Pizza Madness

The pizza madness started on a visit to Chicago. Our daughter Amber and hubby Tadd would have 'pizza night', we started early in preparation for the work ahead. We chopped, diced, sliced and shredded. We kneaded dough and Tadd made a yummy fragrant sauce. The oven was torched to 500 and the fun began!! We rolled--some tossed and all made their own pizza. It was a fun night that stretched for hours, the pizza was the activity. No one kept track of how many pizzas we made and ate, after all they are small....each creation was as unique as its creator. Amber and Tadd brought Pizza night to Utah. I think Tadd cooked pizza for about 4 hours one night at Grammy's. We had a crowd of hungry cousins! Pizza night continues at the Linderman home, the Springers have a new pizza tradition thanks to Amber and I have even scaled back the recipe so it can be made by a couple of empty nesters. Anyway you make it it's delicious. Use the freshest ingredients available, fresh basil is a must, a little bit of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano will go along way. Have fun with this recipe---make it a family affair!
Here is the scaled down version, it makes about 6 small pizzas. I make my dough in my food processor:

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

2 teaspoons yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

3/4 cup lukewarm tap water

1-2 Tablespoons olive oil

Put everything but liquid in food processor bowl and whirl. Using dough hook slowly pour in water and oil, let mix about 1 minute. Put in oiled bowl, cover and let rise about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 525 with a baking stone inside. Let the oven preheat for at least 30 minutes.

On a pizza peel flatten about 1/6 of the dough on a piece of parchment paper. Make the dough as thick or thin as you like--we like ours very thin!!

Top with sauce, sprinkle with cheese and toppings.

Slide the pizza from the peel into the hot oven and bake about 8-10 minutes.
Sprinkle hot pizza with chiffonade (thinly sliced) basil. Cool a moment--it's hot

Tadd's Pizza Sauce

1 28 ounce CRUSHED Tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

2 T olive oil

Saute garlic in oil till fragrant, add sauce, 1/2 tsp salt and fresh pepper. Simmer 15 minutes. Adjust seasonings, may add some basil or a little sugar. This is a great easy sauce.

Jill's Easy Sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1 small can water

1-2 Tablespoons Pampered Chef Italian Seasoning

a little sugar, stir all together and it's ready to use!