Canadian Bacon and Pineapple Pizza

"Pizza should be easy to make." That came from RLD. HA! Pizza is not easy to make. Well, it's not when you make the dough from scratch too. Picking up a phone and dialing Pizza Hut delivery is easy but expensive and they never put enough cheese even when ordering extra cheese. The store bought dough makes for an easy pizza but I cant stand the flavors of those. I've been looking and looking for a pizza dough recipe that isnt uber complicated for my first attempt. Thanks to Amber's Delectable Delights I found one and a sauce recipe too. YAY! Now first I have to say that I love to bake but I hate messing with dough. It's sticky and feels gross and well yea I just dont like it. Mainly it's the sticky part that gets me. There's also the bit about how yeast hates me.

Anyway, so I had the recipes and I had the pizza stone and pizza peel. I was ready to make some pizza! My yeast was alive and cooking and aside from having *just* enough flour left everything was going great. Even the icky kneading part. I have long nails and I hate dough getting under them. heh. I could never be a professional chef. I whine too much. I know it sounds like I dont really like to cook but I do. I love it. :)

I made the sauce and the dough was ready. I had the stone in the oven sprinkled with cornmeal and preheating and grabbed the pizza peel. Now I ran into the problem of how to get the pizza off the pizza peel and on to the pizza stone. Yea I totally couldnt figure it out so I gave up for now and used my pizza pan instead of the peel/stone.

The dough recipe makes a LOT of dough. I should have followed Amber's example and used some of it for breadsticks. The pizza really did turn out great, I was just frustrated with trying to figure out the peel/stone thing. I will master it! Eventually. heh. I'm stubborn that way.

This was definitely an "eat with a fork" pizza. It was very filling, I could only eat 1 piece and I was full.

btw the pizza didnt burn I just take really crappy pictures. *LOL*

Now then for the recipes!



Jay's Signature Pizza Crust

Found via Amber's Delectable Delights

Ingredients:
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:
In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it. (I think that if I use the pan again I might bake the crust a bit before I put the toppings and such on. It was cooked but not as cooked as I would like)

Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

Found via Amber's Delectable Delights

**This recipe yields enough sauce for two large pizzas.

15 oz. tomato sauce
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder (I was out of onion powder so I used minced onions)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients.

Toppings:
Canadian Bacon
Pineapple
Mozzarella and Parmesan Cheese Mix (lots and lots of cheese! I put the sauce down then a layer of cheese then the meat/pineapple then another layer of cheese)

Coming Soon: Baked French Toast Casserole, Oven-Fried Onion Rings, Meatloaf & Roasted Red Potatoes, Pepperoni and Cheese Bread, and Bourbon Chicken (not all in the same meal of course!!)