PEEEEEEZA!!!

one thing that we really like around here is food. and we have some good eats. a few years ago we made the jump to eating as organically and seasonally as possible. now that we are here in framboise it is even easier as we are surrounded by small farms, the majority of which are organic. oh and the dairy here is to die for!

anyway - one thing that we really love to eat is PEEEEZA!!! have a look below at some of the gorgeous specimens of peeeeeza that we have created. oh yes, i forgot to mention that we live an hour and a half from the nearest pizza shop...and no, they do not guarantee delivery in under 30 mins!!! so all of our pizza is hand-made....i have the best pizza dough recipe known to man. and i will share it. below. first a few pics to make your mouth water!

this one is mine. it's what i call a mediterranean. i use olive oil and garlic as the sauce and it has fresh sliced tomatoes, artichoke hearts, black olives, mozzarella and goat's cheese - divine!



this is one of jambaloney's. he likes to make half and half pizza - one half has some stuff and the other half has other stuff. this one is half made with tomatoe, homemade sauce, pepperoni and hot banana peppers. the other side is homemade sauce, chorizo sausage and hot banana peppers. the whole thing is smothered with mozzarella and as you can tell we like our mozzarella! but did i mention that we have awesome dairy here?



anyway, here's a little tutorial. i don't have any pics of making the dough but i promise to take some soon - it's been almost four days since we had a pizza so i am sure that we will be making some soon.

we make our own sauce while letting the dough rest. we use pureed tomatoes and add a ton of garlic, a small shot of vinegar with the mother in it, a small shot of honey and a ton of oregano. (garlic, vinegar with the mother and honey are all natural antibiotics and all 3 help to boost the immune system. i add garlic, honey and vinegar to just about everything!)

so here is the sauce spread on the dough:



when we make combination pizzas (pepperoni, green pepper and mushrooms), i always put a little mozzarella on the sauce - it gives it a nice little bit of cheesiness!



next is the pepperoni - yum!



and of course your green peppers and mushroom!



pile on the mozzarella and:



voila! that's some good eats right there and tastes a thousand times better than pizza from a restaraunt!



yep - that's my plate right there with 2 big slices! the really awesome thing about this pizza dough is that it keeps really well - we always have some left over for the next day and we just re-heat it in the oven. it's delish!



here's another way that we make peeeeeza if we are being pigs. instead of sharing one pizza, we make two on a bigger tray! both of these started with our own sauce, jambaloney's on the left has chorizo, mine has tomatoe.



next are jambaloney's hot banana peppers and mine gets green pepper.



jambaloney adds the mozzarella and i add the mushrooms - oh i love mushrooms on pizza!



jambaloney likes his tomatoes on top, i like mine underneath the cheese.



and there you go - 2 deeelishous peeezas!



that's mine cut into strips.



and that's jambaloney's - you can see how much cheese he puts on his pizza!



ok so now - off to the recipe for the pizza dough. i have no idea where i found the original recipe, but like with all recipes, i tweak them to suit our own needs.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 teaspoons of traditional rise yeast (we use fleischman's)
1 teaspoon of sugar (we use organic)
1 cup of warm water (110 degrees - use a thermometer - it really matters!)
2 and 1/2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt

1. preheat the oven to 450 degrees. in your bread bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. let it stand, out of any drafts, until creamy - roughly about 10 minutes.
2. stir in the salt, oil and flour. add the flour a bit at a time. stir the dough until smooth and elastic-y. let it rest for 5 minutes.
3. turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface (we use the kitchen table - it's our only counterspace!) and pat and roll out with your hands and then use a rolling pin. once desired thickness is achieved, place dough on to a pizza pan and top with whatever toppings you like. bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes (keep your eye on it at about 12 mins) and remove when pizza is golden brown. let the pizza sit for 5 minutes before cutting into it (this is the Hardest step!)

so there you have it. the best pizza dough recipe in the world - i kid you not! this dough is delicious rolled out super thin, it is just as delicious when it is not rolled out so thin and left a little cakey and thick.

if you love pizza give this dough a try. we love it!