Episode 10 - Pizza is like medicine...right?!

By: Kristy on Saturday, July 10, 2010

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Today I am sick.  And while I'm here crumpled on the couch in a pathetic pile, Dawson is in the kitchen making me a pizza.  By making me a pizza I don't mean dialing Domino's or shoving one of those frozen frisbee things from the grocery store into the oven.  I mean really making me a real pizza.  With the best sauce ever.  Ever.

Cold Curing, Perfect Every Time, Dawson-style Pizza Sauce

4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pinch each salt and pepper
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1.5 tsp dried rosemary
1.5 tsp dried red pepper flakes (less if you're afraid of spice...in which case you suck)
1 big can crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
5-6 good shakes of Frank's Red Hot Sauce (again...spice warning)

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the garlic and onions until soft.  Add the all herbs and spices and stir for another minute. Add the tomatoes and Frank's and stir well.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Deeeeeelicious.

Put this on any pizza crust and it'll be good.  We usually use this one from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry because it's pretty foolproof:

Whole Wheat Crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsps flax meal or ground flax seeds
1 x envelopes (8 g or 21/4 tsp) Fleischmann's quick-rising yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup very warm water
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons liquid honey
1 tbsp cornmeal
Olive oil cooking spray

1. Make crust: in a medium bowl, combine both flours, flax meal, yeast and salt. Mix well.
2. Measure warm water in measuring cup, then stir in olive oil and honey. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and mix using a wooden spoon to form a ball. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes.
3. Spray another medium bowl with olive oil spray and place dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, spray a 12-inch pizza pan with olive oil spray and dust with cornmeal. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
5. When dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and, using a rolling pin, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Transfer dough to prepared pizza pan.
6. Top and then bake for 20-25 mins.


Good Topping Ideas:

Proscuitto
Pickled Eggplant
Red/Green Peppers
Fresh Mozzarella
Spinach
Red Onion
Spicy Salami
Hot Peppers
Pinapple
Zucchini
Feta Cheese
Fresh Basil


...just maybe not all at once.  That's a little much.

Here is ours:

Hot Capicollo
Spicy Eggplant
Zucchini
4 cheeses: asiago, marble, monterey jack and 5-year aged cheddar

Just a note: anytime a boy makes a pizza it will automatically have lots of cheese.  It's just biology. 

P.S. Dawson insists that I tell you that I am not completely pathetic/useless and that I did make the dough.  But still...I am incredibly spoiled.