Recipes from the Kitchen of
Lawrence Wheeler

Page 1 Page 2 First some sauce recipes followed by some
dough recipes and pizza recipes

Basic Pizza Sauce

Recipe By : Evelyne Slomon - The Pizza Book Serving Size : 4 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Pizza Sauces Main Dishes Cheese Low Fat Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 Can Whole tomatoes (35 Ounce can) 1 Teaspoon Basil -- Oregano, or Marjoram 1 Clove Garlic, peeled -- crushed and minced 2 Tablespoons Tomato paste -- optional Black pepper, freshly ground -- to taste Salt -- to Taste 1. Pour the contents of the tomato can into a 2-quart, heavy = non-aluminum saucepan and coarsely crush the tomatoes with a fork. 2. = Add the herbs, garlic, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. 3. Bring to a= bubble over medium heat, stiring to mix the seasonings. 4. As soon as= the sauce begins to bubble, turn the heat to low and maintain the sauce= at a gentle simmer. 5. Cook, uncovered, stiring from time to time, for a= minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 1 hour.

PIZZA SAUCE#2

* Exported from MasterCook * PIZZA SAUCE #2 Recipe By :Father Sardoni Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00 Categories : Pizza Sauces Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method -------- ------------ -------------------------------- 1 can Tomato paste 1/4 cup Raw onion (chopped) 1 can Tomato sauce 1 Clove garlic (chopped) 3 cups Water 2 pints Oregano 3 pints Cooking oil 1 pint Brown sugar Combine ingredients in a 2 qt sauce pan and cook for 30-40 minutes. Makes= enough sauce for 5 12" Pizzas. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -=20

Good Pizza Dough Recipe

flour (approx. 3 cups)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 packet fast-rising yeast
1 C. water at 120-130F (use a thermometer; your hot water tap should probably be able to give you water this hot)
2 tsp. olive oil

Blend the yeast with two cups of flour and the salt. Add the water and the oil and mix to form a dough. Add more flour as necessary until you can knead the dough. Knead for about 6 minutes (I use my KitchenAid).

Put the dough in a bowl and allow to rise for about 45 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 400F and prepare your toppings.

Split the dough into two pieces and roll into two medium size pizzas. In the U.S., you can use bread flour to make the pizzas. If so, the dough should be strong enough to handle spinning in the air. For that to work, though, *do not knead the dough (or punch down) after it has risen!* If you want to spin, it'll probably go easier if you just resort to using all the dough for one large pizza.

If you're rolling the dough, ideally you can roll it out on parchment paper, which can go directly into the oven with the pizza. Why not do it on a cookie sheet? Well, the secret of a good pizza crust (particularly a thin one) is that the pizza should bake directly on a hot surface. I have lined my oven with quarry tiles, and I bake my pizzas directly on that. A pizza stone can be had at a cooking store, or you might try baking directly on the floor of your oven. If you try to bake on a cookie sheet that you slide into the oven with the pizza on it, I think you'll find yourself frustrated in the quest of good crusty pizza.

So, after rolling out and preparing your pizza on top of parchment paper, slide the paper (with the pizza on it) onto a large cutting board held level with the counter. Then open the oven and gently shake the cutting board so that the pizza and the paper slide right off. Don't be scared, it works!

If you don't have parchment paper... Well, in the U.S., parchment paper can be hard to find in some areas. So, in this case, roll out (or spin) your pizza dough and then place it on a cutting board **liberally** dusted with cornmeal. Put the toppings on the pizza and then do the same sliding trick before (although it's good to check, just beforehand, that the pizza doesn't seem stuck anywhere to the board). I've made a lot of pizzas this way, too, and though it's not quite so easy to get the pizza from the board to the oven as with parchment paper, it certainly works.

Finally, bake the pizza from anywhere between 12-18 minutes. The dough will be hard, so you won't have any trouble pulling the pizza out of the oven with a pot holder onto a cutting board.

And if you have a pizza peel instead of a cutting board, use that!

Steve's Pizza Dough (with secret ingredient)

3 Cups flour.
1 1/3 Cups water (warm, for the yeast)
1 package quick-rising yeast.
Salt (approx. 1/2 tsp)
Sugar (approx. 1/2 tsp)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (approx 1 1/2 tbsp)
....and the secret ingredient is:
Grated Parmesan Cheese (approx 1/4 C)

Mix yeast with warm water, in seperate measuring cup, not in the mixing bowl. You want to do this first so that the yeast has time to "get going" before you add it to the rest of the ingredients.

Put flour, sugar, salt, cheese, and oil in bowl. There's no need to stir yet.

Get yourself ready to mix, then add water and yeast to bowl. As soon as you add the water you want to try to get it well mixed as quickly as possible. Mix until all ingredients are blended. When ingredients are mixed, dough should be sticky to the touch, but not to runny. I then "cut" the dough at least a dozen times, with my mixing spoon. This is (I think) what takes the place of kneading the dough.

Let dough rise for 30-45 minutes. Rember that it needs to be both warm and moist to rise. What I usually do is turn the oven on bake for about 3-4 minutes (any temperature will do) then turn it OFF, open the door for a few seconds (to let it cool down slightly) then cover the bowl with a wet towel, and place in the oven, door closed.

After this first rising period, you should take the dough out, lightly sprinkle it with flour to keep it from sticking to your hands, and "punch" the dough down. This amounts to just pressing it a little bit all around. Don't remove from bowl.

Let rise (same conditions) for another 20-35 minutes. Total rising time should be between 45 minutes and just over an hour. It's my opinion that the longer you let the dough rise, the better taste it will have, but I've let it rise for only 45 minutes and had it come out just fine. This is usually done with a 30/15 minute split between the two rising periods.

Now, grease your pizza pan using a small amount of olive oil or oil spray and put the dough on the pan. Dust dough with flour again (to keep it from sticking to your hands -- as needed while rolling) and spread it onto the pan. As long as you grease the pan, spreading the dough should be easy. It will be pretty thin all around. (I use a 12x24 (?) rectangular pan -- I think that two 12" rounds will work too, but have never tried it)

Baking times are usually about 10-12 minutes in a 450 degree oven, on the middle rack. It should be obvious when the pizza is done, by the look of the crust (turning light brown) and the look of the cheeze (just getting those brown cooked spots on it)

Suggested toppings:
Motzerella and pepperoni with pizza sauce. Thinly sliced tomatoes, cheddar, onion, with a garlic & olive oil sauce. Fresh mushrooms, motzerella, and cooked sausage, pizza sauce.

The following produces a rather crispy dough (see notes at bottom!): 1 envelope dry yeast (I like Fleishmann's Rapid Rise(tm)
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm water (75-80 degrees F. Too hot and you'll kill the yeast, too cold and the yeast won't activate. If anything, err towards the cooler side - the slower it rises, the better...)

Stir yeast and sugar into water, let sit for 8 minutes or so. It should become slightly foamy with a familiart "yeast" odor. No foam after 6 or so minutes and the yeast was bad or your water wrong temperature. I haven't had a yeast problem yet.

In a bowl (or food processor) mix

1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add the yeast mixture. If using food processor, continue running until dough forms a ball, 10-20 seconds. By hand, just jump in and mix away. If you've never done dough before, it gets a little sticky.

If the dough is a little dry (ie: flour left on sides of bowl and you absolutely can't get it mixed) add 1/2 teaspoon water and try until you get it. If measured right, you shouldn't need any additional water.

On a floured surface pick up dough and throw it down HARD 8-10 times (really, you can't hurt it, think of your boss...) Continue kneading for 2 minutes or so. if dough is a little sticky, dust your finger and counter with flour, but as little as possible).

That it. Either rolls out by hand for an 11" pizza (14" thin or 7" thick).

Bake at 500F in pre-heated oven for 8-12 minutes, the edges will turn nice golden brown when done. Dough will be firm and cripy, not soggy and soft like many other doughs.
Pizza secrets:
What about thick crust pizza? Well, I'm not really fond of thick crust pizza, but from my experience, this is what I'd have to say: Use this recipe on a smaller pan. Use more pizza sauce, or a pizza sauce with more water. This will cause the top layer of the dough to cook less than the layer touching the pan. Cook at a lower temperature, with the pizza pan on a lower rack of the oven. All of these things will make your pizza more dough-ey. Experiment at your own risk!

What about even crispier crust? Use a little bit less water (but still more than 1 Cup water) in the recipe. This will give you a drier dough. Cook the pizza on a lower rack in the oven. Experiment at your own risk!

When rising the dough, make sure that you use a cloth towel, not a paper towel. Paper towels just don't hold enough water to stand up to the dryness of the oven.

My Favorite Pizza

(From The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash)

1 pkg dry yeast
1 1/3 c warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1 t sugar
3 1/2 c unbleached flour
1 c cake flour
1 1/2 t salt
1 c plus 2 T olive oil
3 t minced garlic
(1) 15-oz can tomato sauce
(1) 12-oz can tomato paste
2 t oregano
2 t basil
2 c sliced mushrooms
Salt and pepper
1 lb Italian sausage (hot or sweet)
1/2 t crushed fennel seeds
2 T butter
8 c blanched, roughly chopped broccoli
1 T shortening
3 1/2 c grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Dissolve yeast in warm water; stir in sugar. Combine flours and salt, and gradually add the dissolved yeast and 1/4 cup of the oil. Knead until the texture is smooth. Put in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until triple in bulk (2-3 hours).

Head 2 T of the oil and saute the mushrooms until lightly browned and the liquid is evaporated. Season to taste, and set aside to cool. Remove and discard the casings from sausage, crumble and add the sausage to the pan along with fennel. Cook thoroughly, remove and cool. Heat the butter and 2 T of the oil; at 1 t of garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Stir in the broccoli until coated well and any liquid is evaporated. Season to taste; set aside.

When the dough has risen, punch down. Cut off about 2/5 of it and set aside. Grease a 14 x 1 1/2" deep-dish pizza pan with the shortening. On a floured board, rool out 3/5 of the dough to a 20" circle. Fit to the pan, letting the exess dough hang over the side. Brush the dough with 1 T of the oil; sprinkle with salt. Sprinkle 1 c of the mozzarella over the dough.
Spread the tomato sauce across the cheese, spread the mushrooms over the tomatoes, and cover with 1 c of mozzarella. Roll out the remaining dough to approximately a 14" circle. Brush the sides of the dough inside the pan with water. Fit the 14" round into the pan. Press edges (pull if necessary) against the moustened dough to seal it. Trim the overhanging dough to 1/2" and wet it again. Fold inward and crimp to form a raised rim around the pan edge. Cut a steam vent in the top layer of the dough, and brush with 1 T of the oil. Spread the sausage across the dough and cover with the broccoli.
Combine the remaining cheeses and sprinkle across the broccoli; drizzle with 1/4 c of oil. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Freezes well.

Ideas: put the broccoli and sausage on the lower layer, and the tomatoes and mushrooms on the top layer. This way the broccoli stays moist.

For a vegetarian pizza, replace the sausage with 4 c sliced onions, lightly browned in 2 T oil. Or, you can keep the sausage and add the onions anyway.

My recipe takes about 20 minutes to cook, at 425-450 degrees, but it does depend on the pan you're using - I find a ceramic pizza pan cooks the dough much better than a tin pan, which can leave a soft bit in the middle.

Broccoli Deep-Dish Pizza Grande

Meanwhile, prepare the fillings. Heat 1/4 cup of the oil in a saute pan, add 2 t garlic, and cook for 30 seconds (without browning.) Stir in the tomato sauce and paste, simmer until thickened. Stir in basil and oregano, set aside to cool.
Heat 2 T of the oil and saute the mushrooms until lightly browned and the liquid is evaporated. Season to taste, and set aside to cool. Remove and discard the casings from sausage, crumble and add the sausage to the pan along with fennel. Cook thoroughly, remove and cool. Heat the butter and 2 T of the oil; at 1 t of garlic and stir for 30 seconds. Stir in the broccoli until coated well and any liquid is evaporated. Season to taste; set aside.

Roll out the remaining dough to approximately a 14" circle. Brush the sides of the dough inside the pan with water. Fit the 14" round into the pan. Press edges (pull if necessary) against the moustened dough to seal it. Trim the overhanging dough to 1/2" and wet it again. Fold inward and crimp to form a raised rim around the pan edge. Cut a steam vent in the top layer of the dough, and brush with 1 T of the oil. Spread the sausage across the dough and cover with the broccoli. Combine the remaining cheeses and sprinkle across the broccoli; drizzle with 1/4 c of oil. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Freezes well.

Ideas: put the broccoli and sausage on the lower layer, and the tomatoes and mushrooms on the top layer. This way the broccoli stays moist.

For a vegetarian pizza, replace the sausage with 4 c sliced onions, lightly browned in 2 T oil. Or, you can keep the sausage and add the onions anyway.

Credible California Pizza

Dough:

1 cup lukewarm water (110 degrees)
2 packages yeast
3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil

Pesto:

1 cup olive oil
2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 onion, thinly sliced
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
1 green peppers, seeded and sliced into strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1/2 pound garlic and fennel sausage or sweet Italian sausage
3 ounces goat cheese
10 ounces Mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons cornmeal

Prepare dough: Dissolve yeast in water and set aside. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Make a "well" in the center, pour in yeast solution and olive oil. Blend in the flour using a fork, working towards the outside of teh well. As dough becomes stiff, incorporate remaining flour by hand. Gather into a ball and knead eight to ten minutes on a floured board. Place in an oil-coated bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, approximately two hours.

Prepare pesto sauce using a blender or food processor. Combine all ingredients exceptp cheese. Process but do not create a puree. Stir in cheese. Set side.

Saute onions and peppers in one tablespoon olive oil and water in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir frequently until peppers are soft. Drain and set aside. Brown sausage, breaking into pieces as it cooks. Drain off excess fat. Chop coarsely and set aside.

Preheat overn to 400 degrees. Spread remaining olive oil evently over a 12--inch pizza pan. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Punch down pizza dough, flatten lightly with a rolling pin, turn and flatten with fingers. Place dough in pan and spread to edges with finertips. Bake five minutes. Spread pesto sauce over dough. Crumble goat cheese evenly over pesto. Add onions and peppers, sausage, and cheeses. Bake 10 minutes or until crust is slightly brown and cheese is bubbly..

Pizza with Peanut Butter Topping

Yield: 1 Servings
Dough for 2 lg or 4 sm
4 oz Chunky Peanut Butter
2 oz Wholemeal breadcrumbs
2 md Carrot; peel, slice fine
2 md Ribs celery; slice fine
1 md Onion; slice fine
1 oz Margarine
1 1/2 ts Marjoram
x Salt and pepper
1 oz Sunflower seeds

Cook the dough for 10 minutes. Saute veggies in the melted margarine for 5 minutes, or until just tender. In a bowl, and using a wooden spoon, mix together the peanut butter and breadcrumbs to make a paste. Stir in the veggies, herbs and seasoning; if too dry, add a little water or milk to moisten mixture. Spread over the prepared bases; top with a sprinkling of seeds; return pizzas to the oven for 10 minutes more. Source: Pizzas and Pancakes.

SPICY THAI PIZZA

Recipe By Lawrence Wheeler Serving Size : 6 Preparation Time :0:00 3 cups Cooked brown rice
2 cups Shredded mozzarella cheese -- - divided
1 cup Crunch peanut butter -- - divided
1 Egg -- beaten
Vegetable cooking spray
1/2 cup Hot water
1/4 cup Cilantro -- minced
2 tablespoons Soy sauce
3 tablespoons Dark sesame oil -- divided
1/4 teaspoon Ground red pepper
2 cups Broccoli flowerets
1 medium Red onion -- chopped
2 large Carrots -- julienned
Combine rice, 1 cup cheese, 1/4 cup peanut butter and egg in large bowl. Press firmly into 12-inch pizza pan or 10-inch pie pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 8 minutes. Mix remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter, water, cilantro, soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sesame oil and red pepper in small bowl; set aside. Stir-fry broccoli, onion and carrots in remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until tender-crisp. Spread sauce over crust; top with vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Each serving provides: * 543 calories * 24.2 g. protein * 35.8 g. fat * 36.2 g. carbohydrate * 5.3 g. dietary fiber * 59 mg. cholesterol * 694 mg. sodium.

Vegetarian Mexican Pizza

Prep: 5 min, Cook: 10 min.

1 baked cheese pizza crust
1 cup salsa, drained
1/4 lb. canned green chilies, chopped
2 Tbs. cilantro, chopped
1-1/2 cups fat-free Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 450�F. Place pizza crust on a baking sheet. Spread salsa over top and sprinkle with remaining ingredients. Bake 10-12 minutes, until cheese is melted and crust is golden.

Per serving: calories 180, fat 2.5g, 13% calories from fat, cholesterol 1mg, protein 17.8g, carbohydrates 20.4g, fiber 1.9g, sodium 603mg.

Canadian Bacon Pizza

Prep: 30 min, Cook: 20 min.

1 lb. lean ground pork, or bulk pork sausage
1/3 cup green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 12 inch pizza crust
1-1/2 cups purchased pizza sauce
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
6 ounces Canadian bacon
8 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and sliced into rings
1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped

Preheat oven to 450�F. Heat a heavy nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Saut� ground pork and next 3 ingredients 8-10 minutes, until meat is browned, stirring to crumble. Drain well on paper towels. Spread sauce over pizza crust, leaving a 1/2 inch border around edges. Combine cheeses in a bowl. Sprinkle half of cheese over pizza sauce. Spoon half of pork mixture onto pizza. Layer Canadian bacon, mushroom slices and green pepper rings on top. Sprinkle with remaining ground pork and chopped red pepper. Bake 10 minutes. Top with the remaining shredded cheese and bake another 10 minutes. This recipe serves 4.

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