Homemade Pizza… A game of ‘What’s in My Pantry!’

Let’s play a game of, ‘what the hell is for dinner’!! Only rules are everything, and I mean everything, must come from the pantry.

So far today, I’m two for two. Lunch was penne with alfredo sauce (awesome diet food) and for dinner, it will be pizza made with homemade marinara and dough.

Now I never said I wasn’t a cheater…I have packaged mozzarella in the fridge but I did happen to stop by my local cheese place today and see some tasty fresh mozzarella. While I was there, I saw some pepperoni I just had to have. I’ll be lucky if this stuff makes it as far as the pizza.

Now time for some fun with flour….

The dough is simple (because I don’t need to figure anything out… I just need to follow directions). 🙂

Please note, this dough needs the following additions:

1.) Use a tablespoon of salt vs a teaspoon
2.) Add an extra tablespoon of olive oil to the dough
3.) Par-bake the dough for 10 minutes, before adding your toppings
4.) Brush the dough with olive oil before baking

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jays-signature-pizza-crust/?sitepref=ar

Don’t be impatient! The water needs to be 110°.

Post yeast activation and now it’s ready for a little rest in a well oiled bowl.

The dough makes two 14″ pizzas so I split it in half and will make a second pizza if we’re piggies.

While that hangs out, it’s time for the marinara sauce.

Again, I didn’t feel the need to be fancy and make crap up so I let the interweb do the work for me. I’ve been using this recipe for a looooong time so it’s tested and Noel-approved.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-marinara-sauce-yet/detail.aspx

Once again, we need to make a few modifications.

1.) Add a couple of bay leaves
2.) Use San Marzano tomatoes. If you can’t find them, you may need to add some sugar. Rule of thumb: you can always add more so be sure to taste it after each tablespoon of sugar.
3.) Add fresh basil. The taste of the parsley is awesome but it also really needs a handful of basil, chopped.
4.) SALT! But again, add a little at a time and be sure to taste!

…. Now if we weren’t playing the ‘you can only make what’s in your pantry’ / ‘what the hell is for dinner’ game, I would be using fresh herbs, especially parsley, but alas, no more cheating for me.