Post by Joelle on Aug 16, 2009 19:14:40 GMT -5
I am trying to unwind from my snake adventure, so here's a little family specialty I made a few days ago that I've been meaning to post here for a while.
Ingredients:
1 large, ripe tomato (any kind, but home grown is tastiest)
3/4+ cups Feta cheese
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup Cheddar cheese
1 cup fresh basil leaves, washed and ripped into large pieces (approx 20 leaves)
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive oil
Pizza Dough
1 packet yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
2 TBSP olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour (can use bread flour, but may not need a full 3 cups)
For the dough, put sugar and yeast into med bowl; add warm water, allow yeast to get bubbly. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix thoroughly. Add olive oil and salt, mix thoroughly, then add rest of flour. Knead till smooth and elastic, then set in med bowl to rise for about 45 minutes.
Once dough has risen, punch down and spread on greased pizza pan. (I grease mine with Crisco, or olive oil and a sprinkling of corn meal.) You can let it rise another 10 minutes for extra fluffiness, or put it directly into the oven at 425 for 8 minutes to pre-bake. Be sure to poke it with a fork to keep it from bubbling while baking.
Cool slightly, then spread olive oil and black pepper on the crust. Slice the tomato and layer it across the dough, like this:
If the tomatoes are really wet, you might want to blot some of the juice off with a paper towel, but this is the only sauce you'll have on the pizza, so adjust according to your preference. I always sprinkle the tomato with some salt, or it will be bland after baking, even with the Feta.
After the salt, spread the crumbled feta - I use a lot, but again, you can adjust for personal preference:
On top of the feta, I spread the mozzarella and the cheddar. The measurements in the ingredients list are approximate - I'm a cheese lover, so I tend to go kinda heavy on it:
This is the fun part - you want to tear your basil into bite-sized pieces, and layer them thickly on top. You really can't go overboard on this, because the leaves shrink down quite a bit during baking. (Don't mind the darkened basil, I accidentally put it in the oven before snapping this picture and had to rescue it.)
Bake at 425 for approx 15 minutes; it's done when the crust is golden and the leaves are dark and crisp looking:
And bon appetit!! This stuff is addictive as heck, and saves you the hassle of pizza sauce. To reheat, be sure to put it in the oven; microwaves make the basil leaves limp and unpalatable (to me, anyway!)
Ingredients:
1 large, ripe tomato (any kind, but home grown is tastiest)
3/4+ cups Feta cheese
1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 cup Cheddar cheese
1 cup fresh basil leaves, washed and ripped into large pieces (approx 20 leaves)
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive oil
Pizza Dough
1 packet yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
2 TBSP olive oil
3 cups all-purpose flour (can use bread flour, but may not need a full 3 cups)
For the dough, put sugar and yeast into med bowl; add warm water, allow yeast to get bubbly. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and mix thoroughly. Add olive oil and salt, mix thoroughly, then add rest of flour. Knead till smooth and elastic, then set in med bowl to rise for about 45 minutes.
Once dough has risen, punch down and spread on greased pizza pan. (I grease mine with Crisco, or olive oil and a sprinkling of corn meal.) You can let it rise another 10 minutes for extra fluffiness, or put it directly into the oven at 425 for 8 minutes to pre-bake. Be sure to poke it with a fork to keep it from bubbling while baking.
Cool slightly, then spread olive oil and black pepper on the crust. Slice the tomato and layer it across the dough, like this:
If the tomatoes are really wet, you might want to blot some of the juice off with a paper towel, but this is the only sauce you'll have on the pizza, so adjust according to your preference. I always sprinkle the tomato with some salt, or it will be bland after baking, even with the Feta.
After the salt, spread the crumbled feta - I use a lot, but again, you can adjust for personal preference:
On top of the feta, I spread the mozzarella and the cheddar. The measurements in the ingredients list are approximate - I'm a cheese lover, so I tend to go kinda heavy on it:
This is the fun part - you want to tear your basil into bite-sized pieces, and layer them thickly on top. You really can't go overboard on this, because the leaves shrink down quite a bit during baking. (Don't mind the darkened basil, I accidentally put it in the oven before snapping this picture and had to rescue it.)
Bake at 425 for approx 15 minutes; it's done when the crust is golden and the leaves are dark and crisp looking:
And bon appetit!! This stuff is addictive as heck, and saves you the hassle of pizza sauce. To reheat, be sure to put it in the oven; microwaves make the basil leaves limp and unpalatable (to me, anyway!)