Pizza Night, From Thought to Table in 20 Minutes

How do you get food on the table when you are short on time?

This was not the question I had in mind when I made pizza tonight,

but it all happened so fast that I am adding pizza to my mental

"Oh, darn, I'm hungry and I only have half an hour"

list of recipes, it is also being added to the

"There is nothing in the house but ingredients and leftovers". 

I can't be the only person with these lists. 

The first list "only have half an hour to eat" is pretty common for everyone.

I have found, though, in eating healthier, I try to be sure not to have pre-made

or pre-packaged things in the house because I binge.

So, I sometimes end up at the end of my fresh groceries

a couple days before pay-day or grocery-day.

ANYTHING can become a pizza, so this is my new go-to recipe.

This pizza has a great fold-able crust, and you can make it without turning on the oven!

The griddle has been my friend lately, it hasn't left the counter since I arrived home from CT a week and a half ago.

For the crust, I used a “pinned” recipe from the blog “4youwithlove”.

The actual recipe is a dough and herb combination for focaccia bread,

I only used the dough portion.

This makes a roughly 12”-ish pizza, perfect for splitting or a larger sized personal pizza.

For the dough

½ Cup Warm Water

1 Tbs Sugar

1 Tbs Yeast

1 Cup Flour

(I eliminated oil and salt from the original recipe because I grilled with oil on the griddle-top and seasoned it with the pizza toppings.)

Always combine water and sugar, first, until sugar is completely dissolved, then add the yeast and allow to proof for a couple minutes. (This is how we make sure the yeast is alive, you should see the liquid get creamy, foamy, and tiny air bubbles on the surface.)

Add flour and knead until smooth and elastic.

Roll out the dough until you find the size, shape, and thickness you prefer.  I like mine about 1/8 inch thick, and in whatever shape I end up with.

Set your griddle to 300’-325’.

You could make these crusts ahead of time,
freeze them on a cookie sheet,
then drop them in a freezer bag.

Using 1 Tbs oil, oil your griddle-top or oil each side of the dough. Place your pizza crust on the griddle.  As it cooks you should see air pockets form in the crust and the bottom will start to brown.  Cook for about 5 minutes then flip and cook 2 minutes on the other side.  

Add your toppings to the pizza and allow to cook for an additional 3-5 more minutes until cheese is melted or toppings are heated through.  

I topped mine with a couple tablespoons of sauce, a few ounces of fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and pepperoni, finished with a dash of red pepper flakes and green onions.  

Now, you can serve the pizza as is, or if you are okay with turning on the oven, I stuck mine under the broiler to finish melting the fresh mozz and to crispy-curl the pepperoni.

I love when pepperoni curls!

And check out that thin.

 but not crunchy crust!

To summarize:

Mix up dough - 5 minutes

Brown one side of crust - 5 

minutes

Brown other side of crust and 

heat toppings - 5-7 minutes

(Optional) Broil to crisp up the 

top of pizza - 1-3 minutes

Grand Total: 20 MINUTES!!!

I can't wait to  try pesto, cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella,

or arugula, spiced pork, and sriracha,

or chicken, alfredo sauce, and broccoli, or....

(The crust without toppings, including the tablespoon of oil for cooking is 17 PointsPlus for the entire crust, 9 PointsPlus if it is cut into 2 servings.)

MINI Deep Dish Pizzas

I am sure you think I eat this deep dish stuff too much!  If you haven't made this recipe for pizza crust (which you can use for almost anything), I highly encourage you to do it!
We made pizza the other day, the recipe yields enough for two pizzas.  So I ended up with the dough screaming for me in the fridge.  I wondered if I could use my Demarle muffin pan to make mini pizzas.  Turns out you can!  The half yield of dough made 8 mini deep dishes.  Because I was experimenting I used various fillings.  Leftover pasta sauce, pepperoni, chicken, Caesar dressing, onions, Parmesan cheese.  Everyone was delicious!  My favorite was actually one with sliced onions and a dab of butter.  They would be great vegetarian appetizers.

I look forward to trying different fillings and other kinds of crusts and such!

Deep Dish Reminder

My post from Oct 27th was about deep dish pizza.  I had forgotten to take a picture of the whole pie.  SO here is a picture of one I made a few weeks ago.  I followed my own advice and used a can of italian diced tomatoes.  I sauteed some fresh garlic in some oil and added the tomatoes until most of the liquid was gone.  The pizza held together better without the sauce. 
L think we should sell this pizza, lol, it is pretty good.  Even her fairly unadventurous brothers ate it, and loved it. 

Deep Dish Pizza Is YUMMY!

So, I was reading my favorite food blog, The Food In My Beard, when I came across a recipe for deep dish that supposedly was amazing. I couldn't help but be intrigued.  TFIMB got it from Macheesmo, which is where the actual recipe is. 
This recipe calls for a technique called "laminating" the dough, interesting and ended up with the best pizza dough I have ever had. It was soft, and not even close to being dense , and yummy layers within.  These are my pics of making the dough (as described in Macheesmo's directions).

 One of these is in my freezer, the other went into the fridge overnight.  Next day I rolled it out, pressed it into my Demarle and filled it up.  I put a cup of cheese on the bottom, then pepperoni, then half had sausage, and half had pepperoncini, roasted red peppers, and onions, then a cup of sauce, then another layer of cheese all around.  Below is a picture of the pre-baking pizza.

 Naturally, I forgot to take a picture when it was done cooking, but here is a picture of the last piece.  It was SO YUMMMMMY!!!!

Only thing I would do differently would be to make it without sauce, add some diced tomatoes instead. I loved loved loved it!
Hope you all try it out!