Pizza dough & sauce

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