Make your own pizza? gotta try this one!

[bif]

I made one last week that was killer No pizza sauce, but with lots of pesto, Greek olives, mozzarella and provalone, and pine nuts. The pine nuts made the pizza.

[mopinko]

1. we have family pizza days

make up a bunch of dough, sauce, everybody gets to put their own stuff on it. your recipe sounds great, but i can't have nuts. :-(

[bif]

9. Are pine nuts actually nuts?

Just wondering.

[Zookeeper]

13. Yes, I think they are. n/t

[Dookus]

2. me!

it's fun to make pizza. My favorite is a caramelized onion and goat cheeze 'za. Add a little prosciutto and yummmy!

[felonious thunk]

3. I love to make pesto pizzas

I've never tried the pine nuts, but I will next time!

[GOPisEvil]

4. Sometimes...but I will confess to buying a pre-made crust.

:spank:

But I use my own tomato sauce (always less than a commercial pizza) and fresh toppings, including really fresh mozzarella and other cheeses. It really does make a difference.

[Lars39]

5. That sounds good!

I've been making pizzas for just a short while. Still kind of experimenting. Hard to go wrong, unless you forget to put salt in the dough. :)

[Zookeeper]

6. Not me, but..

my spouse is obsessive about his homemade pizza. Special flour, ceramic pizza stone, toppings like carmelized onions. He spends a week or two a year in Italy, so he's fussy about his pizza being "authentic."

Your pizza sounds great. I would probably use those olives to make pasta puttanesca, though. :-)

[mmm]

7. tell us, how do make the crust?

and how long do you bake this pizza?
and at what temperature is this pizza baked?

[bif]

10. Here's my crust recipe

I use about 1 1/3 cups water and proof my yeast in it (with a pinch of sugar). Then I add some salt, (Kosher or sea salt) a handful of cornmeal and a handful of semolina. then I add unbleeached flour (King Arthur four rocks) as needed. The flavor improves if you make you dough in the morning you keep punching it down every couple hours.

[bif]

11. I cook it at 375 for around 40 minutes.

I just eyeball it though. When the cheeze turns a golden brown, I take it out. Then I take it off the pizza pan and put it on a cookie sheet so the bottom doesn't get soggy.

[Lindacooks]

8. That sounds fabulous

and try this one: it's my personal fave.

Mexican Pizza

When I was working at Green Giant in the 1980s, I tasted a pizza recipe similar to this one in their test kitchens. The product never made it to production, but I couldn't get the taste of the recipe out of my mind. So I invented this one. What makes it taste more Mexican that other pizza recipes is the refried beans. They add a richness and satisfying texture to the sauce recipe. I sometimes make a scratch pizza crust, but this version of the pizza recipe using boboli crusts is excellent and much faster.

1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 16-oz. can refried beans
1 18-oz. bottle taco sauce
1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
2 cups soy protein crumbles
2 large boboli pizza crusts OR scratch crust, below
4 cups shredded cojack cheese

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add beans, taco sauce, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, and soy protein crumbles. Stir well, and heat until crumbles are softened.

Spread sauce evenly over both pizza crusts. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted, bubbly, and begins to brown. Serves 10 to 12

For scratch pizza crust:

3 cups flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1-1/3 cups warm water
1/4 cup cornmeal

In large bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour, 1 cup cornmeal, the yeast and salt. Stir in vegetable oil and water and mix well. Add remaining flour and mix until a stiff dough forms. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top, and let rise for 1-1/2 hours, until doubled. Punch down. Divide dough into two balls. Grease two large cookie sheets with vegetable shortening, and dust each with 2 Tbsp. cornmeal. Roll out each ball on each cookie sheet until crust is 1/8" thick. Just cover the sheets, and don't worry about the crust being perfectly rectangle. As Peg Bracken says, "roll 'er out as far as she'll go!". Set aside while preparing sauce. When ready to bake, heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake crusts alone for 10 minutes. Then top and bake as directed above.

[tridim]

12. I guess I'm the only one who cooks pizza at 550 degrees

It's not cheating, and no I'm not lazy. :) If I'm using a stone I always preheat to 550 for about 45 minutes, then turn it down to 475 for about 12 minutes of cooking. I cook Chicago style (cheese on the bottom, sauce on top) at 475 for about 20 minutes. I've worked in a few pizza places and the ovens are always kept very hot. It's the key to a good crust IMO.

Edit: My improv crust recipe.. Measuring cups are for suckers.

For one crust
A small glass of warm tap water, a few tsps of yeast (I buy huge bags of yeast at Costco, it's about 1/100th the price of grocery store yeast and it lasts a year in the fridge) a pinch of sugar. Let proof for 5 minutes. Some flour in bowl (1-1/2 cup or so), pinch or two of salt, a few tbsp olive oil (more for soft crust), pour some of the yeast water in well in flour. Fold flour slowly into well until it comes together. Dump on counter, knead for 5 minutes, place in oiled bowl. Place bowl in oven that is turned on for 45 seconds, then off. Rise 1 hour, punch down, 1 more hour of rising. Done!

[Cary]

14. Chicago Style Pizza

1 package dry yeast
2 tablespoons of honey
1 cup lukewarm water
about 3 cups of flour
3 tablespoons olive oil

Mix yeast and honey in lukewarm water and set aside for about 15 minutes, or until foam forms on top. If no foam, the yeast is dead so you have to start over.

Pour flour into a medium-sized bowl. Mix in yeast mixture and 2 tapblespoons oil. Do not over-knead as this will release the glutins. Add flour or oil to make dough the right consistency--not too firm. Make dough into a ball.

Coat medium-sized bowl with oil, and coat dough ball. Cover with a warm, damp cloth allowing dough to rise. About 30 minutes.

Coat 14 inch pizza pan with olive oil and spread dough. Pinch sides up to make crust. Cover again with a warm, damp cloth and allow dough to rise again--about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake crust until just starting to brown.

Create your own topping. My personal favorite is a barbeque chicken with 3 heads of garlic (that's not a typo). I can't do that one if I'm going to be around other people for the next few days, but it's awesome. Don't have the recipe on me but if anyone is interested, and brave, I'll post it at a later date.