Pizza Patience
I’ve been a lame blogger this week, so in exchange, I give you pizza. No one can deny the power of pizza. No one.
If you want a lesson in patience, making homemade pizza crust is certainly a good place to start. We make a lot of homemade pizza, but I somewhat shamelessly admit that I use pretty gross store bought crust. I’ve always wanted to make it from scratch, but the planning ahead it requires is not in line with the few precious hours I have from the time I get home from work and go to bed. But the other night I made a super simple dinner and then got to work on the dough – which actually takes no time at all. Stick it in the fridge and then pull it out the next night to shape it out. You’re even supposed to pull it out 2 hours prior to baking it and I was like, are you kidding me? I’m not eating dinner at 10pm, dude. So I warmed it up in the oven for a hot minute and then got to work. And it was delicious – pizza life changing.
I used this recipe from 101 cookbooks, using half whole wheat, half white flour. Mine doesn’t look anything like Heidi’s, but she has a pizza stone and what I’d assume is the ability to actually follow directions correctly and do that fancy pizza tossing thing. Whatever, still delicious. We made one with red sauce, Canadian bacon, pineapple, and fresh mozzarella. The other was pear, walnut, and Gorgonzola (I rub olive oil and balsamic vinegar on the crust first). Tips: I burnt the HELL out of my arm because you have to heat the oven as hot as it will get and put the pan on the floor of the oven, a treacherous feat for clumsy people*. Be careful! Also, watch that baby because it goes from not done to burnt in like, 1 minute.
* I knew I kept an aloe plant around for reasons other than them being the easiest plants on earth to take care of!
June 17th, 2011 at 8:27 am
Mmmmm….pizza !
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June 17th, 2011 at 8:35 am
That pear and gorgonzola pizza is a great idea! Homemade pizza dough makes everything better, plus, you can make really big batches and freeze it. I’ll make enough dough for 4 pizzas, make one, then divide the rest into individual balls and stick them in the freezer. That way, you can pull one, or two out the night before, put them in the fridge and have just enough for tomorrow.
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June 17th, 2011 at 9:16 am
oh man, those looks SO GOOD. i wish my boyfriend would eat a pear gorgonzola pizza! we make tons of pizza at home so i keep a ton of dough in the freezer but sometimes (a lot of the time) i just buy the trader joe’s pizza dough. they have plain, whole wheat and this insanely delicious garlic/herb one that i swear by.
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June 17th, 2011 at 9:16 am
OOOH nice. I found a dough recipe in Donna Hay’s “Seasons”, and it’s pretty much a 1/2 hour start to finish and I LOVE it… I’m loving the pears and cheese mix.. xo
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June 17th, 2011 at 9:18 am
I use this pizza crust recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Quick-and-Easy-Pizza-Crust/Detail.aspx except I use half wheat and half white flour…and it’s super quick!
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June 17th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Is this a new camera lens? photos and pizza look great!
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June 17th, 2011 at 9:42 am
Thank you for the pizza!!! Have a great weekend!
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June 17th, 2011 at 9:53 am
ok, this is not helping my latest obsession w/ wanting to make pizza and eat it every day;)!
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June 17th, 2011 at 10:05 am
Liz – I totally did that! I can’t wait to make more with the leftover dough. It is pretty genius as the recipe says it will keep for 3 months. Probably dangerous to make pizza that easily…
Kelly – whoa, I’ve never checked out the TJ’s dough! There’s not a store super close to me so I rarely go there. Dumb.
Alyssa- ok, pretty stoked to try that recipe. I didn’t know you could make it without letting it rise!
Nome – not a new lens, but a new camera! A Canon T2i. It takes the most amazing low light photos, I’m very pleased with it.
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June 17th, 2011 at 10:17 am
Kate–You have to let it bake a little bit by itself before you put all the toppings on because it needs to bake longer than the cheese, etc. But I just pop it in while I’m making my sauce and it usually works out time-wise!
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June 17th, 2011 at 11:01 am
this looks so good! i have a pizza place dangerously close to my new home and tried it the first time last night. it was super delicious. but i have a good excuse to go because my kitchen is being renovated and i have to eat out. can’t wait to make my own pizza again soon. :)
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June 17th, 2011 at 11:29 am
I love making my own mini pizzas on whole wheat pita’s too. And kale on top with tomato sauce or olive oil.. and mozzarella etc is amazing too. The kale really helps fill me up, even more so than pepperoni or chicken for some reason. Kale on pizza is amazing!! Try it! It gets roasted with the pizza at 400 degrees for 15 min.
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June 17th, 2011 at 11:33 am
I use this pizza dough recipe from Smitten Kitchen and I love it. It’s worth a shot… seems like it might be a tad bit easier/quicker than the one you used:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/01/pizza-and-the-limits-of-diy/
Also, I’m definitely trying the pear/walnut/gorgonzola the next time I make pizza (which is every Sunday… sooo, this Sunday!) Thanks!
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June 17th, 2011 at 11:35 am
Sitting at work, craving pizza.
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June 17th, 2011 at 1:20 pm
I’ve been eying this recipe for a while. But like you, I rarely think about pizza far enough in advance to make this dough and still eat at a normal hour. This is giving me the motivation to plan ahead. The pear and gorgonzola pizza sounds heavenly.
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June 17th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Try this recipe, it’s delicious and you can use it right away.
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/main-dish/recipe-homemade-thin-crust-pizza-045499
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June 17th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
I totally preach the power of homemade pizza. All it takes is one spare afternoon of prep work and you can have pizza all week in a matter of minutes. Surely even the laziest person on the face of the Earth (which is possibly me) can’t argue against that??
I make a similar crust that I found on Pinch My Salt a while back – she puts chopped rosemary in the dough and it’s soooo good. I haven’t made pizza in a long time (lazy, remember?!) but next time I do I can’t wait to experiment with more fresh herbs, like thyme and maybe even sage!
Also, a couple things… I make small, personal sized pizzas but I only let them sit out of the fridge for 20 minutes before shaping. 2 hours is kind of ridiculous! The recipe might be forgiving in that aspect. I know I never have that much foresight when it comes to pizza. I get a craving and I want it right then and there! AND, experimenting with “stuffed crust” is so much fun. Try it. You won’t regret it. A simple fold-over and pinch will hold the dough together nicely.
Okay, this is the last thing I’ll write here – clearly my love for pizza knows no bounds – but sometimes I’ll break the dough for one pizza up into smaller balls and make “pizza bites,” using cream cheese instead of standard pizza cheese, plus basil and whatever other veggies. If you really wanna get fancy you could use goat cheese for some pizza-style chevre chaud.
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June 17th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
We’ve been making baby pizzas on our grill this summer, caramelized onions and gruyere. BBQ sauce, potato and goat cheese. I can just go to our nice pizza place and I buy fresh dough, I’ve made it too but I am a bit lazy. I love grilled ones, it’s like naan. I can’t heat my oven up to 500 in the summer!
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June 17th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-pizza-crust-24391
another super fun thing i’ve tried just recently is beer pizza crust… it’s super fun to experiment with your favorite microbrews! yum!
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June 17th, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Pizza fixes everything!!
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June 17th, 2011 at 10:09 pm
If you want to save even more time and create a crisper crust (though possibly up the chances of burning yourself), put your pizza in a preheated cast-iron skillet and cook it in your broiler. It cooks in about one and a half to two minutes, no joke; another bonus is that your oven isn’t on as long, so it doesn’t heat the kitchen up as much. We do ours with extra-garlicky spinach/arugula/basil pesto, kalamata olives, and tomatoes.
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June 18th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
I have to say, YUM. I love pizza. Love. I never, not ever, deny its power.
Also– ditto on the Trader Joe’s pizza crust. Let it warm to room temp (I usually have a long enough commute that it’s ready to go when I get home), spread it on the pan and cook with a little olive oil before adding the toppings, and you’re good to go.
And– my family recipe is basically the same one that Alyssa posted. A great, no-rise recipe that works!
Good luck! Hooray for pizza!
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June 18th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Homemade pizza is a dinner staple in our house and I highly suggest a pizza stone!
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June 19th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
http://elegantsandwich.tumblr.com/
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