Pizza Craving + TGIF

TGIF!!!!

This week has been pretty uneventful.  Just work + pugs + Zumba!  I love it!  In fact, yesterday at Zumba class I won the bracelet!

The bracelet is supposed to be given to some one in class who works really hard, but I think they give it to the girl that the teacher feels most sorry for. Ha.  But this Zumba teacher is absolutely the best exercise teacher I have ever had.  She is so upbeat and positive!

It has been a long time since I did a recipe post.  Unfortunately, I have been pretty uninspired in the kitchen lately.  Since I have been going to the gym in the evenings, I haven’t really been cooking much at all.  However, I did make homemade pizza this week.  Let me preface the story by saying that this time it wasn’t good, but last time it was SO GOOD that I inhaled it before I could take a picture of it.

I have written about my love for pizza before.  Oddly enough, in the short period of time since I wrote that post, my tastes have changed.  Actually, in the spring we discovered Hungry Howie’s pizza chain and their fabulous sesame seed crust.  We got kind of obsessed and ordered it constantly. Could. not. get. enough. Unfortunately, the last time we had Hungry Howie’s was the weekend that we got food poisoning.  Even though we didn’t get food poisoning from the pizza, neither one of us can bear the thought of it any more.  And it just so happens that another pizza that I love was the pizza fresco from Jason’s Deli, where I actually did get food poisoning (although not from the pizza).  So I just can’t do that either.

Then, if you can even believe it, several weeks ago I made a homemade pizza that was SO GOOD that I just don’t even crave chain pizza anymore.  I know, right?  Sounds crazy, but it is true.  I have been craving MY pizza ever since.

In my opinion, the dough is what made it so wonderful, plain and simple.  I used fresh Publix pizza dough from the bakery. I was sticky, yeast-y, and just delicious.  This past week I used that refrigerated Pillsbury pizza dough in the exploding cardboard roll. Blech.  It was terrible.  It didn’t handle well, bake well, or taste good at all.

There are a few other key ingredients for a good pizza:

1. Garlic Gold.  So, yes, I think I’m intolerant of garlic.  But my gosh, this stuff is so good.  It’s like a garlic-flavored oil but there are actual pieces of garlic in it.  I use a basting brush and coat the dough with this oil.

2. Pesto.  Yes, more garlic.  I love basil pesto.  It gives the pizza a really unique and authentic taste, in my opinion.  I have always wanted to try making my own, but the jar is so much easier!

3. Good pizza sauce.  I used this Roselli’s sauce and absolutely loved it.  Sometimes I also use meat-flavored spaghetti sauce.  I don’t like the cheap Ragu, etc, pizza sauce.

4.  Pizza seasoning. Not sure what all is in this seasoning, but I buy it from the bulk bins at Manna Grocery.

5.  Cheese, obviously, but be realistic. Sargento’s Italian 5 blend, not part skim Kraft shredded mozzarella.  Do not use part skim.  Do not use only mozzarella.  You will ruin the pizza, I promise!

6. Sausage, if not using a meat-flavored sauce.  I used 1/2 of an Applegate farms chicken sausage last time, and it was great!

And then, you have to bake it right.  I have tried a regular baking sheet (fail), a pizza stone (not bad), and a vented pizza baking sheet (best).

So, there you have it: the way to make a pizza that will turn you away from chain pizza for life.  I am definitely getting some Publix pizza dough this weekend!  In fact, that is really the only thing on my agenda for this weekend!