Homemade Pizza

My wonderful hubby made dinner tonight! Fresh homemade pizza with some really creative and tasty toppings. He makes the pizza dough fresh using our bread machine (see his recipe below). The dough can be made in advance and frozen. On the left is Mexican pizza; La Victoria taco sauce as the base, topped with green chilies, black beans, onions, cilantro and cheese. On the right is his Barbecue chicken pizza; Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce for the base, topped with cubed grilled chicken, red bell pepper, zucchini, red onion, cilantro and cheese with the occasional turkey bacon bonus topping. He's had great success using our pizza stones and par bakes the crust for a few minutes before adding the toppings to get a perfect crust every time! I love his pizza. Anyone out there have some other creative pizza combos for us to try?

Pizza dough recipes:
Whole Wheat dough - for BBQ pizza:
Mix the following in the bread machine and run on the dough cycle: Makes two 12 inch pizzas.

• 1+1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1+3/4 cups AP flour
• 1+3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1+1/2 tsp salt
• 2+1/2 tsp bread machine yeast
• 2 tbsp flax meal (optional)

Why not 100% whole wheat? Well, too much whole wheat flour will make your dough tear or difficult to shape and it won't taste light and fluffy. You can try 100% whole wheat flour and then add some vital wheat gluten (~ 2 tbsp) to try to get a fluffy and light dough. I've found that it helps to just add a good source of fiber to the dough and leave some AP flour in the recipe. The best thing for this, in my opinion, is flax meal. It doesn't affect the baking mixtures because it doesn't absorb or add water nor does it appear to react in any way with the rest of the ingredients. Some say the soluble fiber in flax meal can help add structure - but most recipes that replace flour with flax meal they usually add eggs (or egg whites) too.


Semolina dough - for mexican pizza:
(we also like a corn meal dough for this one as well):
 Mix the following in the bread machine and run on the dough cycle: Makes two 12 inch pizzas.

• 1+1/2 cup water
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2+1/2 cups AP flour
• 1+1/2 cups Semolina durum wheat flour
• 1+1/2 tbsp honey
  
• 1+3/4 tsp salt
• 2+1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

When the dough cycle is over (~1.5hr) "cloak" the dough with AP flour and then divide into two even pieces. Shape each piece into a dome shape by folding the edges underneath. Cover with a damp towel for 30 minutes. Use immediately or place into quart size ziploc bags and refrigerate for up to 24hrs then let rest for 20 minutes on the counter, then use. Or freeze for up to 3 months, put the dough in the refrigerator the night before to defrost.


Baking instructions:
Par bake your dough! Pre-heat the oven with pizza stones at 450 F. Shape the dough using plenty of AP flour until it is a uniform 12-14 inches in diameter. Cook for about 5 minutes or so until the outside has a light crust to it but it is still very soft to the touch. Constantly check for bubbles in your dough, pop with a fork. Take it out and add your pizza toppings then cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly or until the dough is to your liking (some like hard crust some like soft). Enjoy.