The Return of Great Pizza!!!

Not all my kitchen items came with me to Tennessee when I first moved. One of the things that got left behind was my pizza stone - I just got it back and couldn't wait to use it. Growing up in Windsor(Ontario, Canada) I got so used to great authentic Italian-style pizza - from small family pizzerias, no chain stuff me! Making my own pizza on a stone is the closest thing I can get to it - I tried a new dough & sauce recipe, as well as using turkey sausage instead of pepperoni. I meant to grill the pizza, but I was anxious to use the stone again (plus we're low on propane...)

Grilled Pizza Dough
from Bella Lately

I did not grill it, or follow the directions exactly, I am only posting the parts that I followed, which is basically the ingredients. Click on the link to see the original recipe, if desired.

Makes 1 lb dough, enough for 2 (9-inch) pizzas.

1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 3/4 to 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading and dredging3/4 cup warm water (105-115°F)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Stir together yeast, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1/4 cup warm water in a measuring cup and let stand until mixture appears creamy on surface, about 5 minutes. (If it doesn't, discard and start over with new yeast.) Stir together 1 1/4 cups flour and salt in a large bowl, then add yeast mixture, oil, and remaining 1/2 cup warm water and stir until smooth. Stir in enough of remaining flour (1/4 to 1/2 cup) for dough to come away from side of bowl.

Knead dough on a work surface with floured hands, re-flouring work surface and hands when dough becomes too sticky, until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 8 minutes. Generously dust balls all over with flour and put in a medium bowl.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hours. Dough can be allowed to rise, covered and chilled, 1 day. Bring to room temperature before kneading.

Form pizza rounds: Do not punch down dough. Gently dredge 1 ball of dough in a bowl of flour to coat, then transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Holding 1 edge of floured dough in the air with both hands and letting bottom touch work surface, carefully move hands around edge of dough (like turning a steering wheel) Lay dough round flat on floured surface and continue to stretch by pressing dough with your fingertips, working from center outward to edge, stretch into a about 16-18 inches in diameter. The original recipe made two 9 inch pizzas, or 4 smaller ones, but I made one large.

I put the dough on a pizza paddle that was dusted with cornmeal, and added my toppings.I preheated my pizza stone on the lowest rack at 500 degrees for 45 minutes, lowered the temp to 475 degrees and baked for 8-10 minutes.

Pizza Sauce
from me!
8 oz no-salt added tomato sauce
3 oz tomato paste
1 ts minced garlic
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp dried Italian seasoning
4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients in a bowl,cover and let flavors blend for about an hour. It makes enough sauce for about 2 large pizzas.

For my toppings, I used part-skim mozzarella cheese, a little less than half of the sauce, some thinly sliced baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced red pepper(into rings) & small slices of red onion. I took 2 mild Italian turkey sausages out of the links, and browned it and added a few sprinkles of garlic powder & dried Italian seasoning, and added it to the toppings. A nice change & lower fat option than using pepperoni!