Ideas are like pizza dough, made to be tossed around.
- Anna Quindlen
Ever since reading the Summer 2011 issue of
Cottage Life, I've been wanting to try
Kris's Pizza Dough recipe on page 77. Well, today I did... and the result was fantastic!
I modified the original recipe slightly by incorporating whole wheat flour. Here's my version...
Pizza Dough
4 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra as needed)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup olive oil (plus extra to coat dough and tray)
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and vinegar. Set aside for about 10 minutes, until mixture bubbles. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, sift flour, salt, and sugar.
- Make a well in centre of flour mixture. Stir in dissolved yeast and olive oil. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and slightly tacky, about 6–8 minutes. Add some extra flour (as much as 1 cup if dough is too sticky to work with).
- Roll dough into a ball. Coat with 1 tsp olive oil, place in a bowl, and cover with a clean tea towel. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, around 30–45 minutes.
- Knead dough a few times and divide into 4 portions. Shape each portion into a ball; place on an oiled tray. Cover and let rise again until almost doubled in size, around 30–45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll one portion of dough to desired thickness. Add sauce and toppings (don’t overload). Place on a pizza pan or cookie sheet. Bake on the middle rack of oven for 15–20 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.
- While each pizza is cooking, roll out and top the next one.
Make your own frozen pizzas too...
I decided to cook 2 pizzas and freeze the other 2. Once rolled out and covered in sauce and toppings, I wrapped the pizzas destined for the freezer in a few layers of plastic wrap. I'd wrap in tin foil as well, but our grocerystore was all out! Placing the pizzas on cookie sheets in the freezer keeps them flat until they freeze.
Now, on to the sauces...
For my red pizza sauce, I modified
THIS recipe to our taste and ended up with this...
Red Pizza Sauce
1 can tomato paste
3/4 cup warm water
1 tblsp parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp honey
pinch cayanne pepper
pinch fresh ground pepper
- In a small bowl, combine tomato paste, water, parmesan cheese, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper.
- Let sauce sit for about 30 minutes to blend flavors
- Spread over pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.
I love pizza with a garlic or white sauce. So I revamped
THIS recipe and came up with this...
Garlic Butter Pizza Sauce
2 tblsp butter, melted
2 tblsp olive oil
1 tblsp chopped garlic
1 tblsp parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
- In a small bowl combine butter, olive oil, garlic, basil, oregano and parmesan cheese.
- Let sit for at least 10 minutes and it will start to thicken.
- Spread mixture evenly on pizza dough and prepare pizza as desired.
Topping combinations are endless and homemade pizza night is a great way to use up what is in the fridge. We used various combinations of leftover chicken from
The Ultimate Roast Chicken, sauteed onions, bacon, spinach, and olives.
So good, that only 3 pieces were left...
...The perfect lunch for tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by.
This post is part of my blog series, "31 Days of Words to Live By". For the month of October, I will be sharing my favourite quotes and sayings while incorporating them into daily life and art projects.
Day 26: Homemade Thin Crust Pizza Dough & Sauces
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