Laine's Pizza

This post is just for my father-in-law...so he'll quit begging for the recipe for my pizza, especially the crust. I figured I'd oblige and share since he just had a birthday and he is awfully nice and all. =P

And for everyone else reading this...if your hubby is a pizza lover (like mine is!) you REALLY need to make this! He'll thank you. =)

Crust Ingredients:

1 package instant dry yeast or 2 1/4 tsp.
1 tsp. white sugar

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. garlic salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy and frothy, about 10-15 minutes.

3. Mix olive oil and Italian Seasoning together. Stir flour, salt and oil into yeast mixture. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.

4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll with a rolling pin to desired shape and size for the pan of your choosing. Roll the dough a little larger than your pan size so you'll have plenty for the crust edge.

5. Transfer dough to a lightly greased pizza pan or jelly roll pan (think cookie sheet with an edge all the way around.) *I have found that the easiest way to transfer the dough is to gently roll it up on your rolling pin and then roll it out onto your pan. DO NOT set the rolling pin down while the crust is rolled up on it because you'll never get it unrolled. Trust me. You don't want to know how I know this!* After tranferring, arrange the dough and and fold the extra crust under to make the edges. And don't worry about it looking perfect....pizza is very forgiving!

6. Spread crust with sauce and then top with desired toppings.

7. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is all gooey and bubbly. =) Cool for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!!

Pizza Tips:

-Use Spaghetti sauce instead of pizza sauce, it's not only more tasty, it's cheaper. I buy the 28oz. can. When I make pizza I always make two (one to eat and one for the freezer) and I use half on each pizza. If you are only making one pizza, just put the other half of the sauce into a freezer bag for next time! Or you could make these breadsticks and use it for dipping!

-While your pizza is baking, melt about 1 tbsp. of butter and add some parmesean cheese and a sprinkling of garlic salt. When your pizza is fresh out of the oven, take a pastry brush and brush this mixture onto the hot crust. Oo-la-la!

-Sprinkle some parmesean on your pizza before you bake it.

-Get creative with the toppings! In the pizza pictured, I put fresh spinach (like you would have in salad) and mushrooms under the mozzarella cheese and then put mild ground sausage on top. It was fabulous! Some other delicious combinations we like are:

-Chicken, mushrooms and spinach

-Vegetarian with peppers, onions, spinach, mushrooms, olives and fresh sliced tomatoes

-Sausage and black olives

-plain Pepperoni...always a classic! =)

Really, the combinations and possibilities with pizza are pretty much endless. Just have fun with it!