From Scratch--Goad Things

One of the managers at work won a contest and used some of the money she won to order pizza from Larry's Pizza. It was the most wonderful pizza I have ever had.

When my husband and I were trying to figure out where to eat out the other afternoon for a treat, I suddenly remembered Larry's Pizza. Richard loved it as much as I did.

I did my best this afternoon to replicate my favorite, the baked potato pizza, and came up with something pretty good, but not as good as Larry's. I've made a vow to stick to my grocery budget--no extra trips to the grocery store between paydays, so there was no bacon, chives, or sour cream. But it was pretty tasty all the same, and next payday bacon, chives, and sour cream will be on the grocery list along with potatoes!

I also made a pizza with salami, oven dried tomatoes from the garden, basil from the garden, and provolone cheese. Both pizzas had a béchamel rather than tomato sauce.

 

Pizza Crust

This recipe uses a bread machine -- a tool I heartily believe in! It's no substitute for the therapy of kneading dough when you're frustrated, but when I've got a lot going on in the kitchen it's nice to know the bread's making it okay without me.


Ingredients to make two 12 inch pizzas

• 1 1/4 Cup Water
• 2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 Cups White Flour
• 2 Cups Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Granulated Sugar
• 1 Tsp Rapid-Rise Active Dry Yeast

In the Bread Machine

1. Pour water into bread pan.
2. Add oil.
3. Sprinkle the flour over the wet ingrdients.
4. Put salt and granulated sugar into separate corners.
5. Make an indention in the middle of the flour and add the yeast.
6. Set bread machine to basic dough setting.
7. Observe dough for first 5-10 minutes of kneading to make sure that a firm ball is forming. If it is too dry, add water a TB at a time. If it is too wet, add flour a TB at a time.
8. When dough is done, roll into two pizza crusts, spread a small amount of tomato sauce or tomato paste on top, and add toppings of your choice.

In the Oven: Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

 

Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 TB Unsalted Butter
• 2 TB Flour
• 1/2 TSP Salt
• 1 Cup Milk

On the Stove

1. Heat milk to nearly boiling on low heat.
2. In another sauce pan melt the butter on low heat and stir in the flour until smooth.
3. Slowly add the milk to the flour, a couple of tablespoons at a time, constantly stirring.
4. Still on low to medium low heat, continue stirring the mixtures until it thickens to the desired consistency.

Baked Potato Pizza

Ingredients

• Pizza crust 
• About a cup of béchamel sauce
• About 6 new potatoes, but next time I'll probably double it, baked and sliced into rounds
• About a cup and a half of grated cheddar cheese.
• And I would recommend about 4 or 5 slices of bacon cooked and chopped up and several tablespoons of chopped chives and sour cream drizzled over the top!  

Directions

• Make the pizza crusts and bake the potatoes.
• Prepare béchamel sauce.
• Cover the pizza with a layer of potatoes. 
• Then the bacon and chives.
• Then the cheese.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 425 degrees. 

 Salami Pizza

 
Salami Pizza Ingredients:

• Pizza crust
• About 6 to 8 rounds of salami
• A couple handfuls oven-dried tomatoes
• A handful of shredded basil
• About 6 rounds of provolone cheese, torn in big pieces to cover the pizza.

Directions:

• Make the pizza crusts 
• Spread on the béchamel sauce.
• Cover the crust with a layer of salami.
• Sprinkle over oven-dried tomatoes.
• Sprinkle over basil.
• Cover with provolone cheese.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 425 degrees.