That's Amore

I love making homemade pizza!  You can get super creative with it and I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't love it.  Plus when you make it at home it can be as healthy or as hearty as you like.  

Tonight, with the help of Brittany, we made a man pizza and a lady pizza.  Man meaning lots of meat and cheese.  Lady meaning more creative and gourmet  Truth be told, we enjoyed it all.  So lets get started.  

First off the crust.  I love to make my own crust.  I use a French bread recipe that belongs to my mama. This recipe uses dry yeast.  I find that this ingredient often scares people, but it doesn't need to.  

Mom's French Bread

(make enough for 2 pizzas)

3 cups hot water

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup stick margarine

2 tsp salt

¼ cup warm water

2 packages yeast

8 cups flour

1. Combine water, sugar, margarine and salt.  Let cool until luke warm. 

2. Dissolve the 2 packages of yeast in warm water.

3. Add yeast to water sugar, salt and margarine mixture.

4. Mix in flour slowly and knead for 5 minutes.

  5. Let rise for 1 hour, punching down every 15 minutes.  

6. After one hour roll out dough in a jelly roll pan for pizza crust

If the steps above make you nervous, then homemade pizza can still be an option for you.  There are some great pre-made pizza crusts at the grocery store.  Dane has also been known to use hamburger buns and create mini pizzas (thank you 4-H demonstrations).  

Now select your toppings.  One thing I love about homemade pizza is that it is a great way to use up leftover ingredients in your fridge and cupboards. Plus it can be as simple or epicure as you want to make it.

For our "man" pizza we knew we wanted to use lots of meat and cheese.  We had some browned sausage mince on hand, pepperoni, and bacon.  For sauce we used spaghetti sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese.  We also had some extra cheese chunks from another meal so we decided to make stuffed crust.  Stuffed crust is super simple to make and is oh so delicious.  Simply take a cheese chunk and pull the dough over the top and seal (picture below).    To finish off this pizza we rubbed the crust with garlic butter.  

And our "lady" pizza was inspired by chicken fajitas.  As a base we used cream cheese.  Seriously cream cheese is one of the best bases of a pizza and something you must try!  We topped it with canned chicken (keeping it simple), grilled onions, grilled peppers, cherry tomatoes, avocado, feta cheese and cilantro  Before putting the pizza in the oven, drizzle the top with fresh squeezed lemon juice and a bit of olive oil.

Cook both pizzas at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the crust is starting to brown.  

Our pizzas were a huge hit with both the men and the ladies.  We couldn't believe how much we loved the chicken pizza, it was a complete experiment and have decided its a keeper.  We would love to hear what pizza topping combinations you love.  Arrivederci!  D+C