pizza day

 It’s an oppressive dreary day outside and perfect for turning on the oven and filling the house with good smells.  Now that I’m baking again, I wanted to try making pizza dough.   I have a recipe I’ve made before and remember it as being very good, so I threw together the dough and set it aside to rise.

The dough didn’t rise as much as I thought it should have, but none the less, I continued on, splitting it in half to make two pizzas.  At this point, you cover it with a damp cloth and refrigerate it.  I like that this dough can be made early in the day, and then make up the pizzas later for dinner.

My daughter was visiting and anxious for lunch, so I didn’t leave it in the fridge very long.  While I was waiting for it to return to room temperature, I prepared the toppings I wanted to use so everything would be ready and handy.

I used Ragu pizza sauce, pepperoni, banana peppers, black olives, and onions.  All of that was topped with generous amounts of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.   It was a quick 10-minute bake at 500 F, and this is how it looked when pulled out of the oven.

It was as delicious as it looks.

The recipe said to make 4 small pizzas, but I elected to make 2 larger ones.  My daughter and I shared a yummy lunch, she took some home, and I still have a whole pizza for leftovers.

I’m looking forward to making it again and trying new toppings.

Pizza Dough

1 tsp. salt

1 T. honey

2 T. olive oil

3/4 cup cool water

1 package fresh or dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

3 cups all-purpose flour

In a small bowl, combine salt, honey, olive oil and cool water.  Mix well.  Dissolve yeast in warm water and let stand 10 minutes.  Place 3 cups of flour in food processor.  With machine running, slowly pour salt and honey liquid through feed tube.  Pour in dissolved yeast.  Process until dough forms ball, adding more flour if dough is sticky.  Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.  Place in buttered bowl and allow dough to rest, covered, 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts.  Roll each piece into a smooth, tight ball.  Place on baking sheet, cover with damp towel and refrigerate.  One hour before baking, remove dough from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.  On lightly floured work surface, using fingertips, flatten each ball of dough into circle about 6 inches in diameter, making outer edge thicker than center.  Turn dough over and repeat.  Lift dough from work surface and gently stretch edges, working clockwise to form 7 to 8-inch circle.  Repeat with 3 other pieces.  Place dough circles on baking sheets and add toppings as desired.  Makes enough for 4 small pizza crusts or 2 large.

Topping

Oil crust

1/2 bottle of Ragu National Pizza Sauce

Sprinkle a little cheese around, and cover with favorite toppings.  Top with 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, followed by 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.  Sprinkle Italian spices on top.  Bake at 500 F for 10 minutes.