Slice and Dice, or just Slice

This week I picked up something from the little girl I watch all week, so the weekend has been pretty miserable, but I managed to scrape together a few easy recipes and definitely satisfied my pizza cravings. For these you can buy the premade dough at the store of course, but making it at home really is pretty simple and easy if you have the time. It's also cheap! One of my favourite things about pizza is how versatile it is, the ones I did here have pretty standard toppings, but there's no limit to what you can put on them. I've heard of pizza with an egg cooked on top of it, mayonnaise drizzled on another, and got a request for a chinese pizza, which I just might have to try to tackle sometime. So, while the recipes I'm sharing are very tasty, mix it up and make it your own :)

Basic Pizza Dough

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar 

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Hand tossing dough is really fun, especially when you start getting fancy with it. I tossed mine up in the air a few times, but be careful, don't want to lose all your work on the floor!



Basic Cheese Pizza

• 1 cup of crushed tomatoes
• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
• 1/2 pound of mozzarella either grated, or if fresh, sliced
• Basic Pizza dough mentioned above

Preheat oven to 500 degrees and place a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven. In a food processor or blender combine tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and blend or process until smooth. Spread sauce evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border along the edge of the dough. Sprinkle basil leaves on top of the sauce and then top with the parmesan. Finally sprinkle with the mozzarella and bake on the pizza stone for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and the edges are golden brown. If you don't have a pizza stone follow the cooking directions outlined in the pizza dough recipe. Enjoy!

Three-Cheese Garden Pizza

• 1 pkg refrigerated pizza crust (or the pizza dough recipe mentioned above)
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
•  1 t italian seasoning
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 2 plum tomatoes, sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced

If you have a mandoline, they're really handy for all of the vegetable slicing and are pretty decently priced, you can get ones that also grate and such too. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Unroll the dough onto a lightly greased stoneware pan, and stretch it to the desired size. Mix the oil with the garlic in a small bowl and brush over the top of the dough. Bake just the crust for 7 minutes, remove from oven and let cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Combine all the cheeses in a large bowl and stir in the italian seasoning. Sprinkle half of the cheese mixture over the crust and then top evenly with all of the vegetables. Bake 15-18 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serves 6, or can be used as a delicious appetizer.

Whats your favorite pizza toppings? Anyone like anything really odd?