Homemade Pizza Dough

I may have mentioned in the past how spoiled I am when it comes to pizza. Occasionally friends of ours will have us over for homemade pizza. They always make their own crust and then go to town with creative toppings. (I'm pretty sure last time around we had a Big Mac pizza.)

To me, one of the most important parts of a pizza is the crust. Yeah, yeah, I know it's just a vehicle for moving the toppings from the plate to your mouth, but a bad crust can really ruin what would otherwise be an awesome pizza. It has to be well balanced between crispy and chewy (not a huge fan of the crisp-all-the-way-through crust), and flavorful enough that the outer edge of the pizza is good enough to stand on its own -- something you want to eat, not just a handhold for the rest of the slice.

I might be biased, since I automatically go for any slices with the huge crust bubbles, but that just makes the crust all that much more important.

As for this crust, it totally fits the bill on all accounts. Which is exactly why I had to arm wrestle the family recipe away from our friends. Ooor maybe just gave them a quick phone call... but whatever. How I got it is neither here nor there. What matters is that I have it, and I'm sharing it with you. Because I like you. You're special. :) Now go make some pizza.

Homemade Pizza Dough

Adapted from: Corey Broton

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup water (105-115 degrees F)
1 cup white wine (105-115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornmeal

In a large bowl, add the yeast, water, and wine. Let sit for 5-10 minutes or until the top becomes foamy.

Whisk in 2 cups flour, salt, and olive oil until all the lumps are gone and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the cornmeal and 2 more cups of flour. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Add remaining 1/2 cup flour and knead for 10 minutes. Add an additional 1/2 cup flour if dough is too sticky.

Coat another large bowl with cooking spray. Form dough into ball and place in bowl, turning once to coat with spray. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free area (such as an oven) until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and punch down. Let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough into four sections. Each section can be rolled out to a 14-inch pizza or frozen for later use.

When ready to use, roll dough out to between a 1/8-inch and 1/4-inch thickness. Transfer to a pizza pan* coated with cooking spray. Top with any sauce, cheese, and toppings. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 400 and bake for another 10 minutes.

Serves: 32 (8 slices per pizza)

*In my opinion, a pizza stone works much better than a pan to cook the pizza. If you are lucky enough to have one, preheat the stone at 500 degrees F for at least 2 hours prior to baking the pizza. Transfer dough to a pizza peal dusted with cornmeal, top as desired, then transfer prepared pizza to the heated stone inside the oven. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until done.

Warning: Pizza made with this dough can be very addicting. I recommend roughly 1 pizza for two people. No joke. This go around Adam was wanting to replicate a pizza he had at a restaurant just a few days before -- this included regular tomato pizza sauce topped with fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, thinly slice prosciutto, and spinach. Divine. As expected.

Oh, and we totally recommend using fresh mozzarella over the pre-shredded bagged variety. Do a simple taste test between the two and you'll never go back. True story.

Side note: if you don't have white wine, or run out, you can always substitute blush or red wine in its place. You may or may not end up with a purple pizza crust, however, it pretty much still tastes the same.

Nutrition Facts - crust only
Serving Size 35g
Amount per serving
Calories 80	Calories from fat 6
% Daily Value
Total Fat 0.6g	1%
Saturated Fat 0g	0%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 75mg	3%
Total Carbs 15.0g	5%
Fiber 0.6g	2%
Sugars 0.7g
Protein 2.0g
Vitamin A 0%	Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 0%	Iron 5%

Thai Chicken Pizza

I am spoiled when it comes to pizza. Last year, we would regularly trek over to a friend's house for pizza night -- but not just any pizza. Oh no.

Pierogie Pizza. Banana Pepper with Vodka Sauce Pizza. The Reuben Pizza. You get the idea. We aren't talking delivery here.

Needless to say, when I came across this recipe over on How Sweet It Is, I was sold. I love me some Thai food -- as long as it doesn't have coconut in it. Which may or may not be a large percentage of it. But that is neither here nor there.

Where was I?

Oh yes. Talking about how combining some classic Thai flavors on a pizza is a brilliant idea. Because it is. Trust. Perfect for breaking up the inevitable heavy winter food monotony.

Thai Chicken Pizza

Adapted from: How Sweet It Is

1 pound pizza dough
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon corn meal
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sweet Asian chili sauce
1 shallot, thinly sliced
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 ounces shredded cooked chicken
2/3 cup Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Place pizza stone (or large baking sheet, or metal pizza pan) into a cold oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

If using refrigerated dough, let rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes. Lightly flour a work surface. Roll dough out to a rough 1/4-inch thick circle. Sprinkle a pizza peel with cornmeal (this will keep the dough from sticking to the peel). Transfer dough to the peel.

Place 1/2 cup sweet Asian chili sauce onto the dough, spreading evenly across. Top with the mushrooms and shallots. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper and shredded chicken. Add the Mozzarella cheese.

Open the preheat oven and slide the pizza from the peel to the pizza stone. Close the door and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheesy is melted and bubbly. Remove from the oven and drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon Asian chili sauce. Sprinkle with peanuts, cilantro, and basil.

Serves: 8

While we don't have a fancy pizza stone, and I didn't make my own pizza dough (yay for Trader Joes!), this still turned out fabulous. Even though I may have slightly under-baked it. Let's just ignore that, shall we?

Because sweet + spicy = awesome. It's an equation you really can't argue with.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 128g
Amount per serving
Calories 427	Calories from fat 220
% Daily Value
Total Fat 24.5g	38%
Saturated Fat 6.3g	32%
Cholesterol 16mg	5%
Sodium 470mg	20%
Total Carbs 37.8g	13%
Fiber 3.1g	13%
Sugars 7.5g
Protein 21.2g
Vitamin A 5%	Vitamin C 2%
Calcium 9%	Iron 13%

How To: Grilled Pizza

Adam and I have a new obsession. No, but really. And it involves the grill, surprise, surprise.

It could just be pent up not-being-able-to-grill frustration from the past three years. But that is neither here nor there, and I'm not going to be the one to speculate on that.

Grilled Pizza.

Oh, I'm sure you've heard of it, or maybe even tried it at a restaurant. It's one of those new-fangled fads going around. For a good reason.

Of course it's super tasty, because let's face it, what pizza isn't? But it's also super easy to make. Especially when you use already-made dough. No, not the pre-packaged nasty stuff hanging out in the bakery area -- refrigerated pizza dough. The kind you get at Trader Joe's for a whopping $0.99. Um, can't really beat that.

So how do we go about making our own delectable grilled pizza at home?

First things first. You have to decide what kind of pizza you want. Sure you can go with the good ol' stand-bys of cheese, or pepperoni, or mushroom... but you might as well pick up the phone and order it from your local delivery guy if you're going to go that route. Start thinking, and get creative!

We decided to go simple with this one, and use up leftovers we had hanging out in the fridge: basil, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, garlic, Romano cheese, Mozzarella cheese, and my personal favorite -- goat cheese.

After you get your ingredients figured out, let your dough rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before working with it. While that's coming to temperature, get that grill going. You can use a chimney to start you off, but you don't have to. The end goal is to have the grill nice and hot (or go for medium-high if you have a gas grill).

Meanwhile, prep those ingredients! Keep in mind that your ingredients need to be "eating-ready" before they go on the pizza. Basically -- the grill isn't going to cook the ingredients, so they need to be cooked (if needed) beforehand. For our choice of ingredients, this involved giving the mushrooms and garlic a little sauteing over medium heat for about 7 minutes, or until the mushrooms were tender and just starting to release liquid. Make sure to grate any cheese and slice any herbs or veggies as well.

Once the grill is nice and hot and ready to go, it's time to play with the dough.

Item's you'll need:
Parchment paper
Lots of olive oil
Flour
Rolling pin
Pastry brush
Pizza Dough
Pizza pan/peel (or Christmas cookie plate, don't judge)

Lay out a large sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle lightly with flour. Place your dough on the parchment paper and start rolling out with a lightly floured rolling pin. It doesn't really matter if the pizza is a perfect circle or not, as long as the dough is a nice uniform 1/4" by the time you're done.

Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil across the dough, then brush out so the entire side is covered in oil. Carefully flip dough onto an oiled cookie plate pizza pan. Brush the other side of the dough with another 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Now comes the fun part. Get everything ready to go outside by your grill.

If you've oiled your plate and dough well enough, you should be able to slide the dough right off the plate onto your clean grill rack. If not, you can always flip it on to the grill as well.

Grill for 90 seconds - 2 minutes, or until nice brown marks are left.

Using a spatulas and tongs, remove the dough back to the re-oiled pizza pan, doughy side down.

Brush a coat of olive oil over the top of the dough (or add your sauce), then top away. Even if your next best table is a couple of stacked patio chairs. Doesn't matter, it will still taste amazing in the end -- promise.

Slide your pizza back onto the grill, cover, and cook for another 1:30-2 minutes, or until dark brown marks appear on the bottom of the dough. Transfer back onto pizza pan, slice, and serve!

Just trust me on this one. Once you start making your own pizza, you'll never go back. Especially when you remember that Pizza Hut doesn't make Pierogie pizza, or Spicy Vodka Sauce with Banana Peppers and Hot Italian Sausage pizza, or... you get the idea.

This may quite possibly be a weekly event for us. No lie. It really is that good.

Alfredo, Roasted Red Pepper, & Broccoli Pizza

The past few days (or actually the past week and a half) I have been playing "catch up" with my Foodbuzz inbox and other items. It's quite the daunting task, and I have had half a mind to simply delete everything and move on. But I didn't. And this is one of the reasons why. Buried somewhere among all the posts that look good but just don't quite sound like something I want for dinner I find these nice little gems -- the ones I either want to make "as is" or put a little spin on them and make it into something similar. This recipe from Kate over at Kate's Kitchen fell into the first group.

When it comes to pizza I'm a pretty hardcore cheese and maybe pepperoni kind of kid. But the combination of alfredo, broccoli, and roasted red peppers wooed me over. Since the whole pizza topping part of this seemed pretty straight forward and about a whole 5 minutes, I decided to make my own crust rather than picking one up from the store. So making my own crust on top of making some Cheese-Stuffed Pretzels might not have been the brightest idea I've ever had, but I found a way to not completely destroy my kitchen make it work.

Alfredo, Roasted Red Pepper, and Broccoli Pizza
Pizza toppings from: Kate's Kitchen
Crust adapted from: How Sweet It Is

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup warm water (110 - 115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 – 1 cup lukewarm water

1 (15 ounce) jar alfredo sauce
1 (16 ounce) package frozen broccoli
6 ounces roasted red peppers, chopped
2 (4 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed into bite-sized pieces
2 tablespoons Romano cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Lightly coat a large bowl with vegetable oil. Set aside.

In a different large bowl, mix together both flours, yeast, salt, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Form a well in the middle of the flour mixture, and add the water, olive oil, and honey. Mix with a wooden spoon until dough comes together. Form dough into a ball with your hands, then knead for 1 to 2 minutes. Once again form the dough into a ball (if too dry add more warm water, one tablespoon at a time). Transfer dough ball to the lightly oiled bowl, cover with a towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Once the dough has risen, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and press it into a flat disk-like shape, about a 1/2-inch thick, leaving the edges slightly thicker. Transfer the dough to a pizza stone, or other flat, round baking dish. Top with the alfredo, followed by the broccoli, red peppers, and chicken. Sprinkle with the Romano and Parmesan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Serves: 8 (1 slice each)

Taste-wise, it was everything I was expecting. That warm alfredo mixing with the broccoli and roasted red peppers, yum! In reality though, the crust was undercooked in the center (I baked it at 475 for 10 minutes, hence why I have switched it above) and the broccoli had freezer burn like you wouldn't imagine. The sauce also becomes a little runny making picking up the slices a difficult feat. But that's what a fork and knife is for though, right? All in all not a bad experience for my first "real" pizza.

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 474	Calories from fat 148
% Daily Value
Total Fat 16.5g	25%
Saturated Fat 8.3g	41%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 52mg	17%
Sodium 2965mg	124%
Total Carbs 56.9g	19%
Dietary Fiber 2.7g	11%
Sugars 4.2g
Protein 24.6g
Vitamin A 21%	Vitamin C 145%
Calcium 14%	Iron 14%

Cheddar-Ale Pretzel Pizza

A few weeks ago, Adam and I met up for lunch at Panera during his workday. (Yeah, I'm usually not that nice, he just forgot his basketball shoes.) It was a blustery fall day, so I opted for some warm soup in a bread bowl. Going for the complete carb overload, I got a baguette as my side order -- there's just something about dipping bread into soup that is absolutely delicious. Which is what I love about those bread bowls. That warm, soggy, soup-filled bread that remains after the soup is gone. Yum. (Now, let's not get this confused with your regular old soggy bread, typically from water. That's just gross.)


As we are sitting there munching away, Adam gets the brilliant idea that someone should make baguette rounds with soup on top (much like a crostini, but not toasted). Thus, the Cheddar-Ale Pretzel Pizza was born. Okay, well, I took a few liberties with the idea and had to think about how certain flavors would pair awhile, but eventually, the Cheddar-Ale Pretzel Pizza was born. Basically I really wanted to try a cheddar beer soup recipe and this gave me a very good excuse to do so.

Soup? On a pizza? Well, it's kind of a quasi-soup, as most of the "broth" and large liquid quantities were omitted. So I guess it's more of a sauce. Topped with peppers and bacon. Did I mention that there's beer in both the sauce AND the crust? Because there is. As for the pretzel part? The crust. I mean really, what goes better with a cheese sauce than a big soft pretzel? No dipping required.

Cheddar-Ale Pretzel Pizza
Original recipe adapted from: Alton Brown & Emeril Lagasse

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups warm beer (110-115° F), such as an ale or lager
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Vegetable oil, for greasing the bowl
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 egg yolk beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon water (egg wash)

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon ground mustard
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 (12 ounce) beer or ale (do not use a dark beer or a pale ale)
1/3 cup flour
1 pound white cheddar cheese
1-3 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Remaining ingredients:
1 jalapeño, sliced, seeds and membranes removed
1 small red chile pepper, sliced, seeds and membranes removed
4 strips bacon, slightly undercooked and chopped

Combine the beer, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to dissolve the yeast. Add in the flour and melted butter and mix just until the dough comes together. Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium speed until the dough is smooth and clears the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly greased with vegetable oil, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, about 50-55 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the onions, and allow to soften and become fragrant, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic, and allow to cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Mix in the beer, flour, cayenne, mustard, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer for about 1 hour. Add in 3/4 pound cheese, and stir until completely melted (add in milk if it becomes too thick, or more cheese if too runny). Stir in Worcestershire sauce.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. In a large pot, bring the water and baking soda to a boil. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into 4 equal sections. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each section of dough into a 7-8" circle. Push excess dough toward the edges to form a lip. (The "edges" of the crust need to be formed prior to cooking to help keep the sauce on the pizza.) Place the pretzels pizza crusts into the boiling water, 1 at a time, for 30 seconds. Remove from the water with a slotted skimmer and return to the baking sheet (you may need to dab off excess water with a paper towel).

Layer the boiled pizza crusts with about 1/4 of the cheddar-ale sauce, then top with peppers and a sprinkle of bacon. Brush the outer edge crust with the egg wash and sprinkle with kosher or pretzel salt. Bake in the preheated oven until dark golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes (this also helps the sauce to set and stay in place).

Serves: 8 (1/2 a pizza)

Let me just stress that a pale ale, or Indian pale ale (IPA) should at all costs NOT be used. Of course, that's what we used, surprisingly suggested by Emeril Lagasse. A pale ale will give the sauce a bitter aftertaste, which we are most definitely not going for here. On the flip side, a stout, or a dark beer will probably give too prominent or heavy of a beer flavor. So be happy, and opt so somewhere in the middle. (Yes, I have no clue what in the world I am talking about here, non-beer drinker that I am. These suggestions are all from Adam, the self-named beer connoisseur.)

But really, you can't mess up pretzels and cheese too awful much. I mean, it's pretzels and cheese, and a great option for a game day meal/snack/munchie without the arena prices.

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 686	Calories from fat 285
% Daily Value
Total Fat 31.6g	49%
Saturated Fat 18.2g	91%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 116mg	39%
Sodium 1221mg	51%
Total Carbs 66.2g	22%
Dietary Fiber 2.9g	12%
Sugars 3.1g
Protein 27.1g
Vitamin A 24%	Vitamin C 23%
Calcium 45%	Iron 27%