Real Recipe Friday

Today's recipe requires a bread maker, so I'm not sure how many of you will be able to take avantage of this recipe. Are bread makers even "in" anymore? They were big in the early part of this decade. I still use mine, but mostly for this recipe alone. Once in a while I'll make bread in my bread machine (how novel), but typically, it's sole purpose is as a Pizza Crust Maker!

You could use this delicious dough for pizza or calzone. I think I am going to try to make calzones soon. It's a wondeful dough, and it's especially wonderful for the grill! I've also used it to make pizzas in the oven, so either way you choose, it's a winner. By the way, I got this recipe from the company that made my bread machine!

Rustic Pizza Margherita

1 cup + 2 tbsp warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast (this is typically one full packet)

Place ingredients in the bread maker pan in the order listed above. Place pan in bread maker and close lid. Process on the pizza dough cycle (cycle should take about 1 hour). When cycle is finished, remove dough and form into a ball. Cut ball in half, form each half into a ball. If preparing pizza right away, transfer one ball to lightly floured surface. If preparing pizza up to 12 hours later, transfer each ball to a bowl coated with olive oil, cover and refrigerate until ready to use (pizza dough could also be brushed lightly with olive oil, wrapped in plastic wrap, sealed in a plastic freezer bag and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw completely in refrigerator and process as recipe directs).

For each pizza, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll one ball of dough on lightly floured surface to 14 inch circle (or if you are making pizza on the grill, roll into rectangle shape like we did above), slightly less than 1/4 inch thick. You can go pretty thin with this dough! Transfer dough to pizza pan or cookie sheet. Brush olive oil evenly over dough, and top with desired ingredients. Place pizza pan or cookie sheet on bottom oven rack, and bake for 18-20 minutes depending on oven. Slice up pizza and enjoy!

Need some ideas on how to top that pizza crust of yours? How about....

• chicken alfredo sauce/chicken/green onions/mozzarella cheese (my personal favorite)
• olive oil/spinach/sauteed mushrooms/roma tomatoes/mozzarella cheese
• red sauce/sausage/mushrooms/mozzarella cheese
• red sauce/romaine/bacon/blue cheese
• bbq sauce/pulled pork/green onions/fontina cheese (this is a little out there!!)
• Caeser salad dressing/chicken/garlic/romaine/parmesean cheese/mozzarella cheese (Chicken Caesar Pizza)

These are just a few fun ways for how to top your homemade pizza dough tonight! The sky's the limit on what kind of toppings you can add to your pizza, so give one of these wild combinations a try! If you do end up making the recipe I shared with you today, be sure and drop me a line and let me know how it turned out!

Hugs,

Amy