Recipe Wednesday: Pizza Making!

Recipe Wednesday was inspired by the Youngrens, California photographers who cook, photograph, and post recipes on periodic Sundays.  Cooking good wholesome food is something that is very important to my wife and I so I’ve decided to start documenting our kitchen adventures.  You’ll see pictures and recipes from books that are quickly becoming our go-to guides.  Hopefully it can give you some ideas for your own kitchen.

Heather and I LOVE to make our own pizza.  We had homemade pizza at a friend’s house a couple of years ago and were an immediate convert.  We snatched up the bread maker recipe from them and haven’t looked back since.  We make pizza when we have company, when we need something easy to throw together, and when we throw parties. The bread machine recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas so when its just us, we keep the 2nd half in the fridge to make later in the week.  You can also freeze the dough for longer storage.  You just want to make sure to bring the dough up to room temperature before you roll it out.

Over the years we’ve tried some pretty scrumptious creations, some of which will probably make their way onto the blog in the future.

This particular one comes from one of our favorite cookbooks, The  Tuscan Sun Cookbook by Frances and Edward Mayes.

We added mushrooms to our pizza along with the recipe listed below.
The earthiness of the mushrooms was a great addition to the onions and sausage.

Bread Machine Pizza Dough

Add all ingredients to the bread machine pan in the order listed:

1 1/2 cup warm water (plus a tablespoon or two for high altitude baking)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups all purpose flower
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons (one package) active dry yeast

Set the bread machine to the pizza dough setting and wait for the machine to do its job.

Pizza with Caramelized Onion and Sausage (makes two 14-inch round pizzas)

Extra-Virgin olive oil, for brushing the dough
4 yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon marjoram leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mozzarella
3 italian sausages, casings removed (or about 1/2 pound loose ground sausage)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you’re using a pizza stone, leave the stone in the oven as it preheats.

In a medium skillet, covered, on low heat, ‘melt’ the onions in the olive oil and balsamic vinegar for 20 minutes, stirring them frequently.  The onions should be caramel-colored and limp.  Season with the marjoram, salt, and pepper, and set aside.

Roll out the pizza dough on a bread board to the desired size.  Transfer to the heated pizza stone.

Baste the dough with olive oil.  Scatter the onions and cheese over the dough.  Break the sausage into 1/2 teaspoon-size pieces and stud the pizza with them.  Bake for 15 minutes at 500 degrees F or until the cheese is bubbling and the sausage is cooked.

Mmmm…mmmmm…good!