Antipasto Pizza

I love, Love, LOVE homemade pizza!  This one is pretty basic.  It is simple and wonderful!

Ingredients:  Pizza dough (I use Pioneer Woman's recipe), pizza sauce, balsamic vinegar, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, kosher salt, salami or sopressata, black olives, pepperoncini peppers, roasted red bell peppers, cornmeal for dusting.

I would have also added artichokes if I wasn't sharing this pizza with my husband.

Sprinkle your baking sheet with some cornmeal.  This helps keep the dough from sticking and give the crust a nice texture.

Roll out your pizza dough, rub it with olive oil and season with kosher salt.

Add a splash of balsamic vinegar to your pizza sauce.

Spread it all over the dough then top it with fresh mozzarella.  I usually buy the mozzarella pearls which cuts out the step of slicing the cheese, but they were out of it.  The joys of shopping at Wal-Mart.


Then add the salami/sopresatta.

Then top with the veggies.

Bake at 500 degrees for about 12 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden.

Yummy!  So easy and wonderful!

Copy and past the recipe below into Word for printable version:

Antipasto Pizza

Pizza Dough (I use Pioneer Woman's recipe)
Cornmeal for dusting
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Pizza sauce
Balsamic vinegar
Fresh mozzarella
Salami or sopressata
Black olives
Pepperoncini peppers
Roasted red bell peppers
Artichokes

Dust your pan with cornmeal.  Roll out the dough, rub with olive oil and season with kosher salt.  Add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the pizza sauce and spread it over the dough.  Top with the cheese, meat and veggies.  Bake at 500 degrees for 12-15 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and crust is golden.

Supreme Pizza

My husband and I love homemade pizza.  We make it at least every two weeks.  Usually we halve it; his and hers style.  He likes basic pepperoni and I'm always trying some fancy new pizza recipe I saw online.  But tonight I decided to make one large supreme pizza for both of us.  And it was REALLY good.

Ingredients:  pizza dough (I make my own using Pioneer Woman's pizza dough recipe), cornmeal, olive oil, kosher salt, pizza sauce, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, pepperonis, Italian sausage, fresh mozzarella cheese, garlic, bell pepper, mushroom, artichokes, olives, onions, Parmesan cheese and dried oregano.

Slice up the bell pepper and onion and mince some garlic.  Any color bell pepper will do.  I like yellow and orange for pizza because they contrast with the red pepperonis and sauce, but you can use anything you have.  I'm not really a fan of green.  They don't have the same sweet flavor as the others.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet and saute the peppers, onions and garlic with some tomato paste, salt and pepper.

Let them cook for about 10 minutes on medium low heat until they are tender and slightly caramelized.

Heat some olive oil in another skillet.  Remove the Italian sausage from its casing and add it to the pan.

Brown for several minutes until all the pink has cooked out of the meat.

Sprinkle some cornmeal on your baking sheet.  This keeps the pizza from sticking to the pan and also gives the crust a more complex texture.

Press the dough out onto the pan.  I pull all the edges in a circular motion and try to get it as stretched out as possible before I lay it on the sheet pan.  Then I press it out with my hands.  You can use a roller, but the dough is springy and I have found that trying to roll pizza dough can be extremely frustrating.

Coat the dough with a layer of olive oil and season with kosher salt.

Add a splash of balsamic vinegar to the pizza sauce.

Mix well and spread it all over the dough.

Pepper with fresh mozzarella.  I buy fresh mozzarella pearls.  It's so much easier than cutting up a big ball of mozzarella.  But you can buy any kind of cheese you like, even the shredded kind.  I've tried them all and both my husband and I agree this kind is the best for pizza.  Careful not to overdo it or your toppings will slide off the pizza and ruin your sheet pan.  I know this from experience...trust me, the cheese will spread.

Next add your meat.

And then your veggies (peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives and artichokes).  As you can see, we still had a sense of his/hers going with this pizza because only I wanted the artichokes.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and dried oregano.

Bake at 500 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.

Is that not GORGEOUS!?

Have your husband slice it into squares or rectangles or triangles or however he thinks the pizza should be sliced.  For some reason I think slicing the pizza is a guy job.  He always tries to disagree and make me do it but it's not really up for debate.  Hubby slices the pizza at our house :)