Launch Celebration Pizza!

Good afternoon everybody! Well my goodness, James and I were SO THRILLED to look at our blog after only 24 HOURS of it being online and seeing over 1200 views! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU all so much for being supportive and active with it! That was a very humbling thing for me... AND very exciting...

I'll let you in on a little secret: when I get excited, I cook! (surprise) So I decided to make our Monday post about our little launch celebration pizza! I say little not because the pizza was actually little, but because it was little IN COMPARISON to our full monty pizza that we normally make. We decided to make the "smaller" dough portion because it was late and we all know it's a terrible idea to eat a massive meal past 8 o'clock. (any 12-17 year old kids happening to read this, disregard that... we all know you still have magical stomachs that can demolish anything at any hour and you can maintain your 95 lb weight limit)

OK so here we go! I'll start with the small size dough recipe and instructions...


If you have a bread maker, I highly recommend using it, not because it's not fabulously fun to knead a giant ball of dough, but because if you don't have the patience to knead it WELL, it'll never turn out as perfect as the bread makers version. KNEADERS: if you love kneading and you are the world's greatest puncher, punch away, it'll take some time before it's really blended well but, I believe in you.  Do all of your mixing in a large bowl and put in each ingredient EXACTLY IN THE ORDER LISTED. When done mixing, form into a ball and cover bowl with a damp towel.  Let rise in a room temperature place for 1- 2 hours, or until almost doubled in size. If using a bread maker, put each ingredient EXACTLY IN THE ORDER LISTED in the machine. Then just enter in "small" for the dough size and put it on the normal "dough" cycle.  If you don't have a dough cycle and just a timer, let it pulse for 90 minutes before you pull it out and roll the rest.

Pizza Dough:

• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon honey or sugar (we've used both but honey is a healthier, just-as-tasty option)
• 1 teaspoon salt (sea or kosher)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 & 3/4 cups bread flour
• 6 tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 1 & 1/4 teaspoons yeast, active dry or bread machine

Now for the fun stuff:

After pretending like you're luigi and tossing the dough in the air,

roll out the dough with a rolling pin to desired thickness and spread edges with your hands. We made ours thinner this time, awesome.

Then for the sauce... I won't tell you how to make your sauce because we all know that tends to be a touchy subject to devout pizza lovers. :) So, make your own sauce and spread it.  I WILL however give you a little fun tip, that after you've made your sauce, dice up some fresh tomato and toss it with the sauce. It'll make it THAT much more fresh tasting.... like so...

Now here's the really easy, sneaky trick that will help your crust consistency be amazing and will help your toppings "set" better, so that they're not just all plopped on top and baked under cheese and fall off every time you take a bite. 

Cover the dough in the sauce and a thin layer of mozzarella and bake at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. Remove and continue with your toppings and cheese. This allows your crust to get a head start AND it creates a really nice warm, gooey platform for all your toppings. This is what it'll look like going in.

WHILE THIS IS BAKING: I suggest you cut up about half an onion and throw it in a sauté pan with a little olive oil. Stir them on medium until they get translucent and brownish in color. These will add SO MUCH RICH FLAVOR to your simple little pizza, you'll think you just went to the local italian joint and paid $15 for it.

Now for toppings... again, die hard pizza lovers don't want to hear my opinion on what makes for good pizza toppings, so all of you who love anchovy and chicken pizza, keep on keepin' on. But for those of you who are clueless as to making your own pizza at home because Little Caesar's $5 Hot-n-Ready have become your best friend, here's a little suggestion for you! Hawaiian!

We use:

• Those amazing onions first
• Pepperoni
• Ham or Sausage sliced (or both if you're my husband)
• Green or Yellow Pepper sliced (I prefer green for color's sake but TJ's didn't have any)
• Fresh Pineapple, diced
• Italian Herb blend seasoning (IF we don't have fresh basil & oregano)
• Mozzarella cheese
• Extra Virgin olive oil

Let it bake in the 375 degree oven for 15- 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on it though, every oven is different. We like ours to get a little brown on top so we normally go the whole 20 minutes. (and then sometimes even put the broiler on high for 2 minutes) ;)

It should look something like this:

There it is! How delicious right?? And SO EASY and SO MUCH HEALTHIER than a fast food pizza joint. Who KNOWS what they cook with, grease? What kind of preservatives do they put in the dough? Is that meat really MEAT? 

This way, you know EXACTLY what and how much what you're putting into your body and you can feel GREAT about enjoying every cheesy bite!

This was our celebration of YOU guys and your support of Recitherapy... so here's to you!

Happy Monday everyone! And if you decide to go for the pizza tonight (or ever), let me know how it goes!

Lots of love!