Recipe #364: Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

I thought I would try another kind of pizza dough. The whole wheat was amazing and when I did it "blind" on the grill (see directions here) it actually turned out better then the bread dough I had used earlier. It puffed up and then was the perfect crispness when it was done!
I love grilling pizza this way now. I put the dough on the grill. go back in and get the ingredients together, pick some herbs, turn the pizza, add the toppings and wait 5 more minutes! So easy and such fresh delicious pizza!

the whole wheat dough was really delicious and not heavy like I expected it to be! I got the recipe from my favorite book, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day
 It only lasts seven days in the fridge, but you can freeze for longer it in 1/2 lb portions.

You need:
3 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp kosher salt
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
7 cups whole wheat flour

• mix together water, yeast, salt, honey, and olive oil.
• add in flour then mix until evenly moistened.
• cover and let it rise for at least two hours.
• stick in fridge until you are ready to use!

Recipe #356: Alfredo pizza

This was my first try baking dough directly on grill...it was pretty delicious and I will be doing it again to get it right! i followed the directions for how to do it on the grill from the Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day

You need:
dough (I actually used bread dough this time)
white sauce with mozzarella mixed in (found here or use leftovers from this recipe)
shredded chicken
mozzarella

• heat grill on high for about 5 minutes
• clean grates and then oil (we misted it with our olive oil bottle)
• while it it heating up, roll out dough into a thin layer.
• prepare toppings and take outside
• carefully slide crust onto the grill grates and cover. let it grill for about 3-4 minutes or until the bottom is starting to brown (try not to open the cover too early to check)
• turn over
• immediately spread the alfredo sauce on, then top with shredded chicken and cheese
• grill for another 5 minutes, until cheese is melted and before the bottom burns! 

delicious! 

Recipe #337: Personal Deep Dish Pizzas

This was kind of out of my favorite Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day book! With some changes though...

you need:
a baseball sized portion of pizza dough
cheese
pasta sauce
hamburger meat

• divide dough into 4 sections.
• preheat oven to 500
• roll each one out and place in a small, oven safe dish
• add some cheese at the bottom
• top with meat, then sauce.
• sprinkle a little bit more cheese on top.
• turn oven down to 400. 
• bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and it is bubbling up.
• let it sit for a bit to set and then serve!

Recipe #326: Strawberry Pizza!

You need:
baseball sized ball of pizza dough
chocolate chips
whipped cream
strawberries

• preheat oven to about 450 or 500 
• roll out pizza dough
• once the baking stone is heated put pizza dough inside
• about 5 minutes afterwards punch down dough and sprinkle on chocolate chips
• bake until pizza dough is cooked through
• take out and let cool. 
• top with strawberries and whipped cream

Recipe #295: Three Cheese Pizza

You need:
ricotta
mozzarella, shredded
parmesan, shredded
pizza dough
tomato sauce

• preheat oven to 500 and allow stone to heat for 30 minutes
• just before preheat is down, take a orange sized piece of dough
• roll it out and top with sauce
• dollop some ricotta on top and then add other cheeses around.
• bake for 8-10 minutes
• cut in squares for an interesting way to eat your pizza! :)

Recipe #292 and #293: Spinach and Beef pizza on homemade crust

If you have been reading my blog at all you may know of how our bread eating was revolutionized by Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

We have been making that bread all year. 

I haven't eaten store bought bread in ages! :) 

We had been using the bread dough to make pizza, but finally got this book from the library:

 Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day

and...

our lives are changed again! :) This made the best crust ever! And of course, it was SO easy!

This recipe makes 8 pizzas and last for 2 weeks in the fridge. You can also freeze it, but I haven't read all the details on that yet! Isn't that marvelous. This recipe can be used for many other flatbread recipes as well! I can't wait to try some different things!

You need:

3 cups lukewarm water (100 degrees or below)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp yeast

1 Tbsp kosher salt

7 1/2 white flour

• mix water, oil, yeast, and salt using a dough hook on your mixer
• add in flour and mix well
• put into a large container and allow to rise for 2 hours.
• at this point you can either pull some dough out to make a pizza or put in fridge

for pizza:

you need:

orange size ball of dough

pasta sauce

cooked ground beef

 6-7 spinach leaves

mozzarella

• preheat oven as high as it will go (mine was 500) with stone inside
• when oven is almost preheated, take dough out
• shape dough into a small ball
• roll out on a flour covered pizza peel
• over with sauce, beef, spinach, and mozzarella
• slide on to stone and bake for 8-10 minutes!

enjoy! be ready for lots of pizza/flatbread recipes in the next weeks! :)

Did I happen to mention that book found its way into my amazon shopping cart and is now in the mail! :) After looking at all the recipes I knew that there was no way I was going to get my fill in the time I had the book checked out! 

Recipe #253: Roasted Corn and Bacon Pizza

Some good recipes develop as you go and this was one of them! :)

You need:
1 cup corn
8 slices of turkey bacon
paprika
red pepper flakes
1/8 cup cilantro leaves
mozzarella
pizza sauce
pizza dough

• fry bacon and put to the side
• in same fry pan, add corn and mix until it heats up. add paprika and red pepper flakes (sprinkle it in and add more if you like! )
• crumble up bacon and add to corn.
• roll out pizza dough to make a thin layer (it was still not as thin as I wanted, but that is something to keep working on!)
• add sauce, corn/bacon mixture, cilantro leaves and then cheese
• grill on high for about 15 minutes (or bake, which ever is easier for you!) or until done!

we need to get a bigger pizza stone because I always make the crust too big! hence the curled up corners on the right side! :)

Recipe #217: Pizza Ring

You need:

1 tube of crescent ring
ground beef, browned
tomato sauce
cheese
veggies

• unroll crescent rolls, make an overlap them in a circle on a baking sheet
• layer sauce, beef, cheese, and veggies on thick part of ring
• roll up small points and tuck under the ring
• bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until rolls are golden brown

Recipe #216: Messed Up Stromboli! :)

Yeah, everyone makes mistakes! :)
My Stromboli didn't turn out as planned but it still tasted fine!

You need:
1 lb pizza dough
ground beef
tomato sauce
green pepper
tomatoes
cheese

• brown beef
• roll out dough
• top with sauce, hamburger, veggies, and cheese
• roll back up
• place seam side down on the baking sheet
• bake at 450 for about 20 minutes
• hopefully yours will turn out better than mine! :)

Recipe #200: Pita Pizzas!

Sometime, a while ago, my family started to make little personal pizzas on Christmas Eve. I think because it was a busy evening with church and caroling at the train station and then we would head home late to open presents, pizza was a fast but fun meal for my mom to spread out and we would all put on our toppings and she would stick it in the oven.
Once Will and I got married, we have carried on that tradition, as well as opening presents Christmas Eve. My mom usually uses naan bread, but we have used a variety of crusts. this time we used pita bread!

You need:
one pack of pita bread
spaghetti sauce
bacon
shredded mozzarella cheese
any other toppings you want too!

• Spread pita on a cookie sheet. 
• spread on some spaghetti sauce, topping, then cheese
• bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes

We cut Alex's pizza into mini slices! It was really cute. :) 

Recipe #122: Pizza Bread...

Yep, different then a calzone, still need to work how much stuff to put in the bread, the top always opens up when baking, but it was very delicious and a tastier alternative to the original plan of spaghetti!

You need:
a grapefruit size amount of boule dough
ground turkey (or hamburger)
spaghetti sauce
cheddar cheese, shredded
parsley

• take our your dough and allow to rest for about 40 minutes (preheat oven and stone about 20 minutes before baking)
• brown meat, add some basil and oregano
• mix with some spaghetti sauce, but not too much. you don't want to to be really wet
• use some flour and a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thin layer, about 1/2 inch thick
• layer meat and cheese across top of surface (I am wondering if maybe it would help if you did only two thirds of the surface so that the last bit you roll up would not break open...)
• roll the dough up, make sure to turn in sides as you go.
• put bread on the stone in oven.
• bake at 450 for about 30 minutes or until bread is golden brown
• allow to rest a bit before cutting. 

eat with a fork or your fingers! 

(the pasta sauce is best eaten with a fork! Find the recipe here.)

Recipe #112: Apple Pizza

Well, after a wonderful day of apple picking we came home and I made some pizzas for the crew of hungry apple pickers! I decided the final pizza should be an apple dessert pizza! Simple, but very delicious!

You need:
Pizza Dough, I used the light whole wheat dough found here
2 apples, sliced thinly
cinnamon and sugar
caramels, cut up

• Roll out your pizza dough
• Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar all over top of surface
• spread apples evenly around surface. 
• top with a little bit more cinnamon and sugar, and caramel pieces
• I had rolled up the sides over the apples a bit, but had trouble getting it off the pizza peel and on to the stone on the grill, so that didn't work out quite right.
• grill for about 15 minutes

We cut it into long slices...Will had the leftovers for breakfast so it is a very versatile meal! :)

Recipe #110: Grilled White Pizza

Tonight I think I had the best pizza we have ever made! White pizza doesn't use tomato based sauces...and I am totally not a sauce person, so white pizza is perfect for me and with the hint of garlic, it was WONDERFUL! Plus something about white pizza with chicken and garlic just screams fall...I don't know why, but if the weather would like to oblige I would be most grateful!

You need:

Pizza Dough (I used our bread dough)

olive oil

cooked, shredded chicken

mozzarella

2 cloves garlic, crushed

pepper

• heat up grill
• roll out pizza dough
• drizzle some olive oil around the top of the pizza.
• spread the chicken and garlic top
• top with cheese
• add a titch more olive oil and some pepper
• grill for about 15 minutes or until it looks done.
• be prepared for absolute deliciousness!

Recipe #88: Grilled Pizza

Well, I have made pizza before, but it was such a mess in the house, I decided we would tried grilled next. And Grilled Pizza was good. Easy, and fast too!

You need:
grapefruit sized ball of dough
spaghetti sauce
ham, cut up
mozzarella cheese

• Take out dough and let it rest for about 40 minutes
• With ten minutes to go, put pizza stone in grill and heat up
• roll out dough into a thin circle
• top with sauce, ham and cheese
• put on grill for about 15 minutes

A delicious Sunday night dinner!

Recipe #81: Calzones

Sunday night I made a calzone that Will and I split. I was in the mood for pizza and it was perfect! For the crust we used some bread dough that I had made a day or two before. I made a Hawaiian Calzone because that is one of the only pizzas that Will and I both like! :)

You need:
pizza dough (or bread dough)
tomato sauce
mozzarella cheese
bacon
crushed pineapple
(can you tell I never measure anything?! just add to your liking or depending on how much crust you have.)
olive oil, parsley, and parmesan for the top of the crust.

• Take the dough and roll it into a flat circle. I was using my bread dough so let it sit for about 40 minutes first. This dough rolled out so much easier then the dough i used for pizza before!
• on one half of dough, spread some tomato sauce.
• Top with bacon, mozzarella, and pineapple. I kind of mixed those together then with a spoon.
• Fold the empty side on top of the mixture. pinch the ends together. 
• Baste the top of the calzone with some olive oil, parsley and parmesan (or wait towards end to add parmesan)
• put on a heated pizza stone. add 1 cup of boiling water to boil pan.
• Bake for about 25-30 mins at 450 or until top is golden brown.

 just out of the oven!

I was worried about all the stuff that might go wrong with the crust, but it was perfect--not too thin and crunchy on the outside! 

Recipe #73: Pizza bites

So last night I was in a snack kind of mood, but wanted to "snack" on something substantial, so I had a couple of cans of biscuits in the fridge, plus some meat and cheese...pizza bites...for lack of a better term!

you need:
2 cans of biscuits (or make your own biscuits found here)
1/2 lb of hamburger
shredded cheddar cheese
spaghetti sauce
parsley

• Spread out the biscuits on a cookie sheet. 
• on top a small spoonful of spaghetti sauce, hamburger and cheese
• close up around sauce etc.
• top with a little parsley and cheese
• bake at 350 for about 15 min. or until golden brown

heat up some more spaghetti sauce to dip your pizza bites in!

Recipe #31: Pizza!

Well, I took a little break because I was ahead, spending my time reorganizing and cleaning my, only to completely mess it up again in the process of making pizza. Which, after today's experience, I think we will do grilled pizza instead!!
If you have not made the boule bread dough yet, I suggest you try it soon because you can use it for so much. Including pizza dough! So go off and make that recipe first, you can find it here. Remember it makes 4 loaves, or 4 crusts.
That was my first mistake. I think i used way too much dough, making it pretty difficult to manipulate.

Anyways, this is another recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

• Preheat oven to 500 with pizza stone inside. be sure to turn on the exhaust fan!!
• Prepare your ingredients so that as soon as the dough is ready you can put them on and get it in the oven
• Take a pound of dough (about the size of a grapefruit) using some flour to keep it from sticking, roll it out with a rolling pin or form it into a circle with your hands. (this is where it would have been great to have my brother-in-law Eric next door because he used to work at a pizza place! :) )
• Transfer dough to a pizza peel that is covered with corn meal (a lot of corn meal, or it won't slide off easily).
• Add the tomato sauce, and other toppings of your choice. On one we used basil, tomatoes, and mozzarella, the other was half ham and pineapple, the other half salami! but we did one pizza at a time of course, there is only one stone...
• once oven is preheated, transfer from pizza peel to the stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes

Because the oven is so hot, the corn meal burns pretty quickly and makes everything pretty smokey! our smoke alarm went off twice, even with the exhaust fan on! Also, did you know that the exhaust fan helps drown out the sound of a screaming child! Alex is not a cooperative sleeper right now, but he didn't sound quite as loud tonight thanks to that fan!

Hawaiian!

Like i said, I think i used too much dough so it was pretty much a huge crust, but still delicious because I love crust anyways! :)

Recipe #14: Mini Pizzas

The other day I had only a couple minutes for lunch. I could have made a sandwich but instead used some leftovers to make mini pizzas! Super easy, fast and filling!

You need:
english muffins or mini bagels
cheese
tomato sauce (i actually used the left over spaghetti sauce from the other night!)

Toast the english muffins or bagels so they are slightly toasted. (so they won't taste soggy at the end)
Put the sauce and cheese on top. add any other little pieces of meat or veggies you would like.
Put in the toaster oven (or oven depending on how many you are making) until cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.

They are great by themselves or can be a side for soup or salad!