Names have been changed to protect the innocent...and my husband...and me...but not the dog. His name is Dexter.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Recipe Swap Wednesday-Pizza!

Pizza.  Oh how I love thee.  Oh how my whole family loves thee.  In my opinion, pizza is one of the best foods in the world.  Therefore it must be made every week.  Usually on Fridays.  And because I mostly just post pictures of food on Instagram, I am driven to post our pizza every Friday night.  I'm a really exciting person to follow.

The pizza recipe I usually use I got from The Hairyshoefairy, but I couldn't find it on her blog so I'll post it here as well.  I thought I had gotten it from her blog, but it must have been a live, in-person recipe exchange.  Not all that common these days, but I do try to have real human interaction occasionally. 

Pizza Dough
1 tbsp. yeast
1 cup warm water
2.5 cups flour
2 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add remaining ingredients and beat vigorously 20 strokes.  Let rest 5 minutes.  Roll out and add toppings.  Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.

This recipe makes enough dough for two thin crust pizzas.  I prefer a thicker crust so I have been using this recipe to make one large pizza and one small dessert pizza. 

Until recently.  Now we are a stuffed crust pizza family.  And I LOVE it!  I use the full dough recipe and tuck the yummy cheesiness into the extra crust.  And for those who prefer pictures, I have some step by step tips to make the best pizza ever.

First, take your mozzarella cheese sticks and cut them in half, length wise.  I usually use just under five cheese sticks.  I end up cutting off about an inch with the size of my pizza stone.
 Next, roll out your dough leaving an edge around the pizza.  Then line the cheese sticks along the outer edge of your pizza dough.  (please excuse the blurriness....I was in a hurry....to eat pizza...)
Then gently tuck the dough around the cheese stick.  Be careful not to put any holes in your dough because the cheese will melt and ooze out of that hole.  And then drip onto the bottom of your oven, where it is still waiting for you to clean more sufficiently.  Or maybe you can just leave it....it will burn off eventually.
When the cheese is all tucked it should look a little something like this.
Then feel free to add whatever toppings you like. 

We have a few personal favorites.  We LOVE pesto pizza.  We use pesto for the sauce (we grow lots of basil in the garden and I freeze pesto to use the rest of the year) (or you could use store bought) (or even make it fresh! whatever works).  We like tomatoes, broccoli and carrots on our pesto pizza, topped with lots of mozzarella. 
We also love the traditional margherita pizza (tomatoes,basil,olive oil, garlic, mozzarella), but prefer it in the summer when the tomatoes and basil are fresh out of the garden.

Our recent favorite has been to use Alfredo for our pizza sauce.  We put sausage, olives, peppers, tomatoes and fresh basil on it.  SO good.  I use this Alfredo recipe from the lovely Jessica of Butter With A Side of Bread. 
And of course, the good old fashioned Hawaiian Pizza.
You can even make it into fun shapes.  This heart pizza was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. 
And as we all know, if I can do it, pretty much anyone can do it. 

So!  Here is where the recipe swap part comes in to play.  Since we're a pizza every week family, I'm always looking for fun new toppings to try.  And it's polite to share.  Especially when it comes to sharing yummy pizza toppings.    
  

2 comments:

Emily said...

I love the idea of the stuffed crust pizza!

Messy Musings said...

Love cheesy pizza... and this looks fantabulous!! Here's another recipe you might be interested in... Stuffed Cheesy Garlic Bread
http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/stuffed-cheesy-garlic-bread-2/

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