Pizza 101

Tips and Recipes 

In the fall my husband built us a brick oven.  He is very handy.....We can prepare, cook and eat the entire meal outside.  Although the first few times we attempted it we had scrambled pizza.  I takes a little practice to get it right.  One thing I have noticed is that the dough makes a difference.  It needs to be really sturdy.  Here are a few recipes for my favorite dough, sauce and some tips for getting a brick oven style pizza from your home oven....

Tips
To get a Brick oven style pizza from your conventional oven use a pizza stone.  Place the stone in the oven while pre-heating, then prepare the pizza on a peel or something flat sprinkled with cornmeal.  The cornmeal will prevent it from sticking and it adds to the flavor.  Leave the stone in the oven and gently slide the pizza onto the stone.  Try not to overload your pizzas it just makes them harder to move.

Recipes

Pizza Dough Printer Friendly                                            

(cracker Crust)

Ingredients:

• 3-1/2 c. bread machine flour(High in gluten)
• 1 c. warm water(115 degrees)
• 1-1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 3 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt

Directions:

1.  In a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, add water sugar and yeast.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  

2.  Then add the oil, flour and salt; mix on low for about 4 minutes.  Stop when a ball forms.

3.  Place the ball into a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let the dough rise for 24 hours in the refrigerator before using.

4.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.  Separate int0 4 pieces. Using a rolling pin roll dough out into 16" circles.

5.  Dust the pizza peel(or pizza pan) with cornmeal.

6.  Top pizzas as you wish and bake:

• In a conventional oven bake in a@500 degree(pre-heated) oven for 10 minutes or until nice and crispy. 
• In a brick oven heated to 475 degrees for 5-10 minutes and turned half way through.

For a pan pizza style dough click here   

Pizza Sauce Printer Friendly

                                                                                                         

Ingredients:

• 1-4 0z can of tomato paste
• 1-1/2 c. water
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated with a zester
• 1 Tbs. of Italian Herb Blend(Mountain Rose Herbs)
• salt to taste

Directions:

Mix everything together and refrigerate overnight. 

This gives the flavors time to meld together.

  Enter for a chance to win a set of spices from Mountain rose herbs at this weeks Link Party 05/18-05/22.

If you are interested in building you own brick oven.  We got our specs for a Pompei style 36" brick oven from: Forno Bravo

Shared at the link parties found here

“My entry into {nifty thrifty sunday} is sponsored by Appliances Online and their Fridges.”