Empire State Pizza

My friends and I decided we wanted to do a pizza and game night. Originally, the games were supposed to be of the board game nature. The "game" portion of pizza and game night ended up turning into Patriots vs. Jets and "night" turned into an 11:30am kickoff. I had my usual spread, spinach and artichoke dip, onion dip, chips, margaritas, etc. I was planning on just ordering in pizza but decided instead to take on an adventure of making homemade New York Style pizza.

Mushroom and Sausage pizza, yum!



Nalani snapped a pic of the spread

I had bought a pizza stone a couple weeks ago and decided I would need another since I had to make multiple pizzas. I stopped at Target and got a pizza stone kit. It friggin cracked in half when I made the first pizza! Fail. Anyways, the pizzas ended up coming out really good so I'm gonna go ahead and share the recipe for the dough and sauce. I usually make my own recipes but this one I got from a website. The biggest tip I have is to preheat your oven to 500 degrees with the stones inside. This website doesn't tell you this until the very bottom of the recipe. My issue with that is if I hadn't read that I may have not given myself enough time to be able to preheat the stones for one hour.

Pizza Dough

http://www.recipepizza.com/doughs/ny_style.htm

Ingredients Required

• 1 1/2 cups warm water (105F)
• 4 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 1/2 teaspoon of granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of yeast
• 1/2 cup cornmeal

 Step by Step Procedure

1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and salt in water.
2. Add oil and flour and stir with heavy spoon for 1 minute.
3. Turn out to a lightly floured surface and press into a circle.
4. Sprinkle yeast evenly over dough and knead for 12 minutes.
5. Divide dough into portions: 6 oz. for Calzones, 18 oz. for 12 inch, 25 oz. for 15 inch
6. Roll each portion into a ball. You want a dough ball without visible seams except the bottom.
7. Place dough balls in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to proof for 1−2 hours at room temperature to use the same day, or store in refrigerator to use the next day.
8. Place dough ball on lightly floured surface, and lightly flour the top. Use fingertips to evenly flatten out the dough ball. Work from the edges to the center press dough into a 12" circle. Place both hands within the shell edge and stretch with fingertips and palms maintaining an even pressure. Or, use a lightly floured rolling pin to stretch to desired shape.
9. Sprinkle cornmeal or semolina on pizza peel (a wooden paddle with a handle to slide the pizza in the oven) or a cutting board. The cornmeal allows the pizza to slide onto the stone easily.
10. After topping the pizza, when you are ready to cook it. Shake the peel or cutting board to make sure none of the dough is sticking.
11. Carefully slide the pizza into the oven.
12. Bake in a 500 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, until crust is golden.

For the sauce, I chose to use their uncooked sauce recipe because it seemed more along the lines of what I would have made for the sauce myself. They also have a cooked sauce recipe on the site.

Pizza Sauce
http://www.recipepizza.com/sauces/uncooked_pizza_sauce.htm

Ingredients Required

• 28 oz. of can crushed tomatoes
• 3 oz. of tomato paste
• 4 tbsps. Pecorino Romano
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 2 tbsps. minced fresh garlic
• 1 tbsp. black pepper
• 3 tsps. of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of dried basil

 Step by Step Procedure

1. Whisk all together.
2. Allow flavors to blend for one hour before using.

Feeling confident before the game that the Pats were gonna win...

Needing a drink after they lost...

Simple Red and White Strombolis

Hey Kids!

So today, I decided to get off my staycation butt and put together one of Jon and I's favorites, a stromboli. Jon and I first fell in love with the stromboli at this place in Attleboro, MA, La Strada. Friends that I worked with at the Emerald Square mall introduced me. It was love at first bite. (insert cheesy chuckle)

I always ordered the buffalo chicken stromboli, which is just to die for. Jon does not like buffalo anything so he usually got something like chicken parm or meat lovers.

This stromboli is made up of both whole wheat and all purpose flour to try to save on some calories. I also used my Marinara Sauce which is filled with veggies and not too much sugar.

The wheat dough recipe makes 2 strombolis, 1 thick crust pizza or 2 thin crust pizzas. So, you could just take the dough recipe and make a pizza or continue on to the stromboli construction.

The beauty of a stromboli, just like a pizza, is you can get really creative with your ingredients. You could make a Chicken Caesar, Buffalo Chicken, Italian BMT, Ham & Bacon, possibilities are limitless. I bet it would be so much fun to get the kids in the kitchen to help add the toppings or fillings also. I made two strombolis today, one red, one white. Very simple with the sauce, chicken, and lots of cheese.

Pizza Dough

1 1/4 cups warm water
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
3/4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour

In Kitchen Aid mixing bowl, mix warm water with sugar until dissolved. Top water mixture with yeast packet and set aside until yeast is foamy, 8-10 minutes. Add olive oil and salt. Using dough hook on mixer, add in flour in 1/2 cup increments until both wheat and all purpose flours are fully incorporated.

Knead dough for about 3-5 minutes, until smooth. Cover with more olive oil and set in mixing bowl on side. Cover with towel and allow to rise for about an hour. Once dough is about double in size, separate into two pieces. Knead each ball again until smooth and set aside to rise for another 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Once both pieces have risen, flour work surface. Using a rolling pin, stretch dough into rectangular shape about the length of the rolling pin. Repeat with second piece of dough. Add desired toppings or fillings and bake for 20 minutes.

Red Stromboli
6 servings- 176 calories each

1/2 cup Marinara Sauce
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup shredded chicken

White Stromboli
6 servings- 276 calories each

1/2 cup Alfredo sauce
1/2 cup Ravioli filling
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup shredded chicken

Layer ingredients on top of pizza dough. Here are some pictures on how to form the stromboli. First tuck in the sides. Next, pull dough from top over and pinch sides to create pocket. Then, pull dough from bottom over and pinch sides and top to seal. Make 4-5 slits in stromboli. Sprinkle top of dough with house seasoning or salt and pepper. Bake for about 20 minutes, until outside is crispy.