MmmHmm Margarita Pizza

I love pizza. I'm not alone really. According to Your Guide to Pizza, "Americans eat an average of 46 slices of pizza a year." AND, because it's officially the Super Bowl weekend, another fact, according to YGtP, "More pizza is consumed during Super Bowl week than any other week of the year." Seriously folks, this is big time food love.

Currently, my Margarita Pizza is in the oven, smelling delicious, enticing my senses. I can hardly stand it. The smell of basil, cheese, bread and tomatoes in the oven is truly making me drool. Even though the timer is set, I keep running over to open the oven for whiffs. I'm an addict.

Ingredients for 1 large-ish pizza
1 pizza dough (click the link for the recipe)- if you want flat crust, omit the yeast.
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, fresh, sliced 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick
1 lg. tomato, chopped
3 tsp. basil, fresh, chapped
garlic salt, to taste

Toss your dough and spread it on your pan or stone. Sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Or, a lot. Whatever you want, it's your pizza.



Chop your tomato, basil and slice the cheese. Yes, I used roma tomatoes, that's what I had on hand.



Layer cheese, tomato and basil onto the dough.



Place into a 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until crust is evenly browned.



Remove, let set about 5 minutes, slice and enjoy!

Pizza! Pizza!

I'd much rather have homemade pizza over frozen, and really- most delivery places. This way, I know exactly what goes into making it. I mean, COME ON! Look at that beautiful thing...right above this. Awesome.

Now, Mikey grew up with his mom making pizza like, every Friday night. It's good, but she doesn't seem to understand, or want to understand the concept of more cheese, less sauce...but that's my preference.

So, you'll need the following for each pizza:

• Dough
• marinara sauce (we like Barilla marinara or tomato & basil)
• cheese (we use Sargento Mozzarella & Provolone-about 1 bag per lg pizza)
• toppings : pepperoni, baby 'bella mushrooms, onion, green pepper, sausage, chicken, olives, pineapple, ham...whatever you like!
• garlic salt seasoning

To build your pizza:

Stretch dough over pizza pan or stone. Top with marinara sauce- as much or little as you like. Be careful not to put the sauce all the way to the edge, leave a little dough to raise as the crust.

Top with your desired amount of cheese, again, leaving the edge clear to raise as the crust. Then, add your desired toppings.

We like sesame seeds around the crust edge, so if you'd like that, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, etc., brush the crust edges with olive oil or butter and sprinkle with desired crust flavoring. We also like a bit of garlic salt sprinkled all over the entire pizza. Soooo delicious! Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes, or until cheese and crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

NOM NOM NOM!

So- how do YOU top your pizza?

Super Quick Pizza Dough

This is seriously the easiest pizza dough. I've never ever ever had a mishap with it. I've even doubled it and it's been perfect every time. You can play with the sugar content a little, but I like mine a little sweeter to satisfy that Sweet & Salty craving.

1 pkg Quick Rise Yeast
1 tbsp Cooking Oil
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 c Hot Water (120-130 degrees f)
2 1/2 c Flour

Preheat oven to 425.
In a large bowl- (I use my dough hook and mixer, so mixing bowl) mix yeast and brown sugar *into hot water, let set a minute or so. Stir in oil and flour; form dough into ball, kneading until all mixed and dough is elastic. Cover with tea towel and place on heating stove or in warm, dry place. Let raise 15 minutes, or until doubled. Punch down the center of the dough and move it to a floured surface. Kneed until dough is no longer sticky, but smooth and elastic. Form into a ball, smoothing the rough edges under (I took my dough handling ques from the Flat is Beautiful episode of Good Eats!) Stretch on pizza pan or stone, leave 5 minutes to raise again.
Top with favorite sauce, cheese and toppings.
Bake 15- 20 minutes.

* for an herbed crust, omit sugar and add herbs to flour mixture.
^you can also use this for bread sticks or calzones.




Adapted from Recipezaar.com