Mama Mia Pizzaria

Last night for supper we made pizza and a big green salad. Pizza dough is so easy to make and will make your kids thinks you can walk on water. Try this pizza and you will never want take-out pizza again. Pizza Dough 1 tablespoon active dry yeast 3/4 cup warm water (100° to 110°) 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Combine yeast with warm water. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Combine flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and olive oil. Mix just until dough comes together. Turn the mix out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 1 minute. Shape into a ball. Place in a well-oiled bowl. Turn to coat with oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place until dough has doubled. The dough is ready to use or you can punch it down and allow it to rise a 2nd time. Pizza Sauce 1 can Hunts tomato sauce 1-2 cloves garlic crushed 1 tbsp chopped basil Simmer on the stove top to allow the flavors to mingle and to allow the garlic to loose the raw taste. It is time to make pizza! Our two youngest only eat cheese and pepperoni. Sometimes Gracie will request black olive be added. We more grown up pizza eaters try to eat more healthy. We like our pizza with marinated artichoke hearts, smoked sundried tomatoes, chopped spinach and fresh mozzerella cheese very thinly sliced. You may prefer other toppings but I try to make a more vegetarian pizza because Steven doesn't need a lot of greasey meat toppings. Using fresh cheese also keeps the top of the pizza from developing grease drips -you know what I mean. I do not like greasey pizza. This recipe makes 2 fourteen inch pizzas or you can make 4 seven inch individual pizzas. Roll out the dough for your pizza. Place it on your pizza pan (you can sprinkle a little cornmeal on the pan before you put the dough on to eliminate sticking -we use a brush of olive oil becauce we like a crisp crust). Add your toppings. Bake a very hot, pre-heated oven until the crust is done. We bake at 550°. This is the maximum setting on our oven and since we have the new oven with convection I did use the convection. The crust came out perfect in less than 15 minutes. It was delicious! For the salad it was a mix of baby spinach leaves, romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, a sprinkle of parsley flakes, a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. To make the pizza really economical with the more gourmet toppings I usually go to a place like Sam's or Costco and purchase the big jars of artichoke hearts in oil and oil packed sun dried tomatoes. I also get the giant bags of pepperoni. I break them up into small freezer bags just enough for pizza and freeze them. If you keep a few packages of yeast on hand you can make pizza anytime. You never have to make a shopping list and a special trip to the store to have a great pizza. One last thought. If you use the dough to make 4 seven inch pizzas you can cook those outside on your grill. Just brush with olive oil so the dough won't stick. Pop the rolled out dough onto the grill, turn after a couple minutes -watch closely so it doesn't burn. After it has been turned, add your toppings and let the cheese melt. It is a great pizza as well. Oh and one more thing. Your pizza doesn't have to be perfectly round to taste good. Free style shapes are great too!