Elisa's Eye on the World

Pizza Dough From Scratch - Not So Hard!

Gather the tools!

Make sure the yeast is fresh!

Disolve yeast in water; then add the salt. Don't rush.

Mix dry ingredients (flours) well because once added to liquid; the idea is NOT to mix too much.

After adding dry to wet and mixing (not kneading) till blended; set aside to rise for a few hours. Getting to this point really took only about 15 minutes, a little more as I had fresh bags to flour to stow, etc. Not bad, considering there's enough dough here for 4 big pies!

I used a table knife to remove a wedge for pie the next day. The other three segments will be wrapped and frozen for future deliciousness.

Good estimate. I put it on the scale and it weighs in at a pound.

The Best Part.

Another FIne Pie

These are from last Saturday night:
Mushrooms, red pepper, fresh mozzarella, smoked mozzarella, dried oregano. Not shown is chopped red onion, which I find adds a remarkable taste to pizza.

Sauce and dough both pulled from the freezer the night before and defrosted in the fridge.
Doneness! I used a Caphalon 14" pizza pan, lightly greased with butter. The finshed pie slides right off to the maple pastry board, where it's cut into wedges with the pizza wheel that came with the pan.

Dinners this Week

Hi Readers;

I really have to get my photos in synch - until then, here's the list of the latest meals:

• Superbowl Sunday Lasagna. While the game dragged on this got a little dry, but still very tasty with a crisp salad. We've been lucky to get great California lettuce this time of year.
• Snow Chowder. Drawn from the freezer this still was tasty, especially with TJ Oyster crackers bobbing around.
• Chili. Also drawn from the freezer, reheated on the stove top while a fresh bath of brown rice cooked. Served with Colby Jack cheese and some home made chips made by baking torn tortilla shells sprayed with canola. There was a bit leftoever and I baked them into fresh tortillas with cooked rice and sliced cheese. Chili Burrittos Mmmm!
• Veggie Pizzas. Using a portion from this month's fresh batch of dough
  
  ...Last night I made a full size pie using up the mushroom sauce from the lasagna and topped it with chopped orange peppers, sliced mushrooms and shredded mozzarella cheese. A sprinkle of dried oregano and it was ready to bake...meanwhile I had an odd amount of dough and made one deep dish invidiual pie with the same sauce, cheese and mushrooms, but added sweet onion and some fresh spinach. That one I baked until it was almost done, with the intention of serving it today for lunch. Sorry No Photos.

Creative Planning Boosts Menus

It's been some time since I made a full fledged shop with the car for groceries at our natural food cooperative. Impending snow, actual snow and now lots of slush are not my kind of driving conditions.

So here we go, another week into January making the best of what's in the pantry and freezer; with supplements from the nearby conventional grocery (read icky produce).

• The last of the New Year's Risotto, served with TJ samosa,which we have now deemed too spicy
• Lentil soup with Franks in Blankets
• Homemade JoC "New England Clam Chowder" made with 3 cans of TJ Cherrystone clams from Maine, new potato and milk instead of cream
• Naan pizza with sweet onion, blue cheese, provolone and cherry tomatoes
• Store bought frozen Potato and Cheddar Ravioli, prepared then combined in a casserole wth sweet onion, chopped carrots and peas along with some grated cheddar and sprinkle of Panko breadcrumbs and baked with slivered almonds on top
• The last of the JoC Mac and Cheese served with a salad of baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, slivered almonds and carrots
• JoC Tuna casserole over baby spinach

Another Week O Dinners

Last week brought another round of home made and store supplemented meals.

• Leftover baked potato sliced and served in a deep casserole with chopped spinach, carrots, grated cheddar with a bit of strained tomato.
• Lentil soup with carrots, onions and long grain brown rice served with cheddar cheese. With three containers stowed in the freezer.
• The last pizza from the three balls of dough stowed in December. Thursday night pie featured blue cheese, mozzarella, a bit of spinach, chopped green pepper and walnuts over a red sauce. Splendid.
• Tuna casserole from the freezeer with the leftover cauliflower reheated together with slivered almonds.
• Tonight we have risotto cakes from the freezer which will be freshly rolled in bread crumb and Parmesan cheese before baking to reheat- perhaps with some TJ falafel.

 

First Week of Meals (updated w pix)

Best wishes to you dear readers!

This year has been off to a good start with lots of home cooking, mix matching and use of the freezer:

• NY Eve we made risotto, and the leftovers were formed into cakes. Some of the cakes were served a few days later - baked, after dusting in panko bread crumbs and grated Parmesan.

 The rest were formed into cakes, not dusted, then frozen.

• With a dough pulled from the freezer we had a 14" pizza pie with baby spinach, red sauce, mozzerella, chopped green peppers and herbs de Provence.

• Using brown rice noodles and following directions on the package I made Phad Thai with tofu.

The following night we had the leftovers with some baked Risotto cakes.

• Joy of Cooking vegetable chili came out good, but a bit too spicy due to some poor estimates - but some more tomato and sugar balanced things out so it was tasteful with brown rice and grated cheese.

The next night I formed "wraps" from the chili, leftover rice and cheese; these were served with yogurt for a very filling meal. One big and three small containers are now stowed in the freezer. Most have labels!

• Tonight, it's Joy of Cooking tuna casserole. Fresh mushrooms, rather than the canned soup; pasta spirals vs. egg noodles, but otherwise I have the ingredients of: onion, red & green peppers, mushrooms, tuna, breadcrumbs, butter and a nice big pan. Thinking about adding peas. More later, including phtotos.

Here's to Happy and Heathful Eating in 2012!

 

Table for Four, Five...or is that Six?

Although I cook all the time, it's for two. This past week or so I had to opportunity to serve up dinner for travelers from Vermont, Maine and B.C. Where time permitted I did it from scratch, but sometimes the in house deli at the natural food store was the ticket.

Here's four menus for four or more that were met with rave revues, and no leftovers:

• Deli Fresh individual chicken or turkey pot pies, with a green salad of romaine, spinach, romas and red peppers. For dessert: the deli's pumpkin honey cake served with "Lady Grey" tea.
• Home made simple red pasta sauce with basil and whole wheat spaghetti, with steamed broccoli. For dessert: my home made blueberry yogurt cupkcake-like muffins with a Washington Pinot Noir.
• Home made lentil soup with long grain rice, with a green salad of romaine, hazelnuts, romas and red pepper. For dessert: chocolate cream pie from the the local pie shop. OMG!!
• Delivery "good old plain" tomato sauce and mozzarella pizza, with their house salad with garbanzo beans and a Cesar. Another one of those pumpkin honey cakes.

Pictures? Sorry, I was too busy cooking up a storm and visiting.

Busy Baking Bee

Yikes! I'm taking advantage of the cool July days and catching up on baking. Already done:

• Pizza Dough (1 used, 1 stowed)
• Pizza (gone already)
• Strawberry Muffins II (mostly stashed in freezer)
• Granola (stowed in air tight glass in the fridge, with a scoop)
• Blueberry Bread (sliced and stowed in fridge)

• Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for Sunday's bike ride/party

On deck baking and cooking projects:

• Burritos for dinner tonight
• Orzo salad with lots of our ready to eat peas
• Macaroni and cheese because it's all gone
• Caramalized onions, to have as a condiments

Naan Pizza: Favorite Crust Alternative

Hubs set up this outdoor shot of lunch last week: Naan pizza with red sauce, chard, cherry tomato slices, blue cheese and a bit of mozzarella. Blog followers know my love of using Focaccia bread for pizza, but now we've decided this is better because it's less doughy, but still very textured. If I can't make the dough ball, this rules.

Deep Dish Individual Pizza In Pictures

The dough has risen at doubled in bulk!

Air holes are good. This is right before it was deflated and rolled out into four crusts.

As it turned out, I should have made 5 or 6 as there was excess dough on each pan.

A bit of mozzerella in each, other ingredients standing by: sauce, caramalized onions, roasted red peppers, chopped walnuts , blue and Parmesan cheese.

Oven ready!

Cooling on the rack for 10 minutes - these came out great.

Crust recipe from the Jane Brody's "Good Food Book" Onion and Cheese pizza: a nice mix of whole wheat and white flours. Topping are our personal favorites. Maybe too much sauce on these, but some mushrooms or greens would have balanced it out. There's always next time.

Naan Pizza: one of endless combinations

• Olive oil
• Sliced cherry tomatoes
• Chopped spinach
• Chopped red onion
• Shredded mozzerella

 

Pizza from Scratch Rules

I was glowing with pride when I pulled this pie from the oven.

Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Menu (page 226)  crust (doubled since my pan is big), pizza sauce (canned), slowly roasted onions with thyme and bay leaf; chopped fresh spinach, a mix of mozzerella, provelone and blue cheese and chopped walnuts.

Thanks again to L. in Cambridge for all the great tips on making dough. No food processor, no stand mixer. No 500 degree oven preheated for an hour or pizza stone and peels are needed. My oven was 425 and the rack in the upper third and it came out righteous. So there!

Three From Jane Brody

There's a reason this book is never far from the stove.

Tonight I pulled some chili from the freezer, and instead of serving it with rice, I heated it up then baked a cornbread on top. The idea is from Jane Brody's "Meatless Tamale Pie."

On Saturday I followed Jane's crust recipe for her "Onion and Cheese Pizza", and the results were fabulous. After all, it's a white pizza, but carmalized onions and mustard are mighty tasty. I have to admit I substituted Dijon for "grainy" mustard and Jarlsberg, or swiss instead of Fontina. It still came out awfully good, and there's a second ball of dough resting in the fridge.

One of my all time favorites is her "Favorite Lentil Soup" which I merge with the recipe on the following page which includes rice. While reheating a smallish portion from the freezer, I cooked up some frozen "potstickers" or Asian dumplings, which I then added to the soup for a hearty dinner.

Flurry of Activity Inside and Out

Right now there's tofu marinating in the fridge for dinner; and freshly baked blueberry bread cooling on the counter. Yesterday was another made from scratch pizza dough success story and another great pie.

Outside the Fence Team is finishing up the fence rebuilding project and the weather is dry, so everyone is happy.

Another Fine Pizza

Tell me if you ever see this on a menu:

• home made dough
• sauce
• chopped golden chard
• caramelized onions
• roasted red pepper
• mozzarella
• blue cheese
• walnuts
• oregano

This is how it looked before adding the cheeses, walnut and sprinkle of dried oregano. This time I remembered to oil the pan and dust it with corn meal. Before adding the last toppings I drizzled olive oil around the perimeter of the pie. This worked out nicely. No sticking, no burning.

The crust was based on Irene's Recipe on the Bob's Red Mill site except I did not use whole wheat; using white bread flour with some dried milk and rice flour mixed in and olive instead of canola oil. Very good results! Enough for 1-3/4 pies, so it's a bit of work but lots of pizza.

Irene's Pizza Crust From Bob's Red Mill

Today I tried Irene's Pizza Crust recipe on the Bob's Red Mill website. It's with much enthusiasm that Elisa's Eye recomends this recipe because it is:

• quick, she calls for a 15 minute rise, I gave it 30 since that seemed so short; but it was nice and spongy and rolled out with ease
• nutritious, while my take on her recipe is not all whole wheat ( I opted for 1 cup white bread flour and 1-1/2 cups whole wheat) and canola oil is neutral, effective and economical
• hand mixable.wow, this wasn't hard at all. 2-1/2 cups of flour is pretty managable and my elbow is not as sore as the last 2 crust version

I've had more success with Bob's Active Yeast than any other. The type in packets drives me crazy especially as I experiment. For example today I put the yeast in a small measure (that was wet from the water, so the yeast would stick transferring it to the big mixing bowl. You really need every grain.

I was able to start over because that nice bag of yeast was still in the fridge, it was less than $4.00 and well worth it since a single frozen dough ball will cost about $3.

 Give this a try!

Um, there were two of us and that's all that's left, so if you have a crowd make two batches. Toppings were Muir Glen pizza sauce, baby spinach, roasted orange peppers, mozzerella and blue cheese, toasted sunflower seeds.

Pizza Wednesday

There was ball of dough in the fridge from the weekend, and I had some time this afteroon to make another lovely pie from scratch.

Toppings: sauce, spinach, caramelized onions, mozzarella, red pepper.

 

First Pizza Crust of 2011

This came out nice and tasted good. But the truth is getting crust that tastes like your favorite pizzeria is not easy. The toppings were my usual favorites of sauce, chopped fresh spinach, mozzarella an red onions. The seasoning was different, Herbs de Provence from the economical bulk bin at our natural food market.

Unlike the last try in this pan, it was nicely oiled with olive oil (to match the crust ingredient) and dusted with corn meal. It slid right off and the bottom was nicely golden brown.

The pie was removed to a lovely over-sized Maple dough board I got eons ago, perfect for the pizza wheel to cut the crust into nice crisp slices. The pan was left to cool, and then soaked with hot sudsy water and came perfectly clean. I wish our sink was about 1" bigger so the pan could fit inside instead of perching as it soaked.

Ahhh, the leftovers which call me now that it's almost lunch time the next day. The Crust Recipe made enough for two dough balls. Imagine my surprise when I opened the fridge and found the leftover ball had popped the lid off glass container like this one as it continued to rise overnight. It got a little dry, but I put it in a larger air tight container and determine if it's still usable.

Step By Step Fococcia Pizza

One of my favorite dishes to make when the need is hearty but time is tight. Made from scratch dough is of course great; but so challenging. If you can find a nice wedge of focaccia in the market here's a pretty straight forward way (and adaptable to your taste) to make a satisfying homemade pizza at a fraction of the take out price.

How to:

• Essential Baking Company focaccia loaf - this makes about 3 portions

• Olive Oil or Canola oil - 5 -8 tablespoons

The loaf is cut in half and placed on a cookie sheet is lined with strip of parchment for easy clean up; the oil is drizzled along the perimeter of each piece to keep it from burning and to add some taste.

• Muir Glen Pizza Sauce (~1.19) use 1/2 the can, - stow the rest in the freezer for next time

Stir up the whole can of pizza sauce, and spread it sparingly on the crust. Don't overdo it, but use about 1/2 the can so the whole surface is covered but not saturated. Stow the rest in a container the freezer. It defrosts overnight or can be quickly heated for the next pie.

• Organic Girl Baby Spinach use 1/2 the container

Fresh spinach is one of the distinctive marks of Elisa's Focaccia Pizza; freshly washed and spun and chopped is preferred, but it's January and this is perfectly acceptable.

• Shredded Mozzarella - 4-6 ounces
• Caramelized Onions - 1/2 cup

This step was combined - a bit of cheese, the carmelized onions, then the rest of cheese; you don't want exposed spinach or it will dry out.

• Dried organo - 2 teaspoons
• Chopped Walnuts - 1/4 cup

Another key ingredient are finely chopped walnuts and a sprinkle of dried oregano.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes; checking on it's progress half-way through, rotating the tray 180 degrees so it browns evenly.

Carefully remove one half of the pie to a cutting board and assertively cut into halves, quarters, eights to it's' easy to the thick, crispy crusted "fingers" with one's hands or a fork.

Got questions? Feel free to post here or ping me.

Pizza Buns to Celebrate the Holiday Season

The tricky part (for me): making the dough go! Here's the big doughy, somewhat sticky ball sitting by the gas  fireplace to rise until at least doubled in size.

Success! That looks double to me.

The filling is carmelized onion and chopped red and orange peppers with mozzerela cheese. Rolling the dough to the prescribed size is hard, but this was close and the best to date.

 
Because the rolled out shape was a little off, the ends are uneven, but they still made nice little slices.

The slices from the roll are placed on parchment, smooshed down a bit and lightly covered with plastic wrap to rise for about 90 minutes.

The slices are pre-baked without topping for 12 minutes to set, then topped with sauce and more cheese before the final bake...

See previous post in the PIZZA category for link to original recipe from King Arthur Flour's Blog, December 2009.

Success Pizza Crust and Pie

 
This came out so good, after I rescued it from near tragedy. The recipe called for pre baking the crust, which made sense since it was thickish...but I was temporarily blinded by the joy of the most elastic pizza dough I had ever made...and I forget to smear some oil on the pizza pan...

But I thought quick and spatualed it off the pan, onto one that was prepared...it just had to be big, not round...and I sort of tore the pie in to pieces because cutting the crust was not really an option. It was nearly burnt, but saved.

The it was topped as my typical Thursday forcaccia crust, sauce, spinach, cheese, walnuts.

Served the next night it reheated nicely and not a spec was left.

Crust recipe from Bob's Red Mill, where I got my bag-o-yeast.

Irene's Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

((  I used 1 cup of white unbleached and 1-1/2 cups whole wheat, instead of 100% whole wheat ))
The ugly truth. Crust sticks if the pan is not prepped...it was well seasoned so the stuck parts soaked off with warm water...but grrrrrrrr. Never again!

Carmelized Onions on Focaccia Pizza

Another overcast, cool, late June day and a good day to finally get around to caramelizing onions. As a result, there's a nice container in the fridge in a tightly sealed glass container.

Some were used in lieu of raw red onion along with baby spinach, mozzarella and feta cheese, topped with chopped walnuts on this Thursday's Homemade Pizza.

Welcome Home G & D

Essential Baking Company Focaccia Bread bread sliced horizontally, drizzled with olive oil on the perimeter and mushroom sauce spread on each side; topped with fresh chopped spinach, shredded mozzarella and crumbled Blue Cheese. Topped with sliced red onion and chopped walnuts. G, I know you like the Pilsner but this Imperial India Pale Ale is mighty tasty! Welcome home you guys, I hope you can find a good Focaccia in WDC.

Deep Dish Vegetable Pizza with Walnuts

Yesterday was another cool rainy Sunday of baking, I decided to try individual deep dish pizza again. The sad news is the crust was too tough, as Hubs said the "first deep dish pizza you can pick up and eat with your hands."

Of course crust taste and texture is never revealed until it's time to eat. The good news is the pictures came out great and pizza was very tasty:  we each ate ours with glee. Tough crust is not so bad compared to other pizza disasters in my past such as the Super Bowl Sunday when the lovingly made thin crust adhered itself to the new pan. No pretty.

These pans are seasoned, but I took no chances a rubbed a little olive oil into each with a sprinkle of corn meal before pressing in the dough.

Fillings were: canned pizza sauce, a saute of red onion, red pepper and mushrooms with a spice blend of rosemary, oregano and basil. Cheese was mozzarella and Parmesan and the final topping chopped walnuts.
The recipe is translated as: pre-bake crusts for 10 minutes in a 425 degree oven; put sauce over browned crust followed by topping mixture and cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes; though it was slightly less because the oven was nice and hot.

My Last Pizza in Prague: Twice the Fun

The price point and experience at Vysehrad was at a casual yet elegant restaurant that I believe is operated by the owners of the fancy pants Rios' Restaurant, or at least they left a nice four color double sided map and photo of the facilities along with the check. The waitress "mistook" my order and brought me a plain pizza too, which I took home in a box for my hosts because it wasn't worth arguing over. The pizza tasted "100% Italiano" just like their sign said. Perfectly baked crust, just the right amount of high quality tops. The lean black cat milled around by did not come to the tables or actually cross my path.

Pizza in Prague

The first of this weekend's esteemed "Guest Chefs" is Ambiente Risorante Pizza Nuova in Prague, Czech Republic. A perfect balance of oven fired dough, Italian tomatoes, cheese and mushrooms with fresh basil. After a 2 hour yoga class, the meal was heaven on earth with a delicious Pilsner.

Quick Focaccia Pizza with Red Pepper & Walnut

A few weeks ago I submitted this to the Fast and Fresh contest at Sunset Magazine. If chosen they send $100, or so says the print edition. I'll tell you when the check arrives. I'd like to submit a recipe a month and maybe make some extra dough for a new camera.

Usually (almost every week) I make a variation of this pizza with spinach - but this was highly rated the last two times it was served. The last version has roasted red peppers. Mmmmm.

•  Focaccia bread (round or rectangular), sliced in ½ the long way
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, ¼ cup
• Pasta or pizza sauce,  ½ cup
• Grated mozzarella cheese,  2 cups
• Chopped red bell pepper, 1 cup
• Chopped walnuts, 1 cup
•  Dried oregano, 2 tbsp.

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Place the two Focaccia bread halves on a large cookie sheet

Drizzle perimeter of each bread half with olive oil

Spread pasta or pizza sauce evenly, followed by cheese, red pepper and walnuts

Sprinkle with oregano and bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown

Pizza Buns II

Here's a photo essay of the second attempt at making pizza buns.

Noon: Making dough with olive oil.

 
Filling: onion, red and orange peppers

Dough on the rise: 1 p.m.

The rolled up pizza - a bit rustic, but since it's about to be sliced in 12 pieces it worked out okay.

Sliced buns resting under plastic wrap and a tea towel for 90 minutes.

5:00 pm - finally time to eat!

Pizza Buns inspired by a King Arthur Flour Blog

This recipe was inspired by A King Arthur Flour Blog for Pizza Buns with sausage. I used onions, red and green pepper. Here's the dough after an hour of rising - KAF uses an instant yeast, I'm working with regular yeast from an 8 oz. package found in the natural food store refrigerated case. Otherwise I followed his ingredient list, including the dried milk and potato starch. But instead of the expensive KAF "pizza dough enhancer" I used the same measure of protein powder (whey) AND I used successfully used a KitchenAid food processor (instead of a stand mixer) with the plastic (stubby) dough blade to form a light and bouncy ball.

Here's the rolled out dough on a maple cutting board vs. his silicone (ick!) mat. It all gets rolled up so the exact borders were not so important.

Now, with the cheese and veggies pressed into the dough.

The log marked off for cutting into 12 pieces.

Slices on parchment, covered with plastic wrap for a 1 hour rise before baking.

Slightly puffy after rising, about to go into the oven for baking. Finally!

My oh my!

First Pizza of the Year

The crust border is irregular but the taste is great!  Hats off to Jane Brody for the flour / whole wheat / bran combination which holds up well to a zesty canned pizza sauce, grated Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses with chopped red onion and bell pepper. A light sprinkle of olive oil (end of bottle) and a sprinkle of dried oregano.

A first for this dough - the yeast came in a resealable package, instead of an individual packet - look for it in the refrigerated case of a natural food store near flax seed if you are tired of those pesky packets.

Jane Brody Broccoli Pizza

Overall, it was a good pie with a crust that rolled out nice- with some bran and whole wheat for the Jane Brody signature nutritional punch. Toppings too were light: broccoli with some (not too much) ricotta and Parmesan. I added roasted red peppers and red onions for holiday cheer. The crust was a tad overdone but still tasted great.

First Batch of Personal Pizzas with new Pans

Here's the results of the first set of pies made with a new set of personal size pans.

Complimentary Toppings Make a Great Pizza

Thursday tends to be pizza night, and this week the toppings were odds and ends which ended up being quite complimentary. Crust, store bought Focaccia bread topped with 1/2 a can of Muir Glen Pizza Sauce, canola oil was drizzled around the crust perimeters to avoid burning. Veggies were a mix of chopped fresh spinach, and some broccoli that was steamed, then chopped along with diced red onion. The usual cheese (mozzeralla) was set aside for a Provolone and Romano blend. Chopped walnuts were spread on top as usual for crunch and nutrition.

Pizza Variation with Asparagus

I usually make pizza with sauce, spinach, cheese, walnuts - but not this time. Here in place of spinach was some leftover asparagus and pistachios mixed together with olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese. There was only a small stash of grated Mozzarella in the freezer, so a bit of Provolone was added. The results were delicious!

Spinach, Walnut, Red Onion and Walnut Homemade Pizza

Okay, the crust is store bought focaccia, and sauce from a can; but we prepared all the toppings including grating the cheese. Not bad for a work night. Hubs snagged all the leftovers since I was going out to lunch Friday. Earlier today I snagged the last loaf from the grocery shelf, so we can make more early this week instead of waiting for the usual Pizza Thursday.

Jane Brody's Deep Dish Pizza with Spinach

The first Guest Chef blog of 2009 features a deep dish pizza, with spinach filling and sliced tomatoes baked on top.

That's "Egg Man" keeping watch until it's cool enough for release from the Springform pan. One could guess it did not take long for my friends S & R to tuck into this luscious New Year's Eve pizza pie.

Our Guest Chefs wisely placed a cookie sheet under the pizza pan - which takes care of bubbly drips. We used to make this recipe together in the late 80's after my mom gave me "The Jane Book."

This dish is a true from scratch preparation: dough, sauce and filling. One of the many exceptional recipes in Jane Brody's  "Good Food Book"

The Whole Pie

Here is one of the two pizza featured in the previous post.

Onion and Cheese Pizza by a Guest Chef

Here's a slice of pizza made by an Elisa's Eye "Guest Chef" during a recent visit to the right coast. High quality photo by DAD.

The recipe from my often cited, tattered Jane Body's "Good Food Book" (page 474) features a tasteful whole wheat / all-purpose flour blend crust, golden brown onions and Fontina cheese. An ingredient that surprised (but pleased) me is grainy mustard, spread on the crust beneath the cheese. Heirloom tomatoes from a nearby farmer market were sliced for a simple side dish.

A picture of a whole pie (there were two) is shown in the next post.

Homestyle Pizza: Sometimes Pizza Out Deserves Recognition

Not homemade but home style with fresh roma tomatoes and basil on a zesty sauce and cheese base. At Ballard's newest pizzeria Snoose Junction on Market Street.

Thinner Crust White Pizza with Brocolli

The second pizza had a much thinner crust and less topping - easily reheated on some parchment paper and a Caphalon pan. Perfect after a bike ride and a quick lunch to enjoy outdoors.

White Pizza with Broccoli

Using a store bought pizza dough ball, I followed Jane Brody's idea for a broccoli pizza. I split the dough into two pieces to make it easier handle.

Stir fry the broccoli until bright green and set aside. The cheese blend is ricotta with one egg and Parmesan. I added sliced cherry tomatoes because it was too white.

Two Kinds of Pizza

A snow day with freezing temperatures is a good reason to keep the oven going and make not one, but two kinds of pizza. With all the topping standing by it was non-stop pizza action for a while. Some went to the freezer, some for Hub's lunch tomorrow and of course some we ate at once.

Pizza with Walnuts and Red Onion

A new twist on the usual Thursday night dinner. This time prepared with a blend of mozzarella, provolone and Parmesan cheeses, finely diced red onion and a sprinkle of oregano and chopped walnuts.

Fresh green vegetable : a local field mix with carrots and cherry tomatoes.

Pizza "crust" is actually a fresh loaf of Focaccia Bread from a local bakery.

Asparagus as a Pizza Topping

Using seasonal, local organic asparagus instead of spinach, this pizza had a special spring taste.

French Bread Pizza

Start with French bread, sliced lengthwise, then in 4" pieces for easy handling.

Drizzle a little olive oil around border (to prevent burning), spoon on a little pasta or pizza sauce, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Bake in pre-heated 350 degree (toaster) oven for about 10 minutes or golden brown.

Make extras and store in zip lock bags in your freezer, so you  never have to eat store bought (expensive yucky tasting) frozen pizza again.

Pizza

Here's a recipe of my own making- it probably takes less than 10 minutes to prepare for baking. Start with a store-bought focaccia bread. In the Seattle area look for Essential Baking Company or Grand Central Baking Company loaves for about $2.85. Ingredients: 1/2 cup pasta sauce, 3-4 tbsp. olive oil, two handfuls of fresh spinach, 4 oz. grated mozzarella cheese and 1/2 c. walnuts.

To prepare: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut loaf in half as you would slice a bagel. Place on cookie sheet with the inside part up. Using a tablespoon to measure out the olive oil, and drizzle over perimeter of each slice. This keeps the edges from burning and adds a nice taste. Clean fresh spinach, or use pre-washing baby spinach- chop coarsely. Using your favorite pasta sauce, or plain tomato sauce- spread a bit on each slice. Layer the chopped spinach on top of the sauce. Sprinkle grated mozzarella cheese on each slice. Chop walnuts, add to each slice. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cut each slice into quarters. Serve Hot! Leftovers reheat well in the toaster oven, or micro.