PIZZA PIZZA

I was so excited to have a “date” night with William.  He has been incredibly busy balancing work and studying for his final and most challenging CPA exam…I do not envy him one bit.  We decided that Saturday would be a relaxed night of using our leftover pizza dough and ingredients, and would curl up on the couch with a movie and our pizza. 

We always (well almost always, unless we are trying to tell the other person the “right” way to do something) have a ton of fun in the kitchen.  William is a grilling champ, and with my baking background, I must say that my dough was one to write home about.  It’s a very basic recipe, but it is all about the addition of herbs, kneading the dough and giving it plenty of time to relax.

Here is the recipe:

·        

•      1TBSP dry active yeast
•          1 ½ c warm water (not too hot!)
•          3 c whole wheat flour
•          1 c AP flour (although, you will probably need to add more until it is the right consistency)
•          2 tsp kosher salt
•          2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
•          1 TBSP dried oregano
•          1 TBSP dried parsley
•          1 TBSP fresh basil, chopped

Here’s how to make it:

·         Whisk together the yeast and water

·         Using a dough hook, add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low. 

·         If needed, add more AP flour.  You want to keep adding in small additions, until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.

·         Mix on high for about 5 minutes, remove dough from mixer, and on a lightly floured surface, continue kneading the dough until it feels very elastic.

·         Place dough in a large bowl that has been lightly oiled.  Lightly oil the top of the dough and place a damp towel over the bowl.

·         Allow dough to rise for approximately 45 minutes.  Punch down and let rise for another 15 minutes.

·         Flatten dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into desired size pieces, depending on how large you want your pizza.  For this recipe, I divided it into 3 pieces, but could easily have divided it into 4, and would have been perfectly happy with that.

·         Roll dough into balls, and let rise for another 30-45 minutes.  Roll dough to about 1/8” thick.  You can also loosely wrap the dough balls in plastic wrap that has been rubbed with a bit of olive oil (so the dough doesn’t stick), and place it in the refrigerator overnight.  That is what I did, and it really helped the flavors of the yeast and herbs come together.  It also gave the dough extra time to relax, so it was easier to roll out.

·         Other variations of this dough would be to use only AP flour.  I don’t recommend using only whole wheat flour, because it makes it a bit more difficult to get the elasticity you need to roll the dough super thin. 

·         If you don’t want to use all the dough, you can still roll it thin, place it between 2 pieces of parchment paper, and fold into ¼’s.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 1 month (any longer than that, and the yeast dies…no good).  If you freeze the dough, take it out of the freezer about 1 ½ hours before you want to grill it.

o   Note: you do not HAVE to grill it.  It is ok to simply bake the pizza, but the grill adds so much flavor and texture, that I HIGHLY recommend it.

For the sauce:

·         1 small yellow onion

·         5 garlic cloves

·         3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

·         1 large can of stewed, peeled roma tomatoes (no salt added)

·         1 large can of tomato puree (no salt added)

·         1 small can of tomato paste (no salt added)

·         2 bay leaves

·         3 TBSP dried oregano

·         2 TBSP dried basil

·         3 TBSP dried parsley

·         2 TBSP crushed red pepper flakes

·         3 TBSP fresh cracked black pepper

·         2 TBSP kosher salt

·         1 tsp cinnamon

·         2 TBSP red wine

·         2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

Dice the onion into ¼” cubes.  Sauté until soft, and add minced garlic.  Add remaining ingredients.  Let simmer for at least 2 hours.  Crush the roma tomatoes as they soften.  Add more herbs, salt, and pepper to taste.  Once simmered, remove from heat, remove bay leaves, and add another ½ c. red wine.

Once the sauce has cooled, puree until smooth.  We have a stick blender, so we just put it right in the pot to puree.  The sauce is best made 2 days ahead of time.  This gives the flavors a lot of time to come together.  This “recipe” is all an approximation, as I never measure when I’m cooking, only when I’m baking (never “eyeball” in baking…it scares me!).  Also, this makes a TON of sauce, so you’ll probably have enough left to freeze for later use.

We made all kinds of pizza.  You can top it with whatever you like.  Here is what we did last night:

We already had the dough rolled out and frozen, so I took it out about an 1 1/2 hours in advance, and we put it on parchment paper.  We flipped that over onto the grill (warning: it's a 2 man job)

He loves his grill.  Look at those grill marks

I just had to pop a little doggy time in there.  Shelby and Jake are slowly, but surely, adjusting to their new house

It works well to have a very large grill spatula to flip the crust

1 did a half-and-half pizza.  1 side was loaded with veggies (asparagus, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, olives, goat cheese, mozzarella).  The other side was kind of Hawaiian (ham, pineapple, sundried tomatoes, olives, goat cheese, and mozzarella.  I took it 1 step further and drizzled just a touch of BBQ sauce). 

This one was William's baby (pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, goat cheese, and mozzarella).  In case you hadn't noticed, we love goat cheese.

Finished product #1

Finished product #2

We enjoyed it with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon...mmm mmm good.

William knows how much I love peanut M&M's.  I took our plates to the kitchen, and came back to this little surprise waiting for me.  We didn't eat all of them, but a few was just the right amount of sweetness to complete our meal.

I hope you enjoy your next date night as much as we enjoyed ours!  Happy pizza making!