Perfecting Pizza At Home: Creative Combos

 Before you start the oven let me show you a little machine 

that has changed our Pizza loving taste buds forever

 This is the Breville Pizza Oven, which you can find at Williams Sonoma

I was really hesitant to purchase this but the reviews were all raves.

I took the plunge and I can tell you this little guy is worth every penny.  

It has a top and bottom element and heats up over 660 degrees.  

It will cook a fresh homemade pizza or a store bought frozen pizza in about 10 minutes. 

I purchased one for our son too and it would be an awesome gift for a college student. 

 I have made quesadillas in this too 

and it probably has many other uses...I just haven't thought of any more yet!

 There is nothing to clean up after cooking except 

the lovely juicy stuff on your fingers from your amazing fresh pizza.  

If you are using a pizza stone heat your oven at 500 degrees or hotter 

for 1 hour prior to cooking the pizza.  

 Here are a few things we like

 Have you ever heard of Johnny's? 

Johnny's seasoning is awesome if you are not using any sauce

 and you sprinkle it directly on the dough 

 This is basil flavored olive oil...delish

 I buy pre-sliced fresh mozzarella which 

makes things really easy 

 Fresh basil and arugula are some of our favorite greens and

I usually have some growing in the garden

 I love crushed Italian San Marzano tomatoes for plain tomatoes sauce but use what ever happens to be your favorite.  

One thing we have found is that fewer ingredients 

let the crust really shine and the flavors of the toppings 

are much cleaner and fresh tasting

So your dough is now ready after a long nap in the fridge.....with well floured hands ease it out onto a well floured surface and gently form into a ball

*don't forget to pour a glass of wine for yourself about now

 With a bench scraper, divide you dough in half.  

You can use the two larger disks or divide your dough again into quarters, which is my preference. 

 Smaller pizza is easier to work with and you get more chances to create the perfect combo 

and there is always a few slices left over

...well maybe not!

shape the dough int nice tight balls and then flatten into a disk 

Use your hands and fingers to push and tap and form a nice round shape

This is the time the real pros pick up the dough and used the back of their hands to create a larger pizza but I'm not quite there yet

 so I cheat and use a French rolling pin

 Here is one of the secrets to easy at home cooking....

Use parchment paper!

I tried dusting a peel with semolina and it made the biggest mess 

and we never could get the pizza totally off the peel

So now what I do is we finish rolling and shaping on parchment paper 

which can then go directly onto your stone.

You remove the parchment with a quick pull about 2 to 3 minutes into the baking and it comes out perfect and clean off of the stone every time....I kid you not it's awesome!

 Pizza 1:  

Fresh puréed tomatoes

Canadian bacon

Kalamata olives

Mozzarella

Olive oil

top with arugula after baking

*You can brush the edges of every pizza with olive oil and kosher salt 

if you want a bit more flavor but it's great without it too

 Notice how the parchment is a little off center.  When you are ready to pull it off use a spatula to ease the pizza onto the stone as you pull the parchment out form underneath your pizza.

perfect crust...this pizza was delicious!

Pizza 2:

Basil olive oil

Sautéed spicy sausage

Fresh Mozzarella

Fresh yellow bell pepper slices

Sun dried tomato's julienned

top with fresh basil after cooking

soooooo good!

Pizza 3:

Johnny's seasoning

Sliced fresh tomatoes

Sliced mozzarella

Thinly sliced prosciutto

Kalamata olives

Olive oil

Top with sliced hot peppers and basil after cooking

 This was such a great combo 

and we loved the spicy hot peppers added after cooking

Sorry for the length of this post 

but I know there are some pizza lovers out there 

who just might want to try this this weekend

whew that was fun

Have a super weekend!

Cheers, Kelley