 tbsp. olive oil

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients in the bread pan and insert the pan into the bread machine.

2. Turn on the machine and select the Dough setting.

3. Press Start/Stop. When unit signals and display reads 0:00 unplug unit and remove dough.


4. Pat dough into 12x15-inch jelly roll pan or greased 12-inch round pizza pan.


5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

While oven preheats, prepare the sauce.
Sauce Recipe
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
1 7 1/2-ounce can undrained tomatoes, cut up
1/2 cup chopped onion (I used half red onion and half white onion)
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
couple shakes of crushed red pepper

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until onions are tender.

This sauce, by the way, is amazingly yummy! I was thinking of adding other spices to it, but it really didn't need anything.


Assembling the pizza:
1. Spread sauce over dough and top with shredded mozarella cheese (about 2 cups). Top with other toppings as desired - I covered half of ours with pepperoni and left the other half just cheese. In the future, I'd like to do half veggie with mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, artichokes, etc...

2. Bake the pizza for 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Mine was "deep-dish" style (not on purpose!) so it took considerably longer to cook! Since it's just the two of us, I'll definitely split the dough and only use half of it next time.

There it is! Please excuse the minor "small appliance porn" which got mixed in with the food porn. lol ;)
I think the melty cheese on the rim of the crust looks so appetizing... there's just something about melted cheese!

References:
As mentioned above, the dough/crust recipe came from the little book which accompanied my bread maker. The bread maker I have is an Oster 2-lb. ExpressBake bread maker.

The sauce recipe is from my copy of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. The only change I made was to add a little crushed red pepper.
Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen (1996). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Meredith Publishing Group: Des Moines, IA.

Three-C Pizza (Corn, Chili, Cheddar)

This is entry #1 on the savoury side of the second Platinum Chef Challenge. Ingredients for this round of the challenge were cheese, corn, hot peppers, blueberries, and lemons. Enjoy this vegetarian pizza - excellent as a light lunch or dinner. I served mine with a crispy green salad. I had this for dinner last night since hubby was in class - it was yummy, but I think it was a bit bland. I would mix in some salsa or Tabasco/other hot sauce with the egg mixture to give it a bit more kick.

Enough for 6

Ingredients:
2 jalapeno peppers (use more or less depending on how hot you want it!)
Cooking spray
2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup fat-free milk
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Fresh salsa or some hot sauce to taste (I'd use about 1/2 cup medium salsa for 6 people)
6 whole wheat pita breads
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Method:
1. Slice the peppers and remove the seeds. Place them on a foil-lined baking sheet and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes until they are blackened, turning occasionally. . Let them stand for 10 minutes.

2. Lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees.

3. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add the corn, onions, and garlic. Saute the corn mixture for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir in the milk and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes or until liquid has almost evaporated. Cool slightly.

4. Place the egg whites, egg, salt, and black pepper in a bowl; stir with a whisk. Stir in the jalapenos, corn mixture, salsa or hot sauce, and cheese.

5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the pita breads on the sheet and spread them with the corn mixture. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes or until the topping is set. Sprinkle with cilantro just before serving. Serve with a side of fresh salsa and a green salad.

***I also think these would make a yummy brunch dish - serve them on English muffins instead of the pita bread bases.***

Reference:
I used the Roasted Fresh Corn, Poblano, and Cheddar Pizza from the July 2005 issue of Cooking Light for the inspiration for this recipe. As you can see, I tweaked it quite a bit!