I had a very busy cooking weekend - puff pancakes on Saturday morning, roasted chicken and potatoes Saturday dinner. Then I used the leftover chicken bones to make chicken broth in the slow-cooker overnight. Sunday morning I was in the process of making banana pancakes when I realized that I no longer had any eggs so I had to do some substitutions, and made a pretty good vegan pancake instead. And for dinner tonight I was making the pizza dough when I realized that I didn't have any pizza sauce - so another substitution was made. Overall, it still turned out to be a great weekend with great food!
Pizza Dough & Pizza Recipe
This dough comes together really quickly - great for those nights when you don't know what to make for dinner!
Dough Ingredients:
2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one package)
1 tsp white sugar
1 cup warm water
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp oregano **the next three seasonings are totally optional; they just add flavour to the dough**
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1tsp salt
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Mix oregano, basil and garlic powder with olive oil in a small bowl. Stir flour, salt and oil mixture into the yeast-water. Use your hands to knead the dough until smooth, about 5-10 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes. (At this point I would start getting your ingredients together for the pizza. If it rests longer than 5 minutes, not a problem - you will just have more dough like I did and have more pizza!)
3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into your pan shape. Typically this would fit a 12" round pizza pan. Because my dough rested for at least 15 minutes, I was able to stretch my dough out to an extra-large rectangular pizza tray. It didn't quite reach both ends, it was maybe shy about 1", but it didn't change anything.
4. To prepare the pan: Butter it generously - this will give you a golden crust. I also lightly dust it with cornmeal as it gives it a nice crunch and texture, and also helps prevent the dough from sticking. (Which won't be a problem if you've buttered the heck out of your pan!) Stretch out your dough to the shape of your pan. Preheat your oven to 425F around this point in your cooking.
5. Always pour some olive oil over the dough and spread it around before putting on your toppings. Because this dough has seasoning already in the dough, you don't have to add any to the pizza, but it doesn't hurt it if you do. I would take a smashed clove of garlic and spread it over the dough just before you pour the olive oil and then sprinkle the dough with oregano, basil, etc.
6. Next you add your sauce. If you're out of sauce, take a can of tomato paste, pour in a couple of tbsp of water and a few sprinkles of seasoning (ie: basil, oregano, garlic powder, etc.) and mix it. This will then out the paste and make a quick sauce whenever you need it. Spread the sauce however thick or thin you like it. Then add your toppings. Tonight it was red peppers, thinly sliced onions and thinly sliced garlic. Then add your cheese - as much or as little as you like. I always pour a little bit more olive oil over top and then pop it into your preheated oven.
7. It will take about 20-25 minutes to cook. You'll know it's ready when the crust is golden brown (underneath too!) and it doesn't stick, and the cheese is all melted and delicious. Take it out of the oven, let it cool for about 5 minutes before you cut into it. And there ya have it - a quick and easy, but very yummy pizza dinner!
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| How much was leftover after the three of us got our hands on it. |
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