Pizza Time!

We love pizza at out house. Charlie and Sam love helping make the dough. The real fun comes when it's time to make the pizzas!

(Christmas Cutter pizza dough made this Spring....we are always in the mood for Christmas around here.)

RECIPE: Adapted from Joy of Cooking...enough for 4 pizzas.

1 1/3 cup of hot water (I always warm it up on the stove not tap water.)

1 1/3 cup of cold tap water.

Feel water, if it's slightly warm to the touch it's probably 105 and perfect for yeast.

Add 4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast. Let sit for about 10 minutes.

After yeast is ready Add (none of this is exact...usually they are overflowing)

Swirl of olive oil (2+ T)

1 T salt

1 T sugar

4 overflowing C of white flour

2 overflowing C of wheat flour

Mix everything until sticky. Flour hands and form ball. Add a little flour if still too sticky. When ball is formed, knead for a few minutes. Cover for an hour.

Toppings:

**Secret Ingredient: Minced garlic cooked quickly in 4/5 T olive oil. I use this to brush onto the crust. It makes the crust crisp and tasty!

Warm Pizza stone if you have one....it makes for a much crisper crust.

Sprinkle stone lightly with flour. Take 1/4 of pizza dough and spread onto stone with hands. Then, use roller to roll out and make very thin. Fold up edges if needed. Brush with garlic olive oil and spread chunks of the cooked garlic onto crust.

Cover with Sauce- I usually use Muir Glen

Our Favorite Toppings:

Fresh Cherry Tomato

Red and Green Pepper

Spinach (Frozen loose leaf or fresh)

Artichoke Hearts

Onion (cooked in garlic olive oil pan)

Fresh Basil

Sprinkle of hot pepper flakes

Then cover with Mozzarella and hard cheese of choice

Cook at 450 until top is bubbly and brown.

For the boys we do sauce, basil, and soy cheese. We love Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet cheese alternative.

Extra dough can be placed in floured zip loc bag and froze in disc shapes or stored in fridge for a couple of days.

Set out for an hour on day you plan to use if in fridge or defrost in warm water for a couple of hours if frozen.


We also use the dough to make calzones as well. The calzones are great for camping. I par-cook then place in foil and freeze. Then finish cooking them on the fire when camping! Super tasty treat after a day of hikes, but most importantly no cooking and easy clean up!

Hope you enjoy!