Pizza Tips:
Use unbleached all-purpose flour (this makes it more stretchy and makes the crust chewy, yet, soft)
I like to make the pizza dough 2-3 days before I make pizza and keep it in the fridge. This give the dough a nice flavor.
1 lb flour, 1 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp yeast, approx 10 oz. water - Form in cuisinart and then let rise 2-3 hours. Punch down and store a large tupperware bowl to allow for expansion. I also place a small amount of plastic wrap directly on the dough even though you use a lid, so that a crust does not form.
If you use the refrigerator method, divide the dough in thirds when you take it out of the fridge and push down slightly on a floured surface. Cover. Let rest and come closer to room temp before stretching/forming. (30 min)
Work with a smaller pizza - the pizzas above are about 10-11 inches diameter. I made three of these with one pizza dough recipe (1 lb of flour) If your pizza is smaller it will be easier to form and transfer into the oven.
Don't overload with toppings - too many toppings=soggy crust.
Use a mix of cheeses - today I used Mozz (mostly), then on top of the toppings I sprinkled Romano and Asiago. Parmesan is also good. Suz premixes all of her cheeses and uses her 4-cheese blend for all Italian cooking.
Both flour and cornmeal on the peal will help the pizza slide onto the stone.
Oven needs to be at 500 degrees - preheat with the stone in for at least 45 min. Don not take the stone out of the oven.
Place end of peel towards back of stone and very slowly and gently wiggle the pizza off. (That way your toppings won't all fall off and get burned on the pizza stone.)
After you remove your pizza from the oven with the peel - transfer immediately to a cooling rack. This will help the bottom crust to stay crisp and not get soggy.
Here is the Pizza Sauce recipe:
14 oz. diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 T. oil
1 t. salt
½ t. basil
1 T. brown sugar
½ t. marjoram
½ t. thyme
½ t. oregano
¼ t. garlic powder
Blend in cuisinart
If you double this, you'll have to use a blender or vitamix - this is too much liquid for the cuisinart, unless you do two batches.
Simmer about 20 minutes on low to enhance flavor.
I always double this amount and divide the whole thing into thirds. If you double it, then 1/3 of the doubled recipe is about perfect for a regular batch of pizza 2-3 pizzas. I freeze the other two portions separately to use the next two times I make pizza.
I go this recipe originally from Alison, who got it from Emily (i think). The original recipe did not contain sugar and did not say anything about simmering. Suz was the first to add sugar to make the sauce a little sweeter like Little Ceasers. Last year, I came accross this same recipe (almost exactly) in a Top Secret Recipe Cookbook for a clone of Little Ceasers Pizza Sauce. That is where I got the idea to simmer the sauce for better flavor
I was thinking it might be nice to make a big batch of pizza seasoning: equal portions of basil, marjoram, thyme, oregano, 1/2 portion of garlic powder, and double portion of salt. you could add sugar to this, too, but not brown. Then when you go to make pizza sauce, you would just add 1 Tbsp + 1/4 tsp of the mix to one can of tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 T. sugar and 1 T. olive oil.
What do you think?
