Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Pizza

(Adapted from AllRecipes)


Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup butter
• 2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup dark beer (ale works best, but lager works, too)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Perfect Pizza Dough
• 1 pound Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled (Or mix it with mozzarella!)

Directions:

1. In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat. Saute onions in butter and beer until the onions are soft and dark brown, and beer has reduced, approximately 25 minutes. 
2. Stir in sugar, and continue cooking for 1 or 2 more minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
4. Put pizza stone or foil-covered cookie sheet into preheated oven and allow to heat up for at least 15 minutes.
5. Sprinkle a flat surface with cornmeal, shape dough, and lay it out on top of the cornmeal.
6. Top pizza with caramelized onions and gorgonzola.
7. Transfer pizza to prepared stone or pan.
8. Brush edges of crust with olive oil and bake for 8-12 minutes.

Pesto Goat Cheese and Kalamata Olive Pizza

(Yield: 1 13"-15" pizza)

Ingredients:

• 1 Perfect Pizza Dough round (The recipe yields two)
• 1/2 cup pesto (You can buy it in a jar in the cheese/ravioli refrigerated section of the store)
• 1 1/2 cups mozarella cheese
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped
• 2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• fresh basil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
2. Follow directions for Perfect Pizza Dough.
3. Spread pesto on pizza.
4. Top with remaining ingredients.
5. Bake 8-12 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden-brown.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

I'm seriously considering adding a "Buffalo" section to this blog. If there are two things I'll never get sick of, they're buffalo sauce and caesar salad (I have no idea why!). Buffalo sauce, in particular, is like crack to me. I could literally eat a spoonful of it and be satisfied.

That being said, once I found the recipe for the perfect pizza dough, of COURSE I had to make a buffalo chicken pizza.


Buffalo Chicken Pizza


Ingredients:

• Perfect Pizza Dough
• 1 whole chicken breast, cooked and shredded (You can also use shredded store bought rotisserie chicken)
• 2 cups of shredded cheese (I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar)
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. To bake, preheat the oven  to 500˚ F.  Place a foil lined cookie sheet in the oven and allow it to heat up for 15-30 minutes.
2. Transfer the dough to your shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  Shape the dough with lightly floured hands.  Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil.  Top as desired.  
3. Bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling, 8-12 minutes.

Perfect Pizza Dough

For a long time, I have been on the hunt for the perfect pizza dough recipe. One of my requirements for the perfect dough was that it couldn't take too long to rise. Usually, I make pizza on a whim, and I don't really have time to wait 8 hours for dough to rise. 

So you can imagine my excitement when I found this dough recipe on Annie's Eats, complete with a list of tips and tricks for the perfect dough. (Click the link and check it out! It's really helpful!)

If you don't have a pizza stone, you can also use a foil-lined cookie sheet in its place. We've used this method before, and it worked well enough. However, pizza stones can be quite inexpensive (Got mine at Walmart for 12 bucks!) and TOTALLY worth it. The hot stone allows the bottom of the crust to begin baking first so it becomes crispy without burning the rest of the pizza!

Perfect Pizza Dough 

Yield: enough dough for 2 medium pizzas or 4 calzones

Ingredients:

• ½ cup warm water
• 2¼ tsp. instant yeast
• 4 cups (22 oz.) flour (preferably bread flour), plus more for dusting
• 1½ tsp. salt
• 1¼ cup water, at room temperature
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Measure the warm water into a bowl.  Sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Stir until combined and allow it to sit for about five minutes, or until yeast begins to foam.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend.  
3. Measure the room temperature water into the measuring cup with the yeast-water mixture.  With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture as well as the olive oil.  
4. Mix until a cohesive dough is formed.  
5. Switch to the dough hook.  Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
6. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.
7. Press down the dough to deflate it.  
8. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  
9. Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball.  (If freezing the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at this point.)  Cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.
10. To bake, preheat the oven  to 500˚ F.  Place your pizza stone in the oven and allow it to heat up for 15-30 minutes.
11. Transfer the dough to your shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  Shape the dough with lightly floured hands.  Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil.  Top as desired.  
12. Bake until the crust is golden brown, and cheese is bubbling, 8-12 minutes.