September 4th: Sausage Pizza Roll-Ups

I may have finally discovered the secret to whole wheat pizza dough: vital wheat gluten! I found this in the health food aisle of the grocery store, and it says on the bag that if you add 1 tbsp per cup of whole wheat flour to whatever yeast-based recipe you are making, your crust will rise, rise, rise. And it worked for me.

For starters, I made this pizza dough recipe I found on epicurious. It is an excellent dough, and may be my go-to pizza dough recipe from here on out.

With my dough ready to go, I made a variation on Sausage Roll-Ups from August 2010's Today's Parent.

I used swiss chard in place of spinach.

The crust was thin, just crunchy enough, with a delicious sausage filling. The filling is just on the dry side, so keep some salsa or pizza sauce on the side for dipping.

March 25th: pizza pockets

I've seen many a recipe for pizza pockets, and I've made some myself in the past. Whatever way you make them, they are much better for you than the frozen variety. This Friday night, being my last Friday night I'm teaching BODYFLOW (next week I start teaching Friday mornings), it was my last Friday night I had to throw something together and then get out the door. Pizza pockets seemed like a good way to go. They come together quickly and are filling. This is my own recipe, from out of my head:

Pizza Pockets

canola oil
2 portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 sweet pepper, chopped
1 small onion, or 1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 cup diced pepperoni
398 mL can tomato sauce
1 small tomato, diced
salt, freshly ground black pepper and dried oregano, to taste
small pitas with pockets
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until hot. Add mushrooms, pepper and onion to pan and fry, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, 5 minutes or more. Stir in pepperoni, then pour in tomato sauce, diced tomato and salt, freshly ground black pepper and dried oregano, to taste. Stir and allow mixture to heat through.

Meanwhile, slice pitas partway open and stuff with shredded cheese. Once pizza mixture is hot, scoop lots into each pita, place in an oven-safe pan, and bake until cheese is melted, pita is getting toasty, and sauce is hot, about 5 minutes.

Pre-oven.

Post-oven.

October 22nd: Three-cheese pizza with sun dried tomatoes

Verdict:
Try Again: three cheese pizza

Friday night pizza! From October 2010's Chatelaine: Three-cheese pizza with sun dried tomatoes. The three cheeses in question were mozzarella, Parmesan and Provolone, which were a tasty combination.

I tried making the Chatelaine pizza dough again, this time subbing in one cup of whole wheat flour in place of the white, and it didn't rise properly. I think I need a lesson on the chemistry behind yeast and how it works. G is trying to convince me just making the pizza from scratch is healthier enough that I don't need to worry about all the white flour in our diet.

I mostly made the pizza recipe as per the original, but I threw some salami on top of mine, and pepperoni on Greg's. Also, upped the cheese. We've agreed the pizza sauce is good, but too thin and chunky. We're thinking, in future, purée it and really boil it down to thicken it up.

The sundried tomatoes were a yummy addition (though they burnt a bit) and it turns out O loves them too.

October 15th: Blue cheese and pear pizza

Verdict:
Toss: blue cheese and pear pizza

Since I started Friday night pizza night two weeks ago, I've been waiting for the question which finally came this week: When do we get to have pepperoni and cheese? Alas, my search for the perfect pizza recipe is not wholly appreciated by those who detest blue cheese. In my house, that is only Greg: O and I enjoy blue cheese, which I discovered has excellent melting properties. However, because I am an accommodating spouse, I made Greg's pizza with goat cheese instead of blue, however, goat cheese doesn't really melt, so he missed out.

The pizza I made came from October 2010's Chatelaine: Blue cheese pizza with pears and arugula. Olivia was hilarious as I prepared it: "What's this? I try some. What's this? I try some." And so she sampled blue cheese, goat cheese, arugula, pear, raw pizza dough, lemon juice, and mustard and lemon dipping sauce. She liked it all, except for the arugula. She ate up her piece of each pizza with gusto. In the end, even I found the blue cheese a bit too strong for my taste. It was nicely contrasted by the pear, and the strong lemon and mustard dipping sauce also muted the blue cheese a bit, but it was still a lot of intensity on my taste buds and so, into the recycling with you.

My intention this week was to make pizza dough from Eat, Shrink & Be Merry, but I hadn't noticed that the recipe calls for quick rise yeast, which I don't have, so in the end, I made the same pizza dough as last week, but added 3 tbsp ground flaxseed to the dry ingredients, as that was the biggest difference in the ESBM recipe. This was good. I shall continue to use this recipe in future.

October 8th: potato pizza take 1

Verdict:
Toss: potato, carmelized onion, etc. pizza

Friday night family pizza night! Tonight I made pizza dough from Crazy Plates, which won out over the Chatelaine pizza dough I cooked last week. This is in large part due to the Crazy Plates dough giving the impression of being healthier. The pizza proper was from October 2010's Chatelaine: Potato pizza with carmelized onions and rosemary. I had some serious doubts about potatoes on pizza, but forged ahead. This recipe is hitting the toss pile, but not because of the potatoes, which were pretty tasty. The carmelized onions didn't really carmelize, which I attribute to not enough sugar in the pan; when I've made carmelized onions in the past, they've called for 8 times the amount of sugar in the sugar:onion ratio than this recipe calls for. Other than that, the pizza was just on the boring side. I ended up scraping the topping off the leftover pizza, and throwing it into an omelet on Sunday morning; that was quite tasty.

I have another potato-topped pizza recipe from Epicurious I plan to try on an as-yet-undefined  future family pizza night.

Here's the Crazy Plates pizza dough recipe:

No Business Like Dough Business

1 pkg active dry yeast (or 2-1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
1 tbsp honey
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp cornmeal (optional)

Pour yeast into a large bowl. Combine warm water and honey. Pour over yeast. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, until mixture is foamy. Meanwhile, combine all-purpose and whole wheat flours. Set aside.

Add 1-1/2 tbsp olive oil and salt to yeast mixture. Mix well. Add 1 cup flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir until smooth. Add a second cup of flour mixture and continue to stir until dough forms a soft and sticky mass and comes away from the sides of the bowl.

Flour the work surface and your hands with some of the remaining flour mixture. Turn dough out of bowl onto floured surface and knead in more flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Don't worry if you don't use up all of the flour. Shape dough into a ball. Pour 1 tsp olive oil into a large bowl. Add dough and roll it around so the whole surface gets lightly oiled. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes, until double in size.

Lightly oil two 12-inch pizza pans and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, if using. Punch down dough and return to work surface. Divide dough into 2 balls. Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball to a 12-inch circle. Place dough on pizza pan. Brush lightly with oil. Add your favourite toppings and bake at 450° for 13 to 14 minutes.

October 2nd: Margherita Pizza

Verdict:
Try Again: Margherita Pizza

Did you know Margherita is Italian for daisy? The things Wikipedia teaches me!

For the month of October, and maybe beyond, I am planning a once-a-week family pizza night. This is a super challenge for me, because Greg and Olivia love pizza and I don't. My goal is simple: make pizza that we all love. Homemade crust, sauce and toppings are all part of the deal. First up on the menu: from October 2010's Chatelaine: pizza dough + pizza sauce = Margherita pizza on Saturday night. Greg was working so it was up to me and O to get the crust made, let it rise twice, simmer up some pizza sauce, chop toppings and then put the whole deal together. Relatively easy, in fact, but we did miss Saturday afternoon swimming at the pool because I didn't want to leave my rising dough unattended. Should have made up for that on Sunday but we went to the gym instead. Alas. Here is the work in progress:

Plus the sauce:

The pre-and post-cooked pizzas:

And the finished result:

So, what did we think? Essentially, this is a review of three recipes. The pizza dough I made exactly as the recipe directed. It turned out beautifully, and cooked up thin and crispy, just as I like dough. When Greg ate his pizza later in the night, he didn't realize I had made the dough and thought I had bought a pre-made crust. Needless to say, I was not impressed! I think he liked the crust, but he prefers a thicker crust than I do, so I'm not sure...

The pizza sauce I made as directed, but upped the amount of garlic. The only thing I would change is using 3/4 cup sauce on the pizzas rather than 1/2 cup; the crust was a little dry with the lesser amount. The pizza sauce was delicious and fresh-tasting. I could have eaten it out of the pot, and did, a little bit. I should note I don't like tomatoes, so that is high praise from me. Also note that the link for the pizza sauce above forgets to list fresh basil in the ingredients, but does call for it in the directions.

The pizza is called "modern" Margherita. "Modern," I think, because it replaces basil with mint, and Bocconcini with goat cheese. I used basil, not mint, but did use goat cheese, as I already had some open in the fridge I wanted to use up. Again, when Greg ate his, he didn't realize it was goat cheese and thought he was eating bland Bocconcini. !!?? I think his taste buds were off their game. I loved this pizza. I thought it tasted simple, fresh and all-around good. Definitely, I would make it again. Olivia ate hers, slowly, but in its entirety. Greg liked it, I think.