PiZZA NIGHT

There is literally nothing yummier than homemade pizza.

Finn loves to have pizza about once a week but I want to make sure it's as healthy as we can possibly make it.  In an upcoming post - I'll walk through a cauliflower crust pizza but this time we made a traditional yeast dough pizza and it was amazing.  It is just consistently good and requires less effort than you'd think.


Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour (Bread Flour makes a crispier crust / AP Flour makes a fluffy chewier crust)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 package regular or quick active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 cup very warm water (120° to 130°)

Directions:

• Mix 1 cup of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in large bowl.
• Add 3 tablespoons oil and the warm water.
• Beat with electric mixer on medium speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl frequently. Stir in enough remaining flour until dough is soft and leaves sides of bowl.
• Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead 5 to 8 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy.
• Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes. 
• Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface and top with whatever you'd like.

This evening - we made a white pizza with Mozzarella, for Finn. For the non-Finn members of the house; I made a white pizza with caramelized onions, Mozzarella, French Goat Cheese, Pesto and pine nuts.

I brushed the uncooked dough with olive oil & sprinkled a bit of dried basil, added our toppings, then cooked them in a 450 degree oven for about 10 mins.  You have to watch your pizza as the thickness of the dough will drive how long you cook them.  Start checking around 8-9 minutes.  

Notes: I used AP Flour for our crust and it was light / fluffy and had an amazing chewy texture.  
If possible, use a stand mixer with a dough hook.  I used a hand held one as I couldn't find my dough hook - still turned out perfect but typically I wouldn't use a hand mixer.

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