Pizza Extravaganza

Today was one of those days.  Work was so hectic and nuts, I found myself wanting to shoot myself numerous times.  Word to the wise... do not procrastinate and rush to get your prescriptions filled on the day before Thanksgiving, on your way out of town, and expect them to be done within 5 minutes.  It's just NOT going to happen.  Especially when everyone else in town was having the same genius idea at the same time.  But... I'm no longer at work, and that... I am thankful for. 

I just HAD to go to the gym after work because trust me, that treadmill was calling my name.  And I think after 30 minutes on that thing, my stress level has definitely decreased dramatically.  Or maybe it's the cold beer I opened when I got home?  Or maybe the lovely pork tenderloin I have roasting in the oven for dinner?  Either way, I'm in a better mood than what I was just a few hours ago.

I know you guys wanted me to post that Buckeye Cake... and I promise you!  I will!  Just not today... I'll make you wait just a tad bit longer.  I promise, today's recipe is just as good!

I've made homemade pizza a few times, but I think this version is definitely a keeper for me.  Mainly because I was upset that I ran out of dough (I was short 2 cups of all-purpose flour!) So I subbed a little over a cup of corn flour (it was all I had!).  Knowing that corn flour doesn't have any gluten, was kind of disheartening, but I figured with little use of it, it would still be okay.  It was definitely a sticky dough, but after thumbing through actual recipes that used corn flour in the dough... I come to find out it actually provides for a crispier crust!  And a crispy crust is definitely my main goal when it comes to pizza crust!  So definitely mishap turned into awesome score!

Ingredients:

Adapted from Project Foodie's Recipe
Pizza Dough:

About 2 ¾ cups warm water
1/4 ounce packet of active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups all purpose  flour
1 cup corn flour, plus extra for dusting

Pizza Sauce:

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
14 oz. can diced tomatoes (I used the garlic and basil variety)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Optional Toppings:


Sliced Soppressata
Chopped Cooked Bacon
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Shredded Mozzarella
Peas
Corn
Sweet Potato Puree
Marshmallow-Cinnamon Cream
Extra Marshmallows

For the dough, add warm water into a large bowl and stir in yeast and sugar.  Let stand for about 10 minutes, or until mixture is foaming.  If it doesn't foam, your yeast is pretty much dead and you'll want to start over.  If you're yeast is still alive and kicking, then add your salt and add flour in batches, until dough starts to form.  The dough will be a little moist or "wet" but it will still be able to form a solid ball.  Dust a work surface with flour, and knead the dough with your hands for a few minutes, or until you get a proper consistency.  Definitely do not overwork the dough.  Dust a large bowl with flour and form dough into a ball.  Place dough ball into bowl and let rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

To make a quick tomato sauce, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend for about 1 to 2 minutes, or until you reach your desired consistency.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 500 F.  Divide dough into 3 pieces, 2 equal in size and 1 a bit larger.  Place 1 rimmed baking sheet, upside down in the oven while it preheats.  If you want to do a deep dish you can use a glass baking dish, or do what I did and use a spring form pan.  Or alternatively, you can use a pizza stone and life will be a tad bit easier.

Use a rolling pin to flatten and stretch the dough out.  You want the dough to be a little less than the size of the baking sheet you're using.   For a deep dish pizza, roll out the dough so that the edges can be pressed up against the spring form pan (carefully now!  remember it's been preheating in the oven so it's pretty hot!)


Divide the tomato sauce amongst the rolled out dough and top with desired pizza toppings and place pizza on either baking sheet, pizza stone, or springform pan.


We had one pizza that was mozzarella, soppressata, corn, and peas.  That was our thin crust. 


Our deep dish was a mozzarella, bacon, and cheddar cheese.

And we also had a dessert pizza (somewhat inspired by the appetizer we had at dinner on Saturday night and somewhat inspired by the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday!) which consisted of a sweet potato puree as the sauce, and a marshmallow-cinnamon cream (basically melted marshmallow cream mixed with maple syrup and cinnamon) and topped with marshmallows.  It was pretty righteous if I do say so myself!

The picture seriously does NOT do it justice!

Depending on the type of pizza you make, the time varies:


Thin crust: about 10-15 minutes or until edges get golden brown
Deep dish: 20-25 minutes or until edges become golden brown
Dessert: about 10-15 minutes, or until marshmallows become toasted and delicious!


This was definitely a good night of pizza and glad my flour mishap turned into a success because this definitely turned out to be one of the best crusts I have ever achieved on homemade pizza!