Sunday, January 11, 2009

In the mood for Pizza...

Yesterday afternoon I decided that I was going to make pizza for dinner. I love making pizza, but it is so time consuming, that I don't do it very often.

So anyway, while I was getting all my ingredients together to make the dough yesterday afternoon I decided to call my parents to see if they wanted to join us for the pizza affair. When I asked my dad he said "I don't know...are you going to blog about it?..." WHAT!?! He reads my blog too. So sure I am and it was the laugh of the night...as I snapped pictures and enjoyed my Yummy homemade pizza with my family.
I start out by making my own dough...you know from scratch...while that is rising, I cut up the veggies and cook the shrimp (this is a must if you have never tried it), and get all the other topping together (spices, cheese, sauce, etc.)...and I put the pizza stone in the oven at 500F for at least 30 min. before putting a pizza in.

My dough (lookin' good)

Some of the veggies
Cornmeal on Parchment Paper (so that my dough doesn't stick to my paddle)


Me adding the toppings, YUM!


The finished product and it was ssooo tasty!



Pizza Dough

1 3/4 c warm water (105F-115F)
1 T sugar
1 pkg. active yeast
5 c. flour
1/4 c. olive oil
1 T salt

Dissolve active dry yeast with sugar in the lukewarm water (105F-115F). Let the yeast and water sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, until the mixture has bubbled and expanded.

Combine flour and salt, form a well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add 1/2 the yeast mixture, mix lightly, add remaining yeast mixture with olive oil to flour mixture. Mix well; turn dough out onto floured surface and knead everything together until you have made a soft, smooth dough (10 min). You may need to add up to another cup of flour to have a nice smooth, elastic dough.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow it to rise till it's very puffy. This will take about 90 minutes. If it takes longer, that's OK; just give it some extra time.

Divide dough; sprinkle cornmeal on pizza paddle (I sprinkle the cornmeal on a piece of parchment paper) and shape. Top pizza. Slide pizza from paddle onto pizza stone. Decrease oven temp. to 450 and bake 10-20 min.

Some of our favorite pizza toppings:

roasted red peppers
red peppers
black olives
onions
shrimp
mushrooms
pepperoni
crushed red pepper

11 comments:

  1. Your kitchen is gorgeous (and your pizza makes me hungry!)

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  2. Wish my kitchen looked as good as yours, but my pizza is excellent, too!

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  3. ps:I'm an etsy beader too. My blog:
    http://clairesheartspace.blogspot.com/

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  4. Hey girly, your pizza was kicking! YUMMY TO MY TUMMY! Love your sis,
    Glad you posted the dough recipe because I like it better than mine...

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  5. My husband is our pizza maker. I have never tasted any as good as his homemade. Of course, now we have a dd with multiple food alergies but he still makes a great gluten and dairy free pizza. Who says homemade isn't as good?

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  6. That looks positively fantastic. I'll have to make it for dinner one night.

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  7. That looks delicious! Bless your heart for making the dough, I'm usually at the grocers buying it pre-made and then getting lazy and making stuffed breadsticks!

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  8. Looks sooo good. Make your own dough? Wow, you are woman after my own heart - I don't cook:):)

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  9. Great Intro! Thanks for the pizza.

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  10. Looks yummy, but I have to crack up at your Dad's comment/question. LOL!! My kids (19 & 22) will often ask me the same question. I don't think they get my blog. Oh well.

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