Homemade Pizza.

It's a yummy dinner and a fun family activity - making your own pizza. You can pick whatever toppings you like, or experiment with new ones. This week the boys wanted traditional pizzas with sausage and pepperoni. I wanted something more eclectic so I tried to recreate one of my favorites - the Pear & Gorganzola from CPK. All the pizzas turned out yummy. Here are the pizzas we made. (And you can see my post of Homemade wheat pizza dough for the recipe)

The Ingredients:

Cooked italian sausage, pepperoni, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese.

Sliced pears, gorganzola cheese, baby greens, pear & gorganzola salad dressing, mozzarella cheese and caramelized shallots.

Putting them together.

For this one I put down a layer of mozzarella, then a layer of sliced pears and shallots and added a little gorganzola on top.

The final products:

After the pizza is cooked, toss the baby greens in the dressing and top the pizza with them. Then slice and serve.

Homemade wheat pizza dough.

What goes better with homemade pizza than a homemade dough (although you can find and use some from the grocery store if you need to - I like the bags of dough at Trader Joe's). For ideas about what do put on your pizza, see my post about Homemade pizzas.

Recipe
Adapted from Curtis Stone on Oprah

This makes 3 balls of dough, about 8 ounces each (personal pizza sized)
1/4 ounce dry or fresh yeast
1 tsp. honey
1 cup warm water (110 to 115°)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour , plus more for dusting
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil , plus more for brushing

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, combine yeast, honey and warm water and mix to dissolve. Allow mixture to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.

In a stand mixer mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, oil and yeast mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Attach dough hook to mixer and knead for 5 to 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth but firm. Remove dough hook and cover bowl with a warm, damp cloth and set in a warm spot for 30 to 40 minutes (or in a warmed oven) or until dough has risen to almost 1 1/2 times its size.

Divide the dough into 3 evenly sized balls (about 8 ounces each), and pull the sides of each ball down and tuck into the bottom of itself. Then, roll the dough under your hand until the top is smooth and has regained slight firmness.

Place the balls of dough back into the same bowl, rub lightly with oil and cover with a warm, damp cloth, and let rise for an additional 15 to 20 minutes in a warm spot.

Pound the dough on a floured work surface and reform into balls. You can roll out into pizza crusts immediately, or brush with a little olive oil and refrigerate covered until ready to use for up to 2 days. Dough will also keep in freezer for up to 2 months if tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.

Spinach & Proscuitto Pizza

Making home-made pizza is always a fun treat. It's a great activity to get kids involved in, from rolling out the crust to spreading out toppings. You can customize the pizza with toppings your family likes, or experiment with new flavors. This pizza was the latter. I love to buy whole wheat pizza crust from the refrigerated section at Trader Joe's, but I wanted to try some new toppings that were a bit healthier, so I found a recipe that I thought would work (even though there is no sauce)

Recipe
Adapted from Foodnetwork.com

1 whole wheat pizza crust
4 cups baby spinach
3 oz. prosciutto
½ c. shredded parmesean cheese

Directions

Roll out the pizza crust according to package directions. (We rolled out ours into a sqare, but you can use whatever shape you want). Spread the spinach out all over the crust. Cut up the proscuitto into bite-size pieces then spread over the spinach. Top with parmesean cheese. Cook 12-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is cooked and golden. Slice and serve.