Mushroom, Prosciutto & Gouda Pizza

I attempted to make a pizza to deviate a bit from the normal pizza we usually make.  David typically makes a delicious thick slow baked crust that rises quite a bit with a rich garlicly tomato sauce.  So, in effort to be totally different because I cannot reach his greatness - I made a thin crisp crust, no sauce, hearty mushrooms & crisp prosciutto with creamy gouda (leftover from last nights dinner)

I found the crust recipe in a Cooking Light magazine: Crust Recipe  I preheated up the pizza stone in the oven while it got up to 550 degrees.  Cooking at a high temperature helps get a nice crisp to the crust, however, I would recommend to clean out any little burnt crisps that lay in the bottom of the oven before getting it this hot.  The little boil over that I have postponed cleaning up created quite the whaft of black smoke that had the dog a bit worried.

While the oven heated up, I sauted 1 minced shallot with 8 oz of sliced mushrooms.  Once the mushrooms became tender, I stirred in a tablespoon of garlic and a few teaspoons of red wine vinegar.

We like to roll out pizza dough on cornmeal to give it that extra crunch, so once the oven was heated up, I rolled out the dough and topped with the mushroom mixture (no sauce needed), 3 oz of thinly sliced prosciutto, and shredded Gouda (leftovers from last night).  I baked for about 10 minutes. I watched closely in fear it would start on fire with the oven being so hot - but it all turned out without incident.

I loved this pizza - the flavors were different than the typical pepperoni and tomato sauce.  I didn't miss a sauce, and the prosciutto crisped up nicely.  I would definitely make this one again - and I'll remember to clean out my oven a bit first next time :)

Vranizan Pizza Night!

Ahh... the succulent taste of Pizza! Those who know me well knew this post was coming soon, I suppose. The wait is over, the time is now, and the food is Pizza.

Sunday night is Pizza night at the Vranizan residence. A time when we can take all the leftovers from the previous week, pile them atop dough sauce and cheese, and enjoy. It is my favorite food, and a solid way to ease me back to work the next morning.

I will try and share the recipe the best I can, but I do not really measure when I make pizza dough. My father taught me to cook my pizza from the heart, and I am my father's son. Instead of sharing my exact recipe with you, I'll leave you with some helpful pointers I have learned over time:

• When using Olive Oil, don't use the "Extra Virgin" stuff! It burns when you bake it (Thanks Pops!).
• Punch it and kneed it throughout the day as it rises. Doing so gives you a springy dough that is easy to manipulate and tastes full! We don't want flaky pie dough!
• When orignially mixing it all together, don't skimp! The more time you spend kneeding it the better it will turn out. I use a Kitchen-Aid with the dough hook for at least 15min.
• Use Brown Sugar to feed the yeast! They love molasses as much as I do (Not really true but it tastes delicious)!

Also sauce. Mmmmmm this is what makes our house smell delicious for a couple hours before we finally get to feast on our days work. I just cook down some tomato sauce for a couple hours so it is thick enough to spread. I use tons of garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. It takes about 2-3 hours to get it simmered to a good consistency.

Toppings we used:

• Peppers (Left over from stir-fry)
• Black Olives (Found in pantry)
• Sundried Tomatoes (From some pasta we made)
• Jalapeno stuffed olives (Found in fridge)
• Pepperoni (Left over from something... don't remember. Still good!)
• Mushrooms (Left over from fried rice)
• Fresh Pineapple (Other half goes to the dinner tomorrow night! Stay tuned...)

Some other various tips:

• Cornmeal instead of flour under the pizza pie when baking. Learn it, love it, live it.
• Some will tell you the point of a pizza stone is to pre-heat it in the oven first. I have done it pre-heated and not pre-heated and never noticed a difference. It heats up fast in the oven regardless and gives the pizza a good solid bake.
• Tillamook Mozzarella cheese is not my favorite, but when it is on sale I buy it anyways to support the local flavor. I prefer Precious.
• Anything can go on a pizza. Anything.
• Chianti is almost always my favorite wine pairing, regardless of what ends up on the pizza.