2.01.2007

Pizza Night!

Oh that my children will not grow to think that all bread comes from a refrigerated tube!

Bread baking can be an intimidating endeavor, but pizza dough is a great place to start. It is very simple and forgiving. Our young little family hasn't nailed down too many traditions yet, but Pizza Night is definately now a part of the Millan brand.

So... in order to further the cause of Pizza Night, I will go ahead and post the step-by-step instructions. The basic pizza dough and sauce recipes come from my favorite cookbook in the world "America's Test Kitchen".

Basic Pizza Dough:
4 c bread flour (USE THE BREAD FLOUR!! IT REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE)
1 envelope Rapid Rise Yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs olive oil
1 3/4 cups warm water (just nuke it for about 1 min and 30 sec or so)


Start making this dough about an hour and a half or two hours before you want to start making pizzas. Whisk the flour, yeast, and salt together. Add the water and olive oil. Stir until the dough looks "shaggy". Dump the dough onto a floured surface and knead it for about 5 minutes (I was always taught that the dough is ready when it feels like a baby's bottom). Put the ball of dough in a greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let it rise for the next hour and a half or two hours. It should double in size.

An hour and a half later.....

Preheat the oven to 425, and move the wire rack the the lower-middle position. Take the dough out of the bowl and divide it into 3 equal portions. Roll each portion out onto a 12 in pizza pan and bake for 6-7 minutes. Take it out of the oven and add toppings. Return it to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until desired oooeeyy gooey crispy goodness is achieved.


Basic Pizza Sauce:
1 big can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt (more or less-- whatever makes you happy)
2 tbs minced garlic (I have the humongo jar of minced garlic from Wal-Mart. It lasts forever and I am always using garlic)
2 tbs olive oil

Simmer the garlic in the olive oil on med-high heat for about one minute and add crushed tomatoes and salt. That's it!! This is a delicious sauce!

TO FREEZE: Let the pre-baked crust cool, then wrap it in plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer. When you are ready to pull it out again, just take it out of the freezer, unwrap it (I know that's a no-brainer but it would be irresponsible of me not to include this important step), add toppings, and bake at 425.

CUTENESS NOTE: Olivia thinks that everything I put into or pull out of the oven is "pete-si"

12 comments:

Tfipps said...

We have a "Family Pizza Night" once a week as well! Ours is on Sunday night, and we always sit in the living room with TV Trays, and watch "Extreme House Makeover" or "America's Funniest Home Videos." Love that tradition! Some of our favorite combinations are BBQ Chicken Pizza and Tomato Garlic Pizza. For that one, you spread chopped garlic on your pizza dough, then you put a layer of mozzerella cheese, a layer of tomato slices, then another layer of mozzerella cheese. You finish it off with a generous dousing of Seasoned Salt. It sounds plain, but it is delicious. No sauce! It is also good with Fresh Basil leaves on top.

Leah (Parrish) Millan said...

Yum Trisha! Thanks for those ideas. Sunday night is frozen waffle night for us :) I'm going to try that tomato garlic pizza.

Erin Neiner said...

I was JUST going to ask you for your P.D. recipe!!! THANKS! The last time I cheated witht the dough, but I made a white sauce with garlic, parm. cheese & oregano & it was fab! Jack doesn't seem to like red sauce...AT ALL! So I have to watch it. So now I can feel better about my culinary attempts thanks to your recipe! Please share on...I'd love some of your favorite Mex. dishes also!

S said...

thanks Leah! I was just going to make some dough today, so I'm trying out your recipe. Sunday night is usually pizza night for us also.

Leah (Parrish) Millan said...

Erin- I'd love to hear how it turns out! I'm going to try Trisha's suggestion (above) with the garlic and tomato.

Leah (Parrish) Millan said...

Shannon- we must be commenting at the same time :)

Unknown said...

That does sound yummy friend! Speaking of Pizza...ever since I got a PC Stone, I do Pizza a lot more often then the normal, from scratch that is. Or at least the crust from Jiffy:) and I make my own creations. I actually just bought the stuff tonight to try a Taco Pizza...I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm going to brown beef, with a taco packet mix (I know...Alex would be so dissapointed to know his lil' sis still does mexican the "english" way:) and what I'll do is the crust like normal, probably a pinch of Taco Bell mild sauce to moisten the crust, sprink the meat on, add taco cheese, and "bake". I also got sour cream to add to it once baked. We'll see how it turns out:)
Hey, I would love to try and talk tomorrow if we can...I can fill you in on my life:) It'd be a LOT faster than leave you a post:)
Give everyone my love! Miss you friend!!!!!
Love ya, Dana

Ben and Carissa said...

I just broke down and bought America's Test Kitchen Cookbook last week!! I can sit and read it like my favorite novel (not that I have a favorite novel... I really should read more...) Anyway, I can't wait to check out the bread section and try out this dough! Thanks for the tip!!

Leah (Parrish) Millan said...

Carissa-- you will love that cookbook! I sit and read it too. It's a great cookbook for the "classics". I don't want goat-cheese recipes-- just tell me how to make good mashed potatoes! :)

Unknown said...

Leah, I printed out these recipies but I found a site that I think is the same to this cookbook you're talking about www.americastestkitchen.com Check it out and let me know:) ~Dana

Leah (Parrish) Millan said...

Dana-- how did your taco pizza turn out?? That website you mentioned is the site that produces that cookbook-- I havn't explored it that much, but hopefully you can get some free-bee recipes off of there.

mitchells2000 said...

My family has been making "Chromy" pizza for years. It was always the tradition at our house growing up to have pizza after church on Sunday nights. Every one of my brothers couldn't leave the house without knowing how to make pizza dough! My hubby even knows how to make it now! However, we don't get home from church until after 9pm usually, so I usually just make grilled cheese & tomato soup Sun. nights.