My FOOD!!

*I have a good handful of our family favorite recipes that I've been collecting since we got married, and it's continually growing! I will continue to add old and new recipes as I find the time to do so! The HOME page of my blog is my main priority :). You can't go wrong with the recipes I will post here. They are our absolute favorites!*

#1
Italian Pizza Margarita

(Name it what you want, depending on what toppings you choose!)

–      BEST EVER, EVER, EVER pizza, just like the Italian Restaurants! Turned out GREAT!

I watched a video of a chef, who owns his own Italian restaurant make this and wrote down what I saw and what he said, but it was pretty general in its ingredients so I had to search further as well as make up my own way to prepare the perfect pizza.
*link to video: http://allrecipes.com/video/776/how-to-make-pizza-margherita/detail.aspx

A few KEYS to turning out a PERFECT pizza:

-Must use a pizza stone

-MUST use FRESH ingredients

-Use good and new dry yeast

-Flour I used was GOLD Medal Unbleached, unbromated and enriched, Better for Bread flour

-Must Follow directions exactly as well as the exact ingredients! NO SKIMPING!!!

*RECIPE MAKES 4 PERSONAL SIZE PIZZAS, 2 MEDIUM, OR 1 LARGE! PICTURED HERE ARE THE PERSONAL SIZED ONES. 

Dough:

-1 tsp sea salt

-Pinch of sugar

-3 ½ unbleached white flour (see above). *I ONLY USED 2 ½ cups in the bowl and ½ cup on the counter for kneading, but no more. Depends on the climate you live in and the humidity in the air. Bread making is a tricky business…research it.

-1pkg dry yeast

-1 c warm water

-In a small bowl, place yeast, then sugar and salt, then 1 cup warm water and stir. Let sit 5-10 min or until bubbily/foamy on top.

-Slowly mix in flour, a little at a time

-Knead for 8-10 minutes to form a pefect ball. (Literally, spend the time doing this. It changes the chemistry of the dough. I used my hands instead of my kitchen aid bc that’s how I watched the chef do it and I trust him ;).

-Butter a medium size bowl and place dough ball at the bottom and cover the dough itself with greased saran wrap, covering the ball completely (not the bowl) so the dough will rise and the saran will grow with it. (I used a damp paper towel but it stuck and wasted the top of my dough ball).

-Let it rest for 50-60 min. Should double in size. (I put it in a draft-free place like my microwave or kitchen cupboard. Oven is ok too as long as you don’t forget that it’s in there when you go to preheat it!)

*At this point, place the pizza stone on the very bottom oven rack and preheat it with the oven to 500 degrees.

*While the oven is heating, make the Marinara sauce (See below)

(Dough continued)

Once dough has doubled in size and sauce is made and oven and stone are preheated..

-Take off saran wrap- Punch dough to release the air

-Roll back into a ball and cut into 4 quarters.

-Make balls out of each quarter and roll each ball out on a floured surface. Each ball will be a small pizza crust.

-Flour a pizza peel, wooden cutting board or back of a cookie sheet and place rolled out pizza crust on the flour- for easy sliding onto the pizza stone for baking.

NOW ADD THE SAUCE and TOPPINGS! (see toppings below marinara sauce recipe)

Here is the recipe for the sauce that I made, with a couple modifications..it’s from the Food Network.

Quick Marinara Sauce:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 medium onion, diced (about 3 tablespoons)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 1/2 cups tomatos pureed in a blender, leaving the consistency a little chunky. I used about 7 fresh Roma Tomatoes.

Sprig FRESH Parsley

Sprig FRESH basil

2 teaspoons kosher salt (I used SEA salt, but both are similar).

Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onion and garlic, stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and the herb sprigs and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Remove and discard the herb sprigs. Stir in the salt and season with pepper, to taste. Use now, store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Yield: about 3 1/2 cups

Prep Time: about 15 minutes

Cook Time: under 15 minutes

Copyright 2001 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved

ADD THE TOPPINGS!

I used:

-FRESH Mozzerella cheese from the special cheese section near the deli at the grocery store.

-Fresh BLOCK of parmesiano cheese, self grated for once the pizza comes out-

-Fresh Basil leaves, sliced thin

-Peperoni

-olives

-Fresh sliced tomatoes

-olive oil for drizzeling

-Sea salt for sprinkeling

-add a THIN layer of sauce on the rolled out pizza dough

-squish the soft mozzarella cheese in big blots around the pizza, leaving gaps in between.

-Add your toppings..whatever you want-peperoni, tomatos, olives, basil leaves…

-Drizzle the top thinly with olive oil, then sprinkle with sea salt.

-Place in the oven on the preheated pizza stone and bake for 5-7 min (I only baked my small pizzas each for 5 min.).

-Right after it comes out, grate fresh parmesan cheese over the top of the whole pizza- it melts fast!

*It’s easier to use a pizza peel to slide off onto the hot stone, we didn’t have one so we used our wooden cutting board loaded with flour under the dough. It was actually more and more difficult with each pizza…by the last pizza I was sweating to death scared of the hot oven, I had to wear goggles to keep the hotness and steam out of my eyes and Scott and I had to tag team it to ge the raw pizza off the wood and onto the stone. It was seriously so scary …haha. We were just beginners, but the outcome sure didn’t taste like it! We were SUPER impressed..and I felt like I had restaurant leftovers in my friedge for lunch the next day. Scott said it was way better than the restauraunts. BEST PIZZA EVER!!

*Made this Monday April 30, 2013. MMMMM!