Pizza Love

A summer staple this year is going to be homemade pizza. We have finally convinced the boys it is an edible item and they take great delight in the eating of it. I love the dough recipe given to me by my sister and I find I can prep it early and just let it rise until dinner time, with the occasional punch to keep it in the bowl. Her recipe is simple, especially when I use the Kitchenaid with dough hook attachment to do all the work. And there is no heating house up as I have finally figured out the best way to grill it all outside on the BBQ.



I thought I would share the recipe and cooking method as I know I have other mama readers with small children that would love to try this out. It is fun too as even messy crazy toddlers can handle tossing cheese on the dough and seeing the veggies be piled onto the top.

I let the boys handle a small ball of dough to learn about the process but we did not cook it up. Grubby toddler fingernails are not the best seasoning for what I like to think is pretty tasty food.

So, dough recipe first

:: Take 1 1/2 tsp dry active yeast, 1 1/2 cup warm water and 1 Tbl sugar and combine in a smallish bowl, let yeast do its job and wait for some bubbling foaming action on top.

:: Add 2 Tbl olive oil and 1 1/2 tsp salt to foamy liquid.

:: Dump 2 cups flour (I use combo whole wheat and white whole wheat) into Kitchenaid bowl, then dump liquid on top. Make sure you have the dough hook attached and let it do all the work. I usually let it stir for a minute, check to make sure a ball is forming and if it looks too loose/wet I add flour (willy nilly) until a ball forms on the hook.

:: Knead it via machine for a few minutes, maybe 4 or 5, until a smooth ball is formed.

:: Oil a large bowl and place your dough in it, cover with a tea towel and leave it to rise for 20 minutes or until dinner time, punch it occasionally (or whenever you remember it is there). That is it. It makes great calzones and rolls too.

Tim discovered a simple 'sauce' for the pizzas. We use straight tomato paste with some added Italian dry herbs and some pepper. It works wonderfully.




Then you know the rest of the drill. We try to put as much veg on ours as possible and show the boys what we are doing, but I dare not contaminate their designated pizza as it may mean total protest come table time.

So the last thing is the grill. What works here is a sheet of foil (yeah, not a great option, but I am working on getting a good flat cookie pan) on the grill surface. I turn up the burners to high during pre-heat until the temp reads 400 or so, then turn off one whole side and adjust the other to keep the temp around 400. I place the pizza on the foil on the 'off' side and rotate them once during cooking.




It takes about 12-14 minutes, I usually feel the crust and bottom for doneness. I love cooking them this way as there is relatively no mess, no heat in the house and the pizza tastes so good. Mmmm.

Let me know if you try it.. It took a few tries until I had the feel of the dough prep, but now it is easy as, well, pizza pie. I just wish I could toss the dough as well as that guy in the Mastercard commercial. Now that is a pizza. Cheers and happy 'almost' summer eating.