Pizza Part I

I was always a skeptic about homemade pizza until my mom purchased her first pizza stone a year or two ago.  That day changed my life forever.  No more weird, kind of crispy crusts.  Just delicious pizza.  It always seemed like a kind of pain, though, to have to mess with making the dough, letting it rise and rolling it out.  I don't know why, but making things like pie crusts or bread have always seemed beyond my reach.  Then, a couple months ago, my friend Mary made some awesome pizzas for a dinner party.  I spent the next couple weeks craving homemade pizza, and I knew I had to get myself a pizza stone, get past my fear of messing with crust and just try it out.  

Luckily I have an awesome mom who owns every kitchen gadget known to man and is willing to purchase kitchen gear for her kids.  I returned to Iowa one October weekend, and lo and behold, there was a pizza stone waiting for me.  Thanks, Mom!

So, for the last two months Matt and I have been making pizza after pizza after pizza.  We are slightly obsessed.  While I was marathon training I could somewhat justify the amount of dough I was consuming, but that time has come and gone and we are still going strong with making pies.  I think I might have a problem, but they're so easy to make that they've become our default dinner when we can't think of anything else to make and don't want to go out anywhere.  

On our latest attempt we ended up making 4 pizzas: one Hawaiian, one Mexican, and two mini canadian bacon & sauerkraut.  Not sure where the sauerkraut was for this photo...

And not all of the ingredients pictured for the Mexican pizza actually made in onto the pizza, but they give you an idea for possible toppings, no?  And Matt likes condiments, so he gets to see all of his options.  I'm just trying to help out.  

First, I should mention that I haven't had the courage (or time) to make my own dough yet, so we've been buying pre-made dough from Trader Joe's.  It's only about $1.20, comes in 3 flavors (regular, wheat & garlic herb), and is incredibly convenient.  I think the original is probably the easiest to work with, but we've liked them all.  

If you have a pizza stone just follow the directions that come with it.  Mine needs to be heated at 450 for 20 minutes or so before you start cooking on it.  

Then generously cover the surface of the paddle or whatever you're working on with cornmeal.  The cornmeal I have right now is pretty coarse and I would highly recommend using some that's more finely ground, but it works either way.  

Next, work the dough until you have a disc or a square or whatever odd shape you're into, and then throw on on the paddle. 

Spread on some sauce.

Add your toppings

And don't skimp on the cheese!  Ok, I generally don't put that much cheese on, but the site is called morecheesemorechocolate, right? 

And here it is in my teeny tiny oven.

Cook it until...until it looks ready?  Sounds good.  Maybe 20 minutes or so.  This one was kept in a little too long for my tastes, but it was still good.

While the first one is in the oven you can start working on the next one.  This one is ham & sauerkraut.  Don't scoff at the sauerkraut.  It's a highly underrated pizza topping.  Is that an oxymoron?  Regardless, sauerkraut is not given the chance it deserves when it comes to pizza.  The only restaurants I've been to with sauerkraut offered as a pizza topping are Wig & Pen Pub in Iowa City and Red's Savoy in St. Paul.  Matt was a little uncertain until he tried it at RS this summer, but they easily won him over.  Or maybe that was the pre-pizza pitcher of beer.  Either way, pizza + sauerkraut = delicious.  

Yum.  Here's what it looks like after you give it a healthy topping of cheese and cook it:

Now onto the Mexican pizza.  I started by sauteing the chorizo in olive oil for a few minutes until it was slightly browned.  I actually used soy chorizo from Trader Joe's.  It's more on the sweet side than the spicy side, and it works well with pizza.  Or migas.  Or tacos.  I could go on.  

While the chorizo is cooking go ahead and spread some refried beans (or taco sauce or just mashed up pinto beans if that's what you have) onto the dough.  Sprinkle on some green chiles if your heart so desires.  Just a warning - don't go too crazy with the beans.  They can really overpower everything else if you put too many on.  

Then ponga el chorizo en la pizza.  

Y el queso y el tomate.  Then into the oven you go.  

Top it off with some lettuce, salsa, sour cream, maybe some crushed up tortilla chips...  Et voila!  Mexican pizza!  

More pizza recipes to come...  Maybe my mom will share some of her pizza recipes with you one of these days (hint, hint).  Lamb, feta, & kale pizza anyone?