So after a myriad of events this afternoon--most notably would be the cello end pin debacle--we finally ate our homemade gourmet pizza at 7:30 this evening. Early by Spanish standards of course, but a little late by the Good Food fairy's clock. And yes, this is a recipe made with unbleached All-Purpose flour, but tomorrow, we will experiment with gluten-free flours. So here's how it all ended up for today...
I preheated the pizza stone, dusted with cornmeal, in the oven at 450 degrees.
I picked some of summer's last tomatoes for our pizza sauce. Along with some decent store-bought specimens I had in the fridge, the number of tomatoes came to 9.
So I carved out the stem and...
scored the bottom with a paring knife and each of the nine tomatoes went for a flying leap into...
a pot of boiling water for about 20 seconds. Out of the boiling water and into...
the ice bath. This stops their cooking. Then out again onto the cutting board to be
skinned and...
diced. Or you can use between 2 and 4 - 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes in juice.
Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet and heat it until shimmering when you tilt the oil around the pan. Add your diced tomatoes, 6 cloves of minced garlic, handful of chopped parsley, 2 times chopped oregano, a few basil leaves, 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, sea salt to taste and red pepper flakes to taste. Reduce over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until...
the tomatoes break down. Now, if you or those you feed do not like chunks...if chunks induce a gag reflex among those you feed, then throw it in the blender and hit puree for a couple seconds.
I split my dough into two balls and rolled out one pizza pie for the kids and one for the grown-ups.
Both pizzas received a generous dollop of sauce and a drizzle of olive oil around the naked crust for golden brown crust.
Sliced crimini mushrooms, a generous sprinkling of red pepper flakes and pieces of uncured (no-nitrate) black forest ham for the grown - up pizza and...
cheese for the kids. Two kinds of cheese for both pizzas...we like monterey jack and sharp cheddar with a little parmigiano reggiano on top.
Onto the lower rack it goes for about 8 to 10 minutes depending on how high you pile your toppings.
Pizza is served. Tune in tomorrow when I complete the pizza saga by experimenting with gluten-free dough. Same sauce, same toppings or whatever we have in the fridge tomorrow!
Until tomorrow...
That looks SO yummy! I have a question, when you put the olive oil on, did you just put it on the crust around the edges? Or on the whole crust? Also, where do you suggest getting a pizza stone? I had one that broke after several times in the oven. Maybe they all do, or maybe I had a bad one. (Also, you're welcome to follow my blog...if you search back, you can find the one with the pictures from Kathy's shower.)
ReplyDeleteRub the olive oil around the naked edge of the crust. The part covered by sauce will not burn, but the naked edge, without oil, will overcook and get hard. I have hear of pizza stones cracking when they were in a 500 degree oven. Though the directions say that, it is too hot for the stone. 450 is a good temp. I think my is an oneida from Bed Bath and Beyond. I'll have to check out your blog and see those pictures!
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