Wednesday, January 13, 2010

THIN CRUST PIZZA AND HOMEMADE PIZZA SAUCE

Yesterday I was searching RecipeZaar online and found they had listed their top 100 recipes in 2009. While browsing through, I found a recipe for Thin Crust Pizza Dough and another one for Homemade Pizza Sauce. I had very little ingredients around in the kitchen, but I did have everything I needed for both of these recipes. Don't you love it when a plan comes together?

The pizza dough came together quick and easy and only needed to rise one time for 20-30 minutes. In no time, my house smelled like a pizzeria. My daughter could hardly wait for the pizza to be finished.
As you can see, my picky eaters won out with their pepperoni pizza. I would've loved to do a spinach and artichoke pizza, but I was outnumbered. Maybe one day I can convince my husband and daughter that vegetables aren't evil. For now, I guess I'm lucky they eat tomato sauce.
HOMEMADE PIZZA SAUCE *
**MAKES ENOUGH TO TOP 2 - 12" PIZZAS**
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 - (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1- (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 small bay leaf
1 teaspoon fennel seed

In a large skillet, melt butter with the oil. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute until soft and transparent. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste and stir until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and bring to slow simmer. Simmer for 30-60 minutes (or not at all depending on your taste and time frame).

PIZZA DOUGH FOR THIN CRUST PIZZA
**MAKES 2 - 12" PIZZAS**
2-1/2 cups all purpose flour (may sub whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose)
1 - (1/4 oz.) package active dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
1/2 to 1 tablespoon olive oil
cornmeal for sprinkling

Mix a little sugar into the warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top. Wait for 10 minutes or until it gets all foamy. Pour into a large bowl. Add flour, salt, olive oil. Combine. Knead for 6-8 minutes until you have a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (add a bit more flour if you need to). Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

Lightly grease two 12-inch pizza pans. Sprinkle with a little bit of cornmeal. Divide dough in half. Place each half on a pizza pan and pat it with your fingers until it stretches over the whole pan. Try to make it thicker around the edge. If desired, pre-bake at 425 F for 10 minutes (I don't always do this). Then spread with pizza sauce and use the toppings of your choice. Bake at 425 F for 10-20 minutes longer or until bubbly and hot. Makes 2 12-inch pizzas.

TO FREEZE THE DOUGH:
Take a portion of dough, form into a ball, rub olive oil over it and place it in a freezer bag (the oil makes it easier to take out of the bag). When you want to make a pizza, take dough out of freezer and allow to thaw before using.

NOTES/RESULTS: I was really pleased at how well this pizza turned out. The thin crust pizza dough works well with whole wheat, which I love. The dough comes together very quick and I love that it only has to rise once for only 20-30 minutes! How can you beat that? In addition, the dough was pliable and easy to roll into a 12 inch circle. The crust is perfectly thin and gets a little crispy on the bottom when baked on the pizza stone. The thin crust pizza dough is a definite keeper! The pizza sauce smelled terrific and was pretty tasty. I'm not sure if it was my favorite, but it is a good solid recipe, especially if you don't have any on hand and need to throw some together quickly. It was a little on the thick side, but full of flavor. In fact, I may want my pizza sauce a little more mild so that the toppings have a chance to shine. All in all, I'm really glad that I tried both recipes. I will definitely be making the pizza dough for thin crust pizza again!

28 comments:

  1. I am so glad that you posted this! I have been wanting to make my own pizza's for a while now! I will be trying this!!

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  2. Whole wheat thin crust is a great healthy start to pizza and a great reason to make your own. Sounds delicious!

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  3. Your pizza looks great. And I agree about wanting more green toppings instead of always pepperoni. Lately I've been making two smaller pizzas, each with different topping combos to please everyone...or just about.

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  4. Whole wheat is a fanastic idea, makes it very healthy indeed. I will try that next time.

    Artichokes and Spinach sounds excellent, but then I am sure pepperoni was equally as delicious. Certainly looks it.

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  5. Wow, this is fabulous. I am so proud of you that you made a pizza from scratch. I have always wanted to attempt this. I also love it that you froze the dough. I am sure this is such a wonderful thing to have on hand. I would make lots of dough in advance (that way i would just have to clean up once). Was the frozen dough just as good after baked? I've got to buy a pizza stone though. I'm going to bookmark this. I think im going to try it. Thanks for always posting these awesome recipes daaaaahling!
    *kisses* HH

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  6. I've been wanting to try a homemade pizza sauce! This looks great!

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  7. Sounds fantastic, Kim! I do love a good homemade pizza. Even if it IS just pepperoni for our picky eaters.

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  8. I love the easy rise and will try your recipe instead of the one I got from Daring Bakers. I usually cheat and use jar sauce when we have tomato topping, but I'm with you on the spinach and artichoke and usually use a light Alfredo sauce in place of the tomato. If I didn't have a big pot of soup going right now on the stove, I'd switch dinners. It looks really, really good.

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  9. I've been searching for a good pizza crust recipe for ages and while most of them are okay I still keep hoping to find the out-of-this-world recipe. I'll try it this weekend!

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  10. Wow! Your pizza looks delicious!

    This may just be our next Friday night pizza! I've gotta try this. I'm thinking maybe I should double the recipe and freeze the dough. Lord knows, I make enough pizzas that it'll get used. Thanks for the idea, the recipe, and then tips! Yummy!

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  11. Wow looks like perfection! I would love a slice right now! I love when you go to look for ingredients and you have everything you need!

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  12. It looks very yummy! Don't you hate being out voted like that?!> happens here all the time. I love that you can freeze the dough I am definitely going to try this recipe. Both of them :)

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  13. This looks like an excellent way to convince your family to eat veggies. Your pizza looks great!

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  14. Wow - this pizza looks really good. I'm such a fan for thin crust. I'm in Chicago and deep dish is all the rave...they can totally keep it!

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  15. I'll have to try this pizza out on my wood fired oven (aka Big Green Egg). I've made some great ones on there but have relied on dough from a local pizza joint.

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  16. Wow! Your pizza looks kinda perfect!! The dough, topping, sauce... everything! I'm drooling here! =)

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  17. That's pretty much the same recipe I use form my pizza dough, a great ratio. I use a little garlic salt in mine, instead of regular. Makes it seem more pizzaria-like.
    Delicious looking pizza, your family must have been thrilled!

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  18. homemade pizza is wonderful! this looks so inviting adn full of flavor, delicious!

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  19. Isn't homemade pizza the BEST! I love it so much infinitely more than storebought. The dough just has this homey taste. Or maybe it's just that the dough has flavor. Period. This looks fantastic.

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  20. I absolutely love homemade pizza...and you totally came up with a very nice one...like the thin crust too :-)

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  21. Whole wheat - yes! Pizza is delisiozo! And you could play with so many ingredients.

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  22. I love coming to your blog. Each time, I find another gem, like this pizza. It is making me hungry.

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  23. Maybe you could hide the veggies under the peperoni!?! ;-) Ah well at least you got some whole wheat into them in addition to the tomato sauce. It looks delicious!

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  24. Thin crust is my favorite. Ill have to try this.. did you knead with your bread hook or by hand?

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  25. Mmmmm! I love pizza. :-) This one looks so delicious I bookmarked it to make for our next pizza night!

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  26. Hooray for having all the ingredients - helps having a stocked pantry! :D

    I make pizza every Friday night - while I love thin crust with veggies, my husband likes deep dish with every kind of meat you can think of - I wouldn't dare put spinach in his!

    I even tried to add minced vegetables to his bacon wrapped meatloaf - that didn't work either!

    Happy Friday - glad I found your blog - do you mind if I add you to my blog roll?

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  27. WE made the crust last night and loved it.

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  28. Yummy! My husband loves thin crust. I cant wait to try it!!

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