more pizza... :)

I'm so behind now thanks to grad school that I can't even remember when we made this pizza - it was some time last week I think! I'm trying to catch up this weekend, but I don't have as much time/energy to cook these days! Anyway, here's pizza, round two:

Here's the pizza dough recipe that I used. It's from a little cookbook that was in my Cuisinart food processor. It couldn't be any easier to make, and I think you could just as easily make it by hand in a bowl. I made it earlier in the day, baked it off, and kept it in the refrigerator until the next day - so I would assume that you could do the same or maybe even freeze it until you're ready to make the pizza.

This recipe makes enough dough for a 12-inch pizza pan that we use. **Notice there's no rise time!** :-)

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup warm water

1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons oil
vegetable oil for pan (not necessary if you're using a non-stick pan)
1-1/2 tablespoons cornmeal for pan (I usually skip this too b/c it never sticks to the dough very well)

Stir yeast and sugar into warm water and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. (I put it all in a 2-cup measure and wait until it doubles or the foam reaches 1-1/2 cups)  Insert metal blade, put flour and salt in work bowl and turn on machine. Pour yeast mixture through feed tube and process about 45 seconds, until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Add oil through feed tube and process 60 seconds longer.

If dough sticks to sides of bowl, add more flour, 1 Tbsp at a time, processing 10 seconds after each addition, until dough leaves sides of bowl but remains soft.

Roll dough on floured surface into circle (or a rectangle if you're using a sheet pan), rotating and turning dough often and using enough flour so it doesn't stick. If dough resists rolling, let it rest for a few minutes and try again. Roll dough into the size you need +1 inch (10 inch circle for a 9 inch round pan, etc).

Oil pans (if necessary), and sprinkle with cornmeal if you want. Transfer dough to pan (with rolling pin, or by folding with floured surfaces, whichever you feel most comfortable with). Turn under the 1 inch overhang and shape it into a rim. I poke holes in the dough with a fork (I think they call it "docking" in the pizza-making world) to help cut down on the bubbles. Also, I rub a little olive oil on the top of the crust to give it some color and help seal in moisture.

Bake the crust for 6 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Top as you wish and bake for 18 minutes at the same temperature.

Here are the toppings we used this time:

L-R, top - bottom: Roma tomatoes, roasted garlic, mozzarella, roasted chicken breast, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers

We sauced half of the pizza with pesto, and half with tomato sauce (we used hunt's). Chicken & mozzarella went all over the pizza, so did the tomatoes and roasted red pepper. The olives and garlic went on the tomato sauce half. The roasted garlic was sooo delicious and it was so easy to make! If you haven't ever had it, roasted garlic is very different from garlic that you just chop and saute and add to a sauce. It's much milder and has 10x more flavor. I learned to roast it by simply removing the cloves from their papers and putting them in a little foil with some olive oil. Just close up the foil and put it in your oven at 325-350 for like 25 minutes.  I did it at the same time while I roasted the chicken breasts (325 for 25 minutes - a little olive oil and salt and pepper).

It's so easy - you'll have to try it! It has great make-ahead potential and is fun to make.

Pizza pizza!

I wanted to put a quick post before I go to bed - I have a busy week ahead of me! I have exams in all of my classes this week, and I've been studying all day, but I took a break long enough tonight to make a great dinner for us.

We had homemade pizza with amazing flavor. It's so easy to make pizza and I love topping it with great flavors. I'll have to post more of the recipe later, but here's what I used tonight:

homemade pizza dough
EV Olive Oil on the dough before first baking
about half a can of Hunt's sauce - basil, oregano, and ... garlic?
fresh mozzarella
diced roasted chicken breast
sliced roma tomatoes
chopped kalamata olives (on my half)

sooooo delicious! We'll make a different one on Wednesday night and I'll post it too.

Biking, running, and a fabulous dinner

This afternoon we went out exploring in our neighborhood. We have a multi-purpose bike trail that starts across the highway from our apartment neighborhood that we've been wanting to check out. Since I was still feeling some ankle pain, I took my bike and Carlyle jogged along with me. We went 2.5 miles and came back (so 5 total).  It was a great trail; almost all of it was in the shade and there were a few hills to coast down / struggle up and there was great scenery along the way. We'll definitely do it again and go further when we're both on bikes... we just need to put air in C's bike tires first.

For dinner I made Italian chicken with spinach penne alfredo and garlic bread on the side (as perfected by Jennifer Cain in our college apartment living!).

It was pretty easy to make, but it was my first time making it and I just kind of invented it on my own.

I preheated the oven to 325 degrees F and lined a baking sheet with foil & sprayed it with nonstick spray generously.
I dipped the chicken breasts in a beaten egg and coated them with Italian seasoned Panko-style bread crumbs. They were really crunchy though after baking in the oven, so I think next time I'll soften them a little in milk or something.
I baked them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, I boiled salted water and cooked the penne pasta (about two cups) and added the chopped baby spinach towards the end to wilt. I drained it in a colander and mixed it in with warmed alfredo sauce.

We loved it - Carlyle enjoyed it and says he'd like to have it again, so it's a winner!