I promised ...

A recipe today for my daughter Josie.

Last week when she was staying with us we made homemade pizzas from the dough up. They came out so well there were barely any leftovers, and any that where didn't make it until lunch!

This is not a recipe I made I designed myself. The recipe comes from Cook's Country, the April/May 2013 issue. I finally was able to read it all the way through. This is a supper easy pizza that doesn't take a lot of time and it could be adjusted to be started the day before to be finished the next day for those of you with busy schedules.

You start by making a yeast dough and letting it rise until doubled. Once it's reached this point, you could refrigerate it overnight to bake the next day. On the next day, roll out to fill a sheet pan, pushing it with your fingers to get it into all the corners (oh, let it come to room temp, first, please!).

Once you've got this baby rolled out on your sheet pan, cover it with a nice, clean kitchen towel and let it rise briefly ... about 20 minutes.

While dough is finishing rising, make the sauce and adjust your oven so the rack is in the lowest portion of the oven. The sauce is very easy and takes only a couple minutes to cook. A plus, you can add or leave out things you don't like.

Now, with your sauce done and your toppings assembled spring your pizza with grated Parmesan and make little indentations all over the pizza. Bake this for 7 to 10 minutes, just until the parm starts to melt. Pull it out and spoon sauce over pizza, covering to within 1-inch of the border. I am not fond of lots of crust, so I brush out as far as I could.

Bake the crust 7 to 10 minutes more until sauce is deep red and steaming. Now add your toppings and your cheese and bake about 12 minutes more. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting. You know that is the hardest part, waiting to cut the pizza! Who ever waits? I'd love to know.

This makes a lot of pizza. 2 sheet pans filled up 2 teenagers, 1 hungry husband and myself. And, I did not get ANY pictures! I seriously need to make this again so I can take pictures of the whole process.

Sheet Pan Pizza
Crust
1 3/4 cups warm water (110 degrees)
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sugar
5 cups flour
4 1/2 tsp instant or rapid rise yeast
2 teaspoons salt

Sauce
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
Salt
3 oz. Parmesan Cheese, grated (1 1/2 cups)
12 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded (3 cups)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh Basil

Grease large bowl. Combine water, 1/4 cup olive oil and sugar in 2 cup liquid measuring cup. Using stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour, yeast and salt on low until combined. Increase speed to medium and add water mixture, and knead until dough is uniform in texture, about 3 minutes. Transfer dough to prepared bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled (1 to 1 1/2 hours).

Evenly coat rimmed baking sheet with 1/4 cup oil. On lightly floured work surface, use rolling pin to roll dough into 16 by 12 inch rectangle. Transfer dough to prepared sheet and stretch dough to cover sheet, pressing dough into corners. Brush dough evenly with 1 Tbsp oil and cover with plastic wrap. Set in warm spot (not oven) until slightly risen, about 20 minutes)

Sauce and toppings:
Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Cook garlic, oregano and pepper flakes until fragrant (this is blooming the flavors), about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato past and cook until just beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer until reduced to 3 cups, about 10 minutes. Off heat, season with salt to taste.

Move oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees F. Remove plastic and sprinkle dough with 1 cup Parmesan and bake until cheese begins to melt.  Remove sheet from oven and spoon sauce over pizza leaving 1 inch border (but you don't have to). Bake until sauce is deep red and steaming, 7 to 10 minutes.

Spring mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan evenly over sauce. Now is the time to add what ever toppings your little heart desires. You know mine was covered, edge-to-edge, with cheese! Bake pizza about 12 minutes, then remove and let sit 5 minutes before cutting. Sprinkle with basil and serve!

We used green onion brat slices, green olives, black olives, vidalia onion, green and red pepper and anything else we could lay our hands on.

Now to work on that organization process I've started. I'm ready for a couple more shelves, which means a trip to Spring Valley with the *big boy* (Stevie's red truck). I just won't get everything I want to bring down in my Pup (my HHR). A bit frustrating as that truck takes 2x as much gas, guaranteed! And, to me it feels like I'm driving a bus!

Laura