Make a Spooktacular Pizza Buffet

Pizza makes a great Halloween buffet

Feed your hungry goblins and ghouls some healthy pizza when they return from their candy collecting and parties on Halloween.

It’s easy to be ready to serve hot, fresh pizza made at home with a few simple steps in preparation.

  • Shop for pizza-making supplies. You’ll need some good bread flour and yeast for the homemade pizza crust.  Or you can purchase frozen dough in balls at the grocery. Stock up on pizza sauce, cheese and other toppings, too.
  • Prepare the pizza toppings. Cook sausage, slice onions, fresh mushrooms, peppers or olives. Shred or slice the mozzarella as needed.
  • Make the dough for the pizza crusts. It will rise slower in the refrigerator, so you can make it several hours ahead of when you’ll need it. Or, freeze your own homemade pizza crust ahead of time. Let the dough return to room temperature before you try and stretch it out.

When the tired kids of all ages return, you’ll be ready to assemble and bake them some nourishing homemade pizza.

A spooktacular [popup_product]pizza buffet[/popup_product] will put a satisfied smile on their faces as they relax after their Halloween haunts.

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Homemade Pizza Crust in a Jiffy

Making your pizza crust at home from a boxed mix is not exactly what I consider home made. It’s not “from scratch” but not too far off.

Jiffy pizza crust mixI decided to test the Jiffy Pizza Crust boxed mix that is available in many grocery stores.

Jiffy is a Michigan company and they make a variety of these convenience mixes. We always had their cornbread mix at home.

Jiffy Crust Benefits

  • Convenience. One box makes a crust about 10 by 14 inches, or a number of smaller crusts. You could take this camping if you want pizza, just bring some flour for kneading, along with the sauce and other ingredients you will need
  • Rises quickly due to a combination of yeast and baking soda
  • Easy to make. You just need water and some extra flour to briefly knead the dough

The other side

  • Fluffier texture than I generally like due to the combination of yeast and baking soda. My homemade pizza crust recipe has only yeast as the leavening agent
  • With only a little more time, I can make a crust from scratch using my own choice of flour

The Jiffy mix calls for prebaking the crust at 425 degrees. In my 30+ years of making pizza at home, I have never prebaked a crust. I consider it unnecessary.

Why bake before topping the pizza? I think the advocates of this method believe that it makes the crust crispier and/or keeps it becoming soggy due to the sauce and other ingredients.

I did not prebake my test crust, added my normal ingredients, and baked the pizza at 500 degrees. It came out fine.

Your pizza crust will be crisp if you use a good quality pizza sauce (no corn syrup or other fillers) that is thick, and bake it a hot, preheated oven.

Tips for a crisp pizza crust

  • Knead your crust until it has a dull sheen and won’t take in any more flour. It won’t stick easily to your hands, but is not so full of flour that the crust doesn’t hang together as a smooth ball. Better to use less flour at first, then add more a little at a time, vs. adding too much too early.
  • Use good quality bread flour
  • Stretch the crust out so that is relatively thin
  • Preheat the oven to 500 degrees
  • Assemble the pizza right before baking

I have more of the Jiffy crust mix, and I will use it when I want convenience. I’ll knead it according to the directions, adding my own flour.

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Celebrate March Madness with Homemade Pizza

DeliciousHomemadePizza

Pizza and basketball. What a great combination!

The coming game between MSU and Butler is all over the news here, as I’m in Michigan. It probably will be exciting. Teams which make the Final Four have to be good.

Having a game-watching party with family and friends this weekend? Make it a pizza night!

Here’s how you can have your pizza and see the game, too. Continue reading “Celebrate March Madness with Homemade Pizza”

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Pizza Sauce Is a Labor of Love

Pizza sauce

Some say that it’s the crust that makes the pizza, and it’s true that without a great crust, you can’t have really good pizza. But let’s not forget that fantastic pizza sauce is at the top of the list for ingredients that make pizza really taste great.

Just so you know, there’s nothing wrong with using pizza sauce that you’ve bought at the store, as long as it is made from good ingredients and adds the right flavor to your pizza. You can find some very nice pizza sauces out there that will assure that your made-with-care, handcrafted pizza is a big hit.

We love Pastorelli, which is available in grocery stores in our area, and also online. We’ve been using it since the late 1980s and have not yet found a brand that we like better.

When you’re deciding what to do about pizza sauce, use the amount of time you have to prepare your pizza as your guide. If you’re going to be in a hurry to get the pizza on the table, you might opt for a nice canned or jarred pizza sauce that you’ve discovered at your favorite grocery store.

Don’t forget that you can purchase gourmet sauces online, too. Try some of these purchased sauces out and see which you like best, and remember that even these can be made special when you add your own touches.

So You Want to Make Your Own

Now, if you’re thinking that you’d like to try your hand at making your own pizza sauce, know that it’s not all that difficult – and in terms of the time and energy you put into it, you’ll get a lot in return in the form of compliments.

We’d recommend experimenting with this in the summer when Roma or so-called “paste tomatoes” are in season. You can find them at many farmers markets at that time of year.

To get ready in the off-season, look for recipes and find the ones you want to test, line up the tools and if you’re going to can your own sauce, there are tools and processes to learn for that if you have never done it before.

Everyone has his or her own taste in pizza sauce. Some enjoy sauces that are tangy and savory, while others like sauces that are sweet, or very tomato-heavy. When you’re crafting your own pizza sauce, you’ll start with basic ingredients, and then make the sauce your own – it will be a true labor of love, and an exercise in creativity.

Homemade Pizza Sauce to Use Fresh

You can just make small batches of pizza sauce, to freeze or use promptly, too. This is also a great way to give several pizza sauce recipes a trial run before you invest the time and energy into canning. Find out first whether you really love the sauce!

Some basic ingredients that you’ll find in just about all pizza sauces in one combination or another are: crushed tomatoes, minced garlic, basil, finely diced onion, oregano and salt.

You might also find tomato sauce, sugar, olive oil, crushed peppers, hot pepper sauce and Parmesan cheese mixed in. There are as many great homemade pizza sauce recipes as there are pizza chefs, and with some experimenting, you can come up with a pizza sauce that is your own secret recipe.

Depending on the ingredients, you may have to pressure can the tomatoes, as opposed to canning in a water bath method.

Make Pizza at Home to Your Family’s Tastes

If you have more time to prepare your homemade pizza, creating your own sauce will be rewarding. There is nothing like making a lovingly prepared dinner from scratch, including taking the time to mix and simmer up a batch of delicious pizza sauce.

Creating your own recipe for pizza sauce is one of the nicest things you can do for yourself and those who’ll be lucky enough to enjoy your pizza. Serve your homemade pizza with optional additions such as Parmesan cheese, Italian seasonings, and crushed peppers for those who like to add their own touches, and complete the meal ensemble with a leafy salad and a glass of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc (or a glass of milk for the kiddies) – you’ll have a dinner that everyone loves!

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Cooler nights, pizza time

Kimbesas homemade pizzaIt was in the 40s the last couple of nights. Not too far out of line, with September in Michigan. Time to stoke up the oven and make a pizza.

In order for the crust to rise, it’s good to put it in a warm place, and put a clean kitchen towel over top of the bowl. I’ve left crust to rise for three or four hours and it’s just fine. If you want to leave it longer, then put it in the fridge.

I’ve been leaning toward thinner crusts these days, which means I cut down on the yeast, and leave out the oil.

If I was wanting a flavored crust, I’d put back the yeast and oil, because I think they help the flavor come to the fore. By flavor, I mean Parmesan cheese or a tablespoon of Italian seasoning.

I can only imagine how great some fresh oregano would be. But that test will have to come later.

Also, I wouldn’t want a flavor that would fight with the sauce. I have not found one that I like better than Pastorelli, a brand out of Chicago. I’ve been using it for years, even when I had to bring it back from a city I visited where I could buy it, and the city I lived in, where you could not buy it.

Nowadays I can get it locally, though I keep my eye on my sources.

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