Craving Pizza?

Last month, Stephen and I had Stephen's sister and her husband over for dinner and a game of Settlers of Cataan.  In an effort to please all people involved, and to spice things up, I decided that we would all be making our own personal panned pizzas.  I had a great "Chicago-Style Pepperoni Pan Pizza" recipe from The Cook's Country Cookbook that I had made back in the Spring for my Chicago Small Group  that turned out to be quite a hit.  The only problem with it was that the pizzas it made were only 9" (and they weren't intended to be personal pan pizzas) - not that big.  The more I thought about it, the better that was - with a smaller pizza, we could all make our own and have a pizza exactly the way we wanted it!  Here are pictures to show the progress; recipe to follow:

My pizza toppings: sauce (recipe to follow); mozzarella; mushrooms; green pepper; onion; Italian sausage; pepperoni

The dough before it started to rise

Cutting up the toppings to prepare for the dressing of the pizzas

Dividing the dough among 4 8" cake pans - be sure you rub them down with olive oil first

Once you've divided the dough, push and pull it to cover the entire bottom of the cake pan

Assign everyone their own pan and allow them to make their pizzas to their liking and then bake in the oven

Enjoy! - YUM!!!

Ingredients for dough:

(To make an 8" pizza for 4 people, I doubled these recipes)

*1/2C olive oil *3/4C plus 2T skim milk heated to 110 degrees *2t sugar *2 1/3C all-purpose flour, plus extra for the work surface *1 envelope rapid-rise or instant yeast *1/2t salt

What to do:

*Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position and heat the oven to 200 degrees.  When it reaches 200 degrees, turn it off. Lightly grease a large bowl and coat two 9-in cake pans with 3T of the oil (I used 8").

*Mix the milk, sugar, and remaining 2t oil in a measuring cup.

*Mix the floud, yeast, and salt using a standing mixer and a dough hook. Turn the machine to low and slowly add the milk mixture. After the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium-low and mix until the dough is shiny and smooth, about 5 minutes.

*Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, shape into a ball, and place in the greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the warm oven until doubled in size (30 minutes).

*Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, divide in half, and roll each half into a ball.  Take 1 ball of dough at a time and spread it across the bottom of your cake pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot (not the oven) until puffy and slightly risen, about 20 minutes (oops!  I forgot to do this - still tasty!).  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

*When the dough is ready, cover it with your favorite toppings and then put it in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the dough is browning around the edges.

*Enjoy!!!

Simple Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

*1T olive oil *2 garlic cloves, minced *1 (28oz) can crushed tomatoes *Salt and pepper

What to do:

Cook the oil and garlic in a medium saucepan over low heat until fragrant (2 minutes). Add the tomatoes, increase the heat to medium and cook until slightly thickened, 10-15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  

I promise, this is sure to please!  Who doesn't like to be able to make their own, tasty personal pan pizza?!  It sent me right back to elementary school and collecting book-its to take to Pizza-Hut!  I hope you love it as much as we do!