Saturday, February 26, 2011

Hmmmm....pizza!

Par-baking crust
Last night was pizza night in our house.  This time, I baked the pizza in the oven on the baking stone.  (My baking stone lives on the bottom rack of the oven.)  I am a bread baker, so I always make pizza dough from scratch (it really doesn't take long).  Last night was a plain white crust with some pizza dough flavor added.  I go back and forth on using the pizza dough flavor.  (For those of you who have absolutely no intention of making pizza dough from scratch - you are short changing yourself again - I have friends who rave about the bags of pizza dough from the grocery store bakery section.)  I par-bake my crust (on parchment paper) so it is nice and crispy.
Reduced tomato sauce

While the crust is par-baking, I make my sauce.  Really, it is a breeze to make pizza sauce from scratch.  You can add the ingredients you want and don't have to worry about crud you would prefer not to feed your family.  I start with a small can of tomato sauce.  Pour the sauce into a fine mesh sieve.  Stir the sauce gently and allow it to drain about 1/3 of its volume.  I stir in pizza seasoning to my desired intensity.  After using a baker's peel to move the crust in and out of the oven, I spread the sauce over the par-baked crust (about 10 minutes at 450F).
Par-baked crust with sauce
Ready for the oven

Now add the toppings of your choice.  Last night we had pepperoni pizza.  I am rather particular about the foods I buy for my family.  Yes, I am one of the people you see in the store reading every label.  I choose Applegate Farms pepperoni because each 28g serving has 7g of fat vs 13g in most pepperoni!  I can't stand my pizza swimming in grease.  Plus, there is no need to eat all that grease in order to have a tasty pizza.

After topping the pizza, I place it back in a 450F oven for about 15 min or until the cheese is melted and has reached the desired stage of browning.

Dinner was fabulous!
Yum!

1 comment:

  1. This looks fantastic! My former boss made a spaghetti pizza, which is exactly what it sounds like. It was a starch party, but it was very tasty.

    ReplyDelete