Pizza!

 There are literally billions of pizza topping combinations that are possible! I'm serious! There is math behind that madness.. if there were just 20 options of toppings and you only put 5 on your pizza you're already well over a million different combinations you can make.. trust me! 20! / 15! = 1,860,480...  don't make me pull out a proof for that!

Since we like to eat healthy, Chicken and Veggies are a big hit in my family! You can do whatever toppings you like, but this guide will get you started with your basic tomato sauce and cheese pizza.

I've already walked you through the dough process.. now it's time to get your eat on!

What you need:
Flour
Cornmeal
Dough
Toppings (Pizza Sauce, Chicken Breast, Mozzarella, Onion, Broccoli, Red Pepper)
Pizza Stone
Pizza Peel


I have had an Old Stone Oven pizza stone for around 10 years and love it!




Any nice 14" peel will do. I say 14" because the stone is 14" and so you know you can make the pizza exactly the same size on the peel as the stone.

Having a nice pizza wheel helps with the cutting!

Recipe:

1. Put your pizza stone in the oven and preheat it to 500 degrees. The oven should heat for about 20 minutes once at the 500 degree mark to get the stone really hot. The whole point of the stone is to retain that 500 degrees and cook the heck out of your cust, so you have a nice crusty crust when the pizza is done. You won't regret the small investment in the tools to do pizza right.. and you'll never order pizza out again once you practice it at home, saving you tons!

 If you're making a chicken pizza, season your chicken to your liking and put your chicken breast in now and cook for 30 minutes. 1 to 1 1/2 chicken breast are usually enough for a pizza.

2. Prepare your other ingredients. For the Onion, Broccoli and Red Pepper, I chop around 3/4 cup worth of each, maybe 1/2 cup on the onion. Grate an 8 oz ball of Mozzarella. Chop the chicken once its cooked.

3. Prepare your dough:
Remove it from the bag using some flour on your hands and adding some to the outside of the dough as needed. Cover the dough in a light amount of flour so that it won't stick to the counter while you're working with it. Also put some on the counter where you will be working with the dough.

4. Put your hands on the dough just inside from the edge, in order to form an edge for the crust of the pizza.

5. Gently spread your hands apart, stretching the dough, and turning the dough in a circle after each stretch, so that you're continually stretching a new part of the dough as you go. Continue until your dough is roughly 14" in diameter, the same width as the peel.

You should be able to stretch the dough in this manor with out ever lifting it off the table. You can get fancy and twirl it in the air.. but that's for another post ;o)   and no, you can't use the dough if you drop it on the floor.. especially if you have a dog!

 If you're having a hard time stretching it, you can also lift the dough and work it around in a circle that way. If you get a tear in the dough, lay it flat on the counter and try to remove the tear by closing the opening and mending the dough back together.

6. Cover your peel in some CORNMEAL and place the dough on it. The cornmeal will allow the pizza to slide off the peel easily. Shake the peel a little to make sure your dough can slide off. If the dough is over stretched, you can usually play with it a little to get it to shrink back to the size of the peel.

 
7. We like to coat the crust in a little olive oil and sprinkle on some Brady Street from Penzy's Spices. This is a cheese sprinkle of theirs that gives the crust a really nice flavor.. this is especially good if you think crust is boring plain, like we do!

 8. Ladle on your sauce  and spread it around evenly. Don't go too heavy or your pizza might be sloppy. The crust needs to be able to hold the weight of all your toppings and the sauce can be one of the heaviest.

9. Sprinkle on your mozzarella and then all your other toppings. Again, don't go so heavy your crust can't take the weight of them.

As you are topping your pizza, double check you can still slide it off the peel. A few careful quick back and forths can usually get it unstuck.

10. When you're ready to cook, open your oven and pull out the stone. Heavily sprinkle it with some cornmeal to prevent your pizza from sticking to it. Cornmeal is best because it doesn't burn like flour and doesn't have much taste, usually not even sticking to the pizza anyway.

11. Carefully slide your pizza onto the stone. Sometimes getting the leading edge onto the stone will help pull off the rest if you do end up with a sticking problem.

12. Shut the oven up and cook for around 12 minutes, checking around 10 and 11. You want the crust to be nicely browned, but not overly so! This will vary based on your oven.. so watch carefully and learn the time it takes in yours. You should be able to lift the crust and check the underside to make sure it's fully cooked. Also you can squeeze the crust to feel its denseness.. if it's soft, give it a little more time.

13. Pull it out and let it rest on a cutting board. The sauce, cheese and any water that has come out of your veggies needs a few minutes to solidify again. Otherwise, when you cut it, it'll all run under and ruin your pieces making them soggy.. or your toppings will all fall off when you pick up a piece!

14. Slice it up and enjoy!