13

Apr

Presto Pantry Pizza

I’m not great with dough. It gets gooey and sticky, and I get impatient when yeast is involved. But this dough is too easy and quick.

Matt & I were watching a Travel Network show on The Best Pizza in the USA. Beautiful cheesy pies were luring us in on the screen, and we both had instant cravings for pizza. He had work in 90 minutes and I decided to whip up a pizza. Or try desperately.

Using this yeast-free pizza dough as inspiration, here we go. Oh yeah, and we had very little food in the house that meshed with pizza. No tomatoes, shredded mozzarella, bacon, pepperoni, even bell peppers. Nothing! But we had spinach, fresh garlic, spices and “shakey cheese” (the stuff in the canister, I know, I know). This pizza is for nights when you can’t bear to go to the grocery store…or get greasy delivery. This pizza is for curling up with a blanket, trying not to burn your mouth on the fresh dough that you just made from scratch(!), and for filling up your growling stomach quickly. While this is probably safe to make with 1 cup wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, I have yet to test that theory. So, for now, we’ll indulge with all white flour…

It’s not the prettiest, but it’s completely delicious.

Presto Pantry Pizza
Makes 8-10 filing slices
Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 TB olive oil
1 cup water

Mix: Preheat oven to 400. Mix the dry ingredients together. Then add water and oil and work with your hands until dough is blended.



Knead: Form a ball and knead for a few minutes, dusting with extra flour if needed. Form into a round shape with hands. Dust a baking pan with cornmeal flour and place dough in center of pan. Spread out as thin as you prefer and fold up edges to form a crust.

Season: This is where you can get creative. This is what I added to the entire pizza:

  • Dash of crushed red pepper
  • Generous dashes of garlic powder
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • Generous dashes of Italian seasoning
  • Dash of dried rosemary
  • 1/3 cup parmesan
  • Light drizzle of olive oil, including over the crust
  • 2 cups of fresh spinach, steamed with fresh garlic, sea salt, and black pepper, then drained and “dalloped” all over pizza
  • For my hubby: 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese sprinkled over half of the pizza
If you have anything like these, I would add them:

  • Most any cheese (mozzarella, parmigiano-reggiano, asiago, feta, goat, fontega, jack, provolone, munster, swiss)
  • Can of mushrooms, drained
  • Pineapple
  • Lunchmeat/pepperoni/salami/bacon
  • Olives, banana peppers, pepperoncinis
  • Sauce/sliced tomatoes
  • Hummus
  • Broccoli, asparagus, bell peppers, onions, kale, etc.

And after!
Bake: Bake the pizza for 20–25 minutes at 400. Let cool for a few minutes. Slice and devour, with a glass of orange juice on ice–my favorite pairing with pizza. Yes, I know it’s sorta weird. 🙂
Before…

Happy Friday night eating!
Laurel

~Laurel~

14 years ago Short URL

////

01

Jun

Grilled Pizza

Grilled pizza with Greek shrimp (which’ll come tomorrow)

Neither Matt nor I have ever put pizza on the grill, but we tried it last night. A success!

We found this recipe for a Chicken Margherita Pizza and modified it some. And we used this pizza crust. These definitely aren’t the prettiest pizzas in the world, but they were really tasty!

Here’s the technique:

When allowing the quick dough to rise in a covered bowl, make sure to spray the dough with cooking spray, as well as the bowl. I’d never done that before. Also, when you roll the dough out to form into your pizza shape, spread a little olive oil on the surface that you’re kneading it on. That way, it won’t stick to the grill and become a doughy mess.

Grilled Margherita Pizza
1 batch of easy pizza dough (see below)
1 cup pizza sauce
6 grape/cherry tomatoes
10 thin slices of mozzarella
1/2 cup (or more) chopped basil
2 garlic cloves, minced

In a saucepan, heat pizza sauce, tomatoes, and garlic.
After dough is rolled out into 3 or 4 pizzas, put it directly on the grill for 2 minutes or until dough get bubbly. Then, flip and add ingredients in this order: sauce, basil, cheese. Leave on grill until cheese is melted. Eat!

Easy Pizza Dough (this recipe is in the link above…I followed it very carefully)
1 packet yeast for pizza dough
1 cup warm water (around 100-120 degrees F)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup bread flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

Pour yeast packet and sugar into warm water and stir. Wait 5 minutes.
 In the meantime, mix all other ingredients in a large bowl. Add yeast water and stir until dough forms.
Once dough is forming, knead for 2 minutes on a floured surface. (If dough is too runny, add flour, 2 TB at a time to firm a bit.) Spray a second bowl with cooking spray, as well as spraying the top of the dough. Cover with saran wrap and let rise for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes…(this is a good time to heat up the grill)…transfer dough to a baking sheet or counter with olive oil on the surface and on your hands. Separate into 3 or 4 balls (depending on how large you want your mini pizzas) and form into round crusts (about 8 inches in diameter). See above for rest of pizza recipe.

Happy Wednesday! Relax on this first day of June and bite into this melty, cheesy pizza!

~Laurel~

15 years ago Short URL

////

11

Apr

Pizza and Scones

Tonight involved a couple of fun recipes. Matt & I made a homemade pizza (how have I never made a crust from scratch before?)…the crust wasn’t super pretty, but the pizza was DELICIOUS! I give Matt the credit. We made it up as we went (including the crust), and it turned out well. Who needs a cookbook, anyway? (Haha, I DO!!!! And I inherited the love of cookbooks from my mom and grandmother, so it only comes naturally, right?)

Here are the ingredients:

Mattycake, mattycake, baker’s man…whole wheat crust,

Gigantor pepperoni, shredded mozz/asiago/parm, and Red/Green/Yellow bell peppers…Ole!,

Black olives,

FRESH rosemary,

Some garlic,

A little more mozz,

and BAM! Pizza! (425 in the oven for 15 min.)

If we left off that second layer of cheese, this would’ve been low fat. But with the whole wheat crust (made only with water, yeast, salt and olive oil–no butter), the fresh veggies and herbs, it turned out to be a pretty healthy meal.
(Of course, I forgot to make the salad…maybe tomorrow night.)

NOW ON TO THE SCONES…

I am a self-proclaimed lover of all things baked and sweet. I can’t help it, my sweet tooth has progressed to my head, limbs, and is quickly reaching my pinky toes. I try to contain it, but sometimes the only way to express my love for buttery, sugary confections is to bake it out.

These One-Eyed Blackberry Scones were based on Tyler Florence’s Orange Glazed Blueberry Scones, but I completely changed it up! So, while I give Tyler thanks for the inspiration, I received a grade of an “F” for following his recipe and an “A” for creativity and making my own up. (Ha, well, I tried at least.)

1 1/2 cups of wheat flour
1/2 cup of all-purpose white flour
1/2 t. salt
1 T baking powder
1/3 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 t almond extract
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 c unsalted butter (1 stick, cut with pastry blender)
3/4 cup half and half (or coffee creamer)
1 egg
1 carton blackberries

Combine dry ingredients and extract in bowl, while combining butter and egg in 2nd bowl. Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients, but not overmixing the dough.
Roll the blackberries in additional 2 T of flour; this keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the scone when baking. Roll into 2 T-increments and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.
Enjoy!



~Laurel~

16 years ago Short URL

/////

Proudly powered by WordPress
Theme: Esquire by Matthew Buchanan.