mexican nacho pizza

My pizza dough recipe was wack. You made it and you liked it. Phew! I've made some pretty interesting pizzas in my past. Remember when I made a pizza with goat cheese, spinach and figs? Or that time when I threw apples on there and called it awesome? Right now I could be in Halifax dipping my pizza crusts into donair sauce. I'm not sure what donair sauce is, but I'm sure I'll find out. Maybe I'm eating potato pizzas in PEI while laying on a red sand beach. But for the sake of this post, I'm going to take a trip down Mexico way or at least dip into Tex-Mex territory and talk about a pizza topped with refried beans, sour cream and cilantro. Don't be afraid, it's a good combo. I made this vegetarian, but feel free to add some sauteed ground beef or some chorizo sausage to top up this baby. This is a weighty pizza...those refried beans aren't lightweight, so it's filling and there will be extras for the following day. And that's okay, because this pizza tastes great the second day.

mexican nacho pizza
1 pizza dough, half baked
1 can of refried beans
1 T cumin
1 T chili powder
1 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t salt
1 c grated cheddar cheese
1 c fresh salsa
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 425. Half-bake your pizza dough for 10 minutes, remove from oven and set aside. In a bowl, mash together the refried beans and spices. Spread bean mixture over pizza dough. Sprinkle cheese evenly over top. Spread cheese layer with fresh salsa and bake until the pizza is heated through and cheese starts to bubble, about 10 - 15 minutes. Spread sour cream over pizza and sprinkle with cilantro. Cut and serve.

stranger than paradise: pizza with goat cheese, spinach and figs

I really should make pizza all the time. It's so easy and it's utterly delicious. Unfortunately, it's those same reasons why it's best to show restraint. A lot of pizza really isn't that good of a thing, if you know what I mean.

I made this pizza earlier in the month when my fridge still had leftovers of holiday-type ingredients like goat cheese and figs and fancy hams.Salty, sweet and fan-freakin'-tastic, this pizza tasted better than anything I could have imagined. It's the kind of pizza I could eat everyday. In fact, both Cornelius and I inhaled the pizza in just one sitting. I remember the night well. We had a library-borrowed Criterion edition of my favorite Jim Jarmusch film on the tv (Stranger Than Paradise) and a couple glasses of a really nice red. Perfect.

The only wrench was in the making of the pizza dough which I found via Smitten Kitchen. Not that it turned out badly, it didn't. In fact, the final product was lovely and as close to perfect as any I've made in the past. But the making of it? A total bitch. It seemed so wrong, despite the fact that I made it in my Kitchen Aid mixer. The dough was more granite than elastic and it took my mixer for quite a thumpity-thump ride across my counter-top. But I let it rise a few hours and then I put it in the fridge overnight because I didn't trust it as it had given me such grief. But it all panned out in the end. The pizza dough tasted great, but I don't think I'll try that recipe again. Instead, I'll fall back on my old standby or try out something new for kicks.

pizza with goat cheese, spinach and figs
1 recipe pizza dough or store bought
3 T pesto
1/2 bunch of spinach, washed & torn
1/4 sweet onion, sliced thinly
6 strips of Westphalia ham, torn
2 large dried figs, diced
1/2 log goat cheese
4 T Parmesan cheese
2 T sundried tomato oil (you know, the oil in the jar of sun dried tomatoes)

Prepare pizza dough into a baking sheet or pizza stone. Spread pesto evenly over top and scatter spinach leaves on top. Evenly scatter the onion slices, ham and figs over top and then pinch blobs of goat cheese over everything. Add Parmesan cheese over top and drizzle with the sundried tomato oil.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 400F oven or until sides brown slightly. Put pizza under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until goat cheese gets slightly golden. Remove from oven and dig in.

the mac daddy: apple, onion and cheddar pizza

Sundays are often a night we head out with friends to a local brew pub and eat cheap thin crust pizzas, drink delicious pints and play cards. One of the pizzas I like at this pub is called the "Johnny Mac" because it's topped with MacIntosh apples. I kid you not. It also has ranch dressing instead of tomato sauce, along with fresh tomatoes, bacon and cheddar cheese. I could do without the ranch dressing, but the pizza itself is delicious. This Sunday I was sick, so I stayed inside and dealt with the hand I was given. But not wanting to ruin the fun, I decided to make pizza at home for dinner. And as luck would have it, I had a huge bag of local, organic MacIntosh apples! Forget the Johnny Mac, this was gonna be the Mac Daddy of pizzas.

I kept the cheddar and apples, but did away with everything else and worked with what I had available. I caramelized a whack load of onions, threw on some salty capers along with some chewy sun dried tomatoes and a few dabs of pesto for good measure. The Johnny who?? This pizza was delicious.

apple, onion & cheddar pizza
2 T olive oil
2 large red onions, sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 ball of pizza dough (store bought or homemade)
1 T capers
1/4 c sliced sun-dried tomatoes
3 T pesto
2 MacIntosh apples (or any tart apple), sliced thinly
1 c cheddar cheese, grated

1. Preheat oven to 375. In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, adding in onions and garlic. Stir until onions turn soft, about 10 minutes. Add in balsamic vinegar and turn down heat to medium-low, stirring occassionally. The onions should be soft, glossy and caramelized, if they get too dry, add in a little water. Remove from heat.

2. Roll out your pizza dough and place on sheet. Spread dough with a thin layer of pesto and cover with caramelized onions and sprinkle with capers, and sun-dried tomatoes. Spread a layer of apples over top and then cover with cheese. Bake in oven for about 15-20 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.

easy as pie: the best pizza ever

Making pizza is a snap. Once you've got some dough made, putting the ingredients together and making something truly sensational that you've made from scratch isn't very difficult or time-consuming at all. And it tastes way better than anything you'd find in the Yellow Pages.

For me, a thin crust pizza is best without tomato sauce. Deep dish pizza? Well, that's something else entirely. Keeping it thin...just some olive oil and some fresh vegetable toppings and a smattering of cheese, thank you very much. As for the pizza dough, it takes just over 2 hours to make, including rise-time, so if you plan your day in advance, you will have pizza for dinner and another pizza the next day. This dough recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas, so it's definitely worth making. You can also freeze the dough after you've let it rise. Just tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for future use.

And if you are interested in knowing a bit more about me, Marilyn over at Simmer Till Done interviewed me.

basic (but wonderful) pizza dough
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 1/4 c warm water
2 1/2 c all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
2 T olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1/2 t salt
cornmeal

1. In a large bowl, combine the yeast and 1 cup of the warm water. Stir in flour, salt and olive oil and mix with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough begins to form at the bottom of the bowl. Add the rest of the warm water and shape the dough into a ball using your hands. Flour up your hands if it becomes too sticky and knead, baby knead! Knead for about 5 minutes until the dough gets nice and elastic.

2. Oil up another large bowl. Place dough ball inside and cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm-ish place and let it rise for 2 hours. Once it has doubled in size, you've reached gold. Spread cornmeal and a bit of flour on your work surface and plop dough on top. Cut dough in half with a knife. You can put the second half of dough back in the oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap to let it rise again in the fridge, so that you can have pizza the next day. Or just oil up 2 pans or baking sheets and have 2 pizzas right now.

3. Using a rolling pin, roll out the 1/2 lump of dough until it reaches a lovely thickness. I like it fairly thin, yet sturdy enough that you can't see through the dough. Transfer dough to your greased baking sheet and throw on your favorite toppings. Bake for 15 minutes or so at 400 degrees. Pull it out when the cheese gets all bubbly and the crust gets golden around the edges.

my favorite pizza toppings (of the moment):
As this is a thin-crust pizza you want to keep the toppings light, so don't go crazy adding everything in the fridge. You must keep a perfect balance of crust and topping. For me, I spread a little bit of really good olive oil over the top, followed by a bit of pesto, chopped tomatoes, dried red chili flakes, thinly sliced red onions, fresh basil leaves (torn), a bit of kosher salt, and because it was the only cheese in my house at the time, old orange cheddar thinly strewn about.

it's not delivery: deep dish skillet pizza

When I told my husband that we'd be having pizza for dinner, he assumed we'd be ordering in some delivery. Nope, this was going to be the real deal with homemade crust and all. While I've made homemade pizza in the past, my dough usually comes from a bakery that does all the labour for me....I just need to let it rise, punch it down and stretch it out. Not too much hassle. But now that I've primed my yeast-baking skills, I figured it was time for me to branch out and bake a real pizza with real dough made from my 2 hands. Exciting times in this household!


I always thought making dough would be tough but really it's pretty simple. Just a few repetitive steps: stir, knead, rise, punch, knead...ta-da!! I had spotted a recipe for a deep dish sausage pizza in the Gourmet Cookbook (my go-to cookbook edited by my muse, Ruth Reichl), and decided that I'd create my own sauce and toppings but definitely follow the dough recipe step by step. While I followed the directions carefully, this dough was unlike any of the bakery dough that I had used in the past. While it was much easier to work with, it certainly wasn't as elastic and stretchy so that made me slightly fearful that I had somehow screwed up this pizza attempt. Luckily, the crust was perfect and even tastier than its bakery counterpart!


As for the toppings, I just went with what I had in the fridge. I love pineapple on pizza, but you could certainly substitute your favorite toppings to make the pizza of your dreams. Instead of mozzarella cheese, I used a farmer's cheese recommended to me by the proprietor of my favorite local Italian deli. He not only sold me some lean pancetta, but told me that the farmer's cheese would go great on pizza. It was perfect!

deep dish tomato, pancetta & pineapple skillet pizza
dough:
1/4 t sugar
1/2 c warm water (105° - 115°F)
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 1/2 c flour, plus additional for dusting
1/4 c cornmeal
1/2 t salt
1 T olive oil

topping:
1 T olive oil
1/4 c chopped pancetta (or bacon)
1 small onion, sliced thinly
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small can of diced tomatoes
1 t dried oregano
1 t dried basil
salt & pepper to taste
1 c fresh pineapple, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
1½ - 2 c grated farmer's or mozzarella cheese

1. Make the dough by stirring together the sugar, warm water and yeast in a large bowl. Let stand for about 5 minutes or until the surface appears creamy. Add flour, cornmeal, salt and oil and stir until dough forms. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Dust occasionally with flour to prevent sticking.

2. Place dough in a large oiled bowl and turn dough to coat with oil. Let rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm location until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. While dough is rising, start making the sauce.

3. In a large skillet, heat oil and fry up pancetta. If you use a fatty pancetta or bacon, you may not need oil at all. Add in onion and turn down heat slightly, letting the onions get soft and slightly caramelized. Add in garlic, tomatoes, spices and salt and pepper and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 500°. Oil up a cast iron skillet. Punch down dough and knead 4 times. Press dough into oiled skillet with oiled fingers until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is an even thickness on the bottom. Let dough rise in a warm place for 15 minutes, covered loosely in plastic wrap.

5. Sprinkle dough with half of the cheese then top with tomato sauce. Evenly sprinkle pineapple and green pepper on top and then cover with remaining cheese. Bake for 12 minutes and then lower oven temperature to 400° and bake for 8 minutes more or until edges of crust are golden. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 5 minutes before cutting.

breakfast pizza

Yesterday morning, I put some pizza dough in a bowl, covered it with cling film and let it go about it's yeasty business. By nightfall, the dough had risen and was at it's peak, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, my plans to make a pizza dinner that night fell through. So when I woke up this morning, I looked into the bowl of risen dough and found my inspiration. Breakfast pizza! Everyone likes a slice of re-heated pizza in the morning once in a while, so why not go the extra distance and create one from scratch with a breakfast twist.

So I oiled up my cookie sheet, making sure my hands got nice and olive oily in the process and set to work stretching the dough to all four corners of the pan. If I was a bit more practised in the art of taming the sticky dough, I most certainly would have tried to create a bit more of a raised edge. A little bit more olive oil on top for a nice glisteny finish, some cut up scallions and sundried tomatoes were scattered about the top of the dough. Then I threw on some fresh basil leaves and fresh spinach and popped the whole thing into the oven for about 5 minues to get the dough a bit crusty and the toppings wilty. Meanwhile, I took 3 eggs and beat them in a small bowl, seasoning them well with kosher salt and pepper. I also sliced some leftover smoked Mennonite farmer's sausage into disks. Out of the oven came the pizza and I immediately laid out the sausage into a pleasing pattern right on top. Then I slowly pored the beaten eggs over top. You can imagine why I wish I was more skilled in the art of spreading out the pizza dough....as a raised edge works wonders for keeping the runny eggy goodness on the dough and off of the cookie sheet. Oh well. I popped the pizza back in the oven for a couple of minutes and then went back in to scrape off the slightly firmed up egg off the sheet and back onto the pizza. I then covered the whole thing with some grated Cheddar cheese and put the whole shebang back into the hot oven. When the cheese became nice and melty and bubbly, the breakfast pizza was ready.

And oh, what a breakfast it was! Savory and rich and melty and crisp. It was the most perfect breakfast for a rainy Saturday morning and I can't wait to try a new breakfast pizza variation soon. With a breakfast like this to look forward to, there is no need to sleep in.