This is the pizza dough that I purchased at Trader Joe's and froze until I was ready to use it. Today was 'PiZZa DaY!'. I made 3 different kinds of pizza with the various doughs and of course I included photos.
I have a secret when it comes to pizza and that is my handy dandy pizza peel, my Pampered Chef 15" Round Stone and preheated 500 degree oven. I put the 'seasoned' stone inside to preheat as well. I allowed the dough to defrost and come to close to room temperature. This is my first time working with this dough and it was a very smooth dough and was pretty strong as pizza doughs go. I generally make my own crust but this was a real treat for all of us :o)
For the veggie pizza's I visited the salad bar at the local grocery store and picked up some green bell peppers, tomatoes, red onions, black olives, sliced banana peppers, crumbled feta cheese, mushrooms and spinach. I love doing this for two reasons: the first being it is cheaper than buying entire packages of each item or whole units and the second is some of the preparation is done. I also tried the boboli pizza sauce for the first time today. I prefer white pizzas or cream sauces, but my family likes tomato sauce. I felt that it was a little thicker after cooked than what I'm used to since I usually make sauce from crushed tomatoes. Enough about my obsessions...
The first pizza was made with one of the garlic herb pizza doughs. I layered some mushrooms, olives, red onions, bell peppers and banana peppers with mozzarella and feta cheese. Here are before and after photos:
The next pizza was one after my own heart :o) This one I drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and spread minced garlic over a garlic herb crust. I topped it with fresh tomatoes, red onions, bell peppers, spinach leaves, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. Here's a photo of my low fat veggie pizza.
I always dust my peel with yellow cornmeal to keep it from sticking and slide the pizza off the peel and onto the stone. I use the peel to remove the pizza by sliding it swiftly underneath the pizza and lifting it off.
Last but not least, I made a couple of pepperoni pizzas with the plain dough. They came out great! My family really raved about these and they should know, they are pepperoni connoisseurs :o)
I loved this pizza dough. Both kinds were so smooth and very easy to stretch. I would buy these doughs again and often! Next time I'll make garlic knots with the garlic herb dough. YUMMMMMM! My favorite!
Give your local pizza joint a break and try a 'make your own' pizza night. Assemble a variety of toppings like precooked(not overcooked) Italian sausage, pepperoni, and an assortment of veggie's and let the kids get involved. See what kind of combinations they come up with.
Psst! (Leftovers make great lunches!)
