No Passport Required: A Culinary Trip to Italy

Pizza is something that we make about once a week. It has definitely evolved from the  original pizzas we made, which consisted of store bought dough, pizza sauce and pre-shredded mozzarella. We make our own dough from scratch, use fresh cheeses from mozzarella to Gouda, and incorporate pesto, garlic, fresh basil and whatever toppings we feel like for the night. Here is last night's culinary creation.

Pizza Dough

Bread Flour

Rapid Rise Yeast

Water

Pour one cup of bread flour into bowl. 

Add 1/2 cup of warm water to a measuring cup. Mix into one packet of rapid rise yeast. 

Combine bread flour and yeast/water, stirring with a spatula.


Let rise for one hour (the longer the better) Then roll out small circles of dough and let rise for another 20 minutes. 

Veggie Mini Pizza

Fresh Mozzarella 

Smoked Gouda

Parmigiana

Goat Cheese

Low Fat Ricotta

Pizza Sauce (Casa Visco is our favorite)

Bell Peppers

Orange Vine Tomatoes

Fresh Basil

Pesto

Shred mozzarella, Gouda, parmigiana and goat cheese. 

Dice bell peppers. Slice super thin slices of an orange tomato. Chop fresh basil. 

Turn grill onto medium low heat.

Spread pizza sauce on rolled out dough on a pizza peel. Spoon pizza sauce onto rolled out dough. Top with cheeses, peppers, tomatoes and basil. Spoon pesto on top. You'll want to do this quickly, as the dough (especially on larger pizzas) will stick to the peel if you leave it on too long.

Put pizza onto a pizza stone on the grill and spray crust with water. Close the grill and let cook. Every 2-3 minutes rotate the pizza until fully cooked. This can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the pizza and number of toppings.