The following is a Pizza recipe
from Margaret Baker. Thanks for the yummy recipe and all your hard work.
Pizza Time!
Now that winter has settled in, our
tummies are wanting some warming, filling meals. Pizza is often just what
your family wants. Consider making your own. If you have ingredients on
hand (think food storage), you can make pizza very quickly and easily (and
inexpensively, too). Using a good mixer such as a Bosch makes the dough
kneading super easy. Most recipes are basically the same. Here is the one
I use:
Basic Pizza (Makes 3 12-inch
pizzas)
Note: I try to make the dough a day
ahead and refrigerate and/or freeze it in roomy containers to allow the
dough to expand. If making ahead, use only 1 or 2 teaspoons of yeast, as the
dough will continue to expand in the refrigerator. If you are going to
make only one pizza at a time, put 1/3 into the refrigerator and 2/3 into
the freezer. Remember to take out the frozen dough several hours before
you plan to use it. Allow a couple of hours or more at room temperature for
the refrigerated dough.
Place pizza stone in cold oven and
preheat to 500 degrees. (A stone is not necessary but will
make a much crisper crust.) Note:
Do not put cold stone directly into hot oven, as stone will
crack. A stone is a good investment
that will enable you to make your own pizza every bit as
good as the commercial. We need to
try to satisfy our picky eaters!
Add the following ingredients to
mixer bowl in order given, mixing in just enough flour until the mixture
pulls away from the sides of the bowl and is not sticky.
3 cups Warm water
1/2 Tb. Salt
2 Tb. Sugar
1 Tb. Olive oil (optional)
Approximately 8 cups Bread flour or
hard white wheat flour finely milled
1-2 Tb. Gluten flour (optional) -
Makes the dough very workable
1 Tb. Instant yeast - Instant yeast
is mixed with the flour and not proofed in water.
Knead for 3-4 minutes in mixer or 10
or so minutes by hand. Let dough rest for a couple of
minutes and divide into thirds for
three pizzas.
Shape pizza crust on regular pizza
pan sprayed with pan spray. You can also assemble on pizza
peel (a large flat wooden piece
with a handle) to transfer directly to stone in the oven. I don’t have a
peel; it is not at all necessary. Remove pizza stone from completely preheated
oven (use thick oven mitts–no thin dishtowel here), sprinkle on some
cornmeal, and transfer crust to pizza stone. Working quickly, spread on
sauce, cheese if desired, and toppings. (Have toppings all ready to go so
that stone does not cool.) Bake for 10 minutes or so until crust is golden
brown. Toppings can be anything you desire. Our favorites are dried
yellow squash (scrumptious!), sliced olives, green and red peppers, and
green onions. Of course you can use pepperoni or whatever as well. Fresh basil
and cooked spinach are good too, I have been told. I’m sure you have your
own favorite toppings.
You can use a commercial sauce such
as Shirley J’s (a powdered spice mix that you add to
tomato sauce) or make your own.
This recipe from Linda Naylor is delicious. You can make it
in a larger quantity (spices only,
of course) and refrigerate to have an instant spice mix.
Here is Linda Naylor’s recipe for
Pizza Sauce:
1 15-oz. Can tomato sauce
½ tsp. Onion powder
1/4 tsp. Oregano
½ tsp. Basil
1 tsp. Garlic powder
2 tsp. Parsley
1/4 tsp. Salt
Dash pepper
Pizza can be fairly healthy for you
if you use your own good ingredients. My kids always
insisted that I use white instead
of whole wheat flour for the crust. Now that white wheat is
available, I trick my family and
make the crust completely whole wheat without their knowing!
White wheat is very mild in flavor.
The secret is to grind the wheat finely. Be sure to use the
hard wheat and not the soft.
Source: Margaret Baker & Linda Naylor
