One thing I hate in the kitchen is monotony. There are only a few ways you can mess with our Sprout's pizza without him refusing to eat it though. There is no allowance for variation with toppings. It is either cheese or pepperoni; nothing else. He won't eat a green pesto sauce at all... That doesn't leave me much wiggle room with the top of these suckers. So, I do the next best thing....I take the crust to Yumm City!!
Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza Dough
2 c. lukewarm water
1 T. sugar OR honey
1 T. active dry OR instant yeast
1 T. salt
2 T. olive oil
5 1/2-6 c. flour
2 T. any Sun-Dried Tomato seasoning (I used Pampered Chef)
1/2 c. chopped sun-dried tomatoes, optional
1 T. active dry OR instant yeast
1 T. salt
2 T. olive oil
5 1/2-6 c. flour
2 T. any Sun-Dried Tomato seasoning (I used Pampered Chef)
1/2 c. chopped sun-dried tomatoes, optional
*I only add the chopped tomato if I am making this recipe for adults. If you want to try it with children anyhow, I suggest pulsing them in a food processor to make them as SMALL as possible.
Preheat oven to 200 F
(TURN IT OFF before you put the dough in to rise)
Dissolve the sugar, yeast, and salt in the lukewarm water and
olive oil. Add the flour, starting
with 5 1/2 cups and adding more as necessary to make a soft, smooth dough.
Knead the dough (with
your hands, a mixer, or your bread machine set on the dough cycle) until it's
smooth and elastic, about 7 to 10 minutes.
Divide the dough into two even balls, place a large piece of parchment paper on two pizza pans, then spread each ball (starting in the middle) to the edges of the pizza pans. If you want a nice thick edge or a stuffed crust edge, make sure that you make a big enough edge to do so when you spread the dough. (I used my Pampered Chef pizza stone for this.) Make sure your racks in the oven are far enough apart that when the dough rises it doesn't hit the rack above it. Let it rise for 30-45 minutes in a warm oven.
Remove the risen crusts from the oven.
Preheat your oven to
450°F and while it's heating, get out your toppings, which you've prepared ahead. Brush each crust with a
bit of garlic infused olive oil if you have it; spread pizza sauce lightly over
the surface, sprinkle the top with grated cheese, and add your favorite
toppings.
Bake the pizzas for 15
to 25 minutes, until they're golden brown, the toppings are hot and bubbly, and
the cheese is melted. Remove the pizzas from the oven.
Immediately transfer
pizzas to a cooling rack, so their bottoms don't get soggy. After about 10
minutes (to allow the toppings to set), slice and serve.
Want to have a Mexican pizza?? Put 2 T. of cumin or cayenne pepper in the dough, brush it with the garlic infused olive oil and top it with taco flavored ground meat, black beans, green pepper, black or green olives and a triple blend of taco cheeses. Bake as directed, cool for 10 minutes, top with lettuce, shredded sharp cheddar, chopped tomatoes and dollop with sour cream and guacamole. Drizzle with a good quality taco sauce (or you can dollop a nice picante on top).
You can do ANYthing with this crust! I hope you love it as much as we did.
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