Tasty Tuesday

For my first “Tasty Tuesday” post I have picked making homemade pizzas because it has become one of our favorites.  When we lived in Ohio we had pizza every Friday night and then when we moved to ND we started having pizza on Monday nights.  Now, we are having homemade pizzas at least once a week and not on any particular day.

I have come across an awesome pizza sauce – actually I read a few recipes and then concocted a sauce we have all agreed is very tasty . . .

1 – 15 oz. can tomato sauce, 1 – 6 oz can tomato paste, 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 3 T. grated Parmesan cheese, 2 T. honey,  1 tsp. onion powder, 2 tsp. Italian seasoning, 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1/8 tsp. dried red pepper flakes, and 1/4 tsp. black pepper.  Whisk all ingredients together and then let sit for one to two hours to let flavors meld together.

We have tried various store bought pizza crusts and a couple different from scratch, but we LOVE the one we found in the bread machine’s cookbook.  The best part is we just throw all the ingredients {in the order listed:  1 c + 2 T warm water, 2 T EVOO, 2 tsp. minced garlic, dry mix (whisk in separate bowl before adding – 3 c. better for bread flour, 1.5 tsp sugar, 1.5 tsp. garlic salt, 2 T grated Parmesan cheese, 1 handful of asiago cheese, 2 tsp. Italian seasoning), then make a small well at top of dry mix and add 2.5 tsp. regular or bread machine yeast} into the bread machine’s bread pan . . .

. . . and after one hour and thirty minutes we, actually Jay has the perfect dough to work with. This batch will make two 15” thin to hand-tossed crust pizzas.

 

We learned a few little secrets from family that have made our pizzas a favorite and requested quite frequently.  The most important is cooking it in a 500 degree preheated oven on a stone (place the stone in the oven so it preheats too).  Plus, topping it on a pizza pan with cornmeal and making sure it continues to move so it can slide right onto the hot stone.

 

After the toppings are added and just before placing the pizza in the oven – not before because it will stick to the pan – we brush a little EVOO on the crust so it has a nice look and texture.

 

After it cooks 5-7 minutes (depends on amount of toppings), use a Pizza Peel or paddle, just like the pizzerias, to remove the pizza.  Now your oven’s ready for the next one.

The finish product always looks good . . .

. . . and tastes great.  Look at that light and fluffy crust.  It is a garlic Italian herb and Asiago cheese crust.  Yummy, it is really good.  Try it and let us know what you think.