Painless Pizza
Posted by Shevaun
Wednesday September 26, 2012After 22 years of broken egg yolks, charred vegetables, and burnt popcorn, it has become abundantly clear that cooking is not one of my natural gifts. For this, and many other reasons, I am grateful for my cooking-savvy roommate. A self-proclaimed sweet tooth and baking connoisseur, she also prides herself on her homemade pizza. Last night’s endeavor to produce a perfect pie was meant to convince me that pizza is painless to make: a 30-minute procedure involving store-bought dough and sauce, and minimal, all-fresh ingredients.
I found that one great thing about making your own pizza is the freedom to apply your own preferences in terms of toppings. For my roommate and I, this meant fresh mozzarella cheese and spinach, sautéed mushrooms and onions, dried basil, and spicy pepperoni (her half). We decided to save ourselves on time and use store-bought dough and pizza sauce.
We started by sautéing the mushrooms and onions in olive oil, with a little bit of salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, we pre-heated the oven to 350˚F.
My sole, entrusted, responsibility consisted of chopping up the mozzarella to sprinkle on top. I was more than happy to oblige in this seemingly safe task. At least I couldn’t burn anything.
After rolling the dough in some whole-wheat flour, we stretched it out on our baking sheet. As we both prefer thin-crust pizza, we spread the dough as far as it would go. You could, of course, spread more compactly for a thicker crust, deep dish pie.
Next, we slathered the dough with sauce, sprinkled with cheese, and artistically arranged all of our colorful toppings…
…and popped it in the oven.
After just fifteen minutes of cooking, we had a perfectly crisp, un-burnt, seething-with-fresh-ingredients pizza. We impatiently waited ten minutes to let cool, and devoured. Next time, I’m thinking a basil pesto sauce, herbed goat cheese, pine nuts, arugula…!
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- Store-bought pizza dough
- Store-bought pizza sauce
- Cheese –mozzarella is a great cheese for melting, and a dusting of fresh grated Parmesan would make a delicious topping.
- Toppings –a combination of fresh, colorful vegetables and meats
- Salt and pepper to taste, and any other spices or herbs (basil, sage, garlic, etc)
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