Pretty pizzas

This evening I was inspired by Jenna's post at Eat, Live, Run.

She posted a great recipe for pizza dough and now that I have yeast in the house, I wanted to give it a try.

In my usual fashion, I did my best to follow the recipe, but unfortunately, I ran out of flour. I had to make do with what I had on hand, so I used matzo meal to fill in.

Those nubby bits on the dough? That is the matzo meal.

Even with my creative addition - the dough was wonderful. Elastic and soft with a great yeasty smell.

I cut the dough in half and stuck one in the freezer.

The other half I used to make 2 personal size pizzas.

Tomato sauce, mozzarella, yellow tomato and olives.

Pesto with mozzarella and Parmesan.

The difference in pizza when the dough tastes great? Stunning.

Yum!

It's all about the dough

Since I had such a light breakfast, I was really hungry by the time lunch rolled around.

The banging has been non-stop making it impossible to concentrate. Another good excuse for procrastinating!

I had that newly found bag of flour sitting in the fridge so I decided to make some dough - Pizza dough :-)

The dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups of flour + 2 3/4 tsp. of baking soda.

I found a recipe for a yeast free pizza dough here - not because I have anything against yeast - I just didn't have any in the house.

1 Tbsp of olive oil and 1 1/2 cup of water mixed in.

I kneaded the dough for about 5 min. but it wasn't looking quite right.

I added in another Tbsp. of olive oil and it started looking a bit better.

Then I tore off enough dough for a single serving size pizza.

I rolled out the dough.

A little olive oil on top.

Pizza 1: spaghetti sauce, garlic powder, basil and oregano.

Mozzarella, parmesean and a sprinkle of basil on top.

I used the cooking instructions I found here. Which I now realize are intended for store bought pizzas - probably not the best choice.

After 15 minutes in a 375 degree oven, it came out over cooked and dry :-(


Pizza 2:

Olive oil and parsley.

I thinly sliced a potato.

Salt and pepper.

Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil on top.

This time I cooked it for only 12 minutes - then I moved it to the lowest rack in the oven and let it cook under a high broiler setting for 2 minutes.

A very pretty pizza!

Pizza 2 turned out great. The crust was slightly crunchy with the dough cooked to perfection. 


The broiler did the trick with the potatoes - they were tender with the edges just turning crispy.

 

I enjoyed Pizza 2 with a small side salad of baby greens with a fat-free raspberry balsamic dressing and an apple.

My conclusion on the dough experiment? It turned out fine but not great. I think I will go with a recipe that uses yeast next time.


The dogs got a choice between Pizza 1 and Pizza 2 - they both choice to enjoy a small bite of Pizza 2.


Yup, my dogs have good taste :-)