As you may recall, we took a class in making pizza from Viking some time back. We regularly pull out those recipes and enjoy them. Last Friday night, while Tracy was prepping for turning 10 pounds of ground beef into freezer food, I was in charge of dinner and made her favorite margharita pizza for dinner.
I started the process on Tuesday night while she was out with a friend and made Oven Roasted Tomato Pizza Sauce:
- 1 lb. Roma tomatoes (about 5-6 medium tomatoes) – fresh from our garden
- 1/2 small white or yellow onion
- 4-5 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp. dried oregano – fresh from our garden
- 1 tsp. dried basil – fresh from our garden instead of dried
- 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 pinch granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp. chopped fresh basil - fresh from our garden
- 1 tsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley – skipped because we did not have any
Preheat oven to 300. Position a rack in the lower third of oven. Core tomatoes, then slice lengthwise into quarters. Gently squeeze each wedge to remove seeds. Peel onion and cut into 1-inch chunks. Combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, oregano, dried basil and red pepper flakes in medium mixing bowl. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Toss gently to mix all ingredients and to thoroughly coat vegetables with oil and spices. Spread evenly on rimmed baking sheet.
Bake until onions and garlic have caramelized and tomatoes have released their juices, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer tomato mixture into bowl of food processor, reserving any pan juices. Add sugar and balsamic vinegar to tomato mixture; process until completely pureed. If sauce is too thick, add juices collected from roasting pan, or a drizzle of olive oil. Add fresh herbs and pulse to combine; season to taste with salt and pepper. Cool completely, then store, tightly covered, in refrigerator for up to one week. Makes 1 cup.
My variation on this recipe comes in at the end when we are told to reserve pan juices. I poured those juices into a fat separator allowed the olive oil to pool at the top and then poured the bottom liquid into the puree. There is a lot of good flavor in that bottom liquid and we can keep the puree from being too oily. Since we have had a good crop of Roma tomatoes I doubled this recipe and froze half for another day.
Then, on Thursday night, I prepared some Basic Pizza Dough:
- 1 1/4 oz. envelope active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
- 1 tsp. granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cup warm water, 105 to 110 degrees
- 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 3 cups flour
- 3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for oiling the dough
Stir together yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup water. Let sit 5-10 minutes, until yeast mixture becomes creamy. Combine salt and flour in work bowl of a food processor, or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Combine yeast mixture, additional 1 cup water, and olive oil. With food processor running, slowly add liquid through the feed tube and process until dough forms a satiny ball that clears the sides of the bowl, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Or, use dough hook on mixer to knead dough approximately 5 minutes.
Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead by hand with a few strokes to form a smooth, round ball. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl; cover with plastic wrap or slightly damp towel, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Punch down the dough and transfer to lightly floured board or silicone mat, then knead briefly by hand.
Divide into 2 equal portions (each approximately 14 oz.) for 14-16 inch pizzas or 4 equal portions (each approximately 7 oz.) for 8-inch pizzas; shape each portion into tight ball. Brush each very lightly with oil, then cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight (or freeze for up to 3 months). Bring dough to room temperature before shaping, topping and baking the crust at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 1 3/4 lbs. dough.
This meant that when we got home Friday night, we pulled the dough out and let it warm up to room temperature before cutting it into two dough balls. We used one for dinner and wrapped up the other for the freezer for another night.
Once we were ready to make the pizza I formed out a large pizza crust, topped it with the roasted tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, slices of Roma tomatoes and snips of fresh basil. I baked it for about 12 minutes. Tracy was VERY pleased with the results.
