Pizza Night

I can do pizza. I've played around with different recipes for a few years and I'm pretty pleased with the standard now. Warmer weather is knocking and due to our lack of A/C, the pizza days are coming to an end until the rain returns. I do have plans to experiment in grilling this particular crust, but until then...

Our final farewell to the weekly pizza night.

The dough and sauce yield enough for 3 18" pizzas. Throw on 8 ounces of mozzarella per pie, and a single serving is under 360 calories. You get to eat a fourth of a pizza for that calorie count. Add on toppings to your liking.

My kids gobble up pizza. It's really easy to toss veggies underneath the cheese, and it's a lot harder to pick things out when it's not so obvious on the toddler radar. Even our simplest pizza gets spinach layered in there.

The dough freezes well, just make sure it comes back to room temperature before trying to stretch it out.

The Dough:
1 envelope (or 2-1/4 tsp) instant yeast
4 cups bread flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 cups warm water

Combine all ingredients except water in the bowl of a mixer, fitted with a dough hook. On low, mix ingredients and begin to add water. As dough combines, increase speed to high. Let dough mix until smooth and easily stretched without tearing, about 7 minutes. Add more flour or water as needed. The dough should fully pull away from the bowl and not leave dry crumbs.

Remove dough and form into a ball. Spray mixing bowl with cooking spray and return dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/2 hours.

Punch dough down to release any trapped air, and divide into 3 equal portions - about 11 ounces each. Form each third into a ball and cover with a clean towel to rest for 20 minutes.

Congratulations, you have pizza dough!

The Sauce:
1 tsp olive oil
1 cup onion, small diced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained.
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat sauce pan over medium heat. Add oil and turn to coat. Sauté onion and garlic until softened, but not browned. Add tomato paste and stir constantly until becoming fragrant and slightly rusty in color. Pour in diced tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and blend until smooth, or to desired consistency with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The Classic Cheese;
1/3 of dough recipe
1/3 of sauce recipe
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1 garlic clove, peeled

Position a pizza stone on the bottom rack of oven, and preheat to 500 degrees.*

Using two sheets of tinfoil, create one large square by slightly overlapping in the middle and folding edges over to keep them connected. Coat tinfoil tray with cooking spray.

Roll out dough to form an 8 inch circle and transfer to tinfoil tray. Using your hands, gently push dough into a larger circle until you reach 18 inches. Prick dough all over with a fork and coat with cooking spray. Bake on pizza stone (on tinfoil tray) for 4 minutes, or until bubbles appear and the underside develops light brown spots. Remove the dough, and flip over.

Rub the garlic clove over exposed crust. Spread sauce on pizza and top with cheese. Return to oven, baking on the pizza stone (again, still on tinfoil tray), until cheese is melted and begins to brown.

Remove pizza and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack, without tinfoil tray.

Slice and enjoy.

*I like to let my oven sit at 500 degrees for at least 20 minutes before cooking.

*If you don't have a pizza stone, create a more substantial tinfoil tray (extra layers), and place directly on the bottom rack. While I have not tired this method, it stands to reason that it will work just fine.