Pizza

I've been trying my hand at pizza for the last week or two, and have found some interesting recipes. One of my favorites is the deep dish pizza (but I'm probably biased since this is my own recipe.)

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup warm water

1 tablespoon yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

3-3 ½ cups flour

¼ cup butter or margarine, melted

2 cans tomato paste

1 can whole plum tomatoes

1 package Jimmy Dean Italian Sausage (be sure to get this exact kind - it is seasoned perfectly)

pepperonis (optional)

Mozzerella cheese - at least 1 cube fresh and 1 cup grated (the more the better - you can do all grated if you want to simplify things)

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

minced garlic

minced onion

basil

oregano

salt

pepper

Dough:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.

2. Add sugar, salt and 2 ½ cups flour. Mix to form dough.

3. If more flour is needed, add up to 1 cup more. Mix about 3 minutes.

4. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Sauce:

1. Cook sausage and drain grease

2. While sausage is cooking, in a seperate pan simmer finely minced garlic and onion in olive oil for a few minutes

3. Add 1 can plum whole tomatoes (drained), 2 cans tomato paste, and one paste-can of water. stir until well mixed. You will probably want to mash the tomatoes a little (but not too much).

4. Add the sausage (and pepperonis if you want) to the sauce. The sauce should have a very thick, chunky consistency - if it is thin, you will have a very messy pizza.

5. Add basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble:

1. Spray a springform pan liberally with oil. Roll out dough and place it in the pan (so it covers the bottom and comes up the sides). The dough on the sides will be drooping down, but once you pour in the sauce this won't be a problem.

2. Cover the crust with thin slices of mozzerella.

3. Pour in the chunky sauce / sausage mixture.

4. Sprinkle additional mozzerella and shredded parmesan cheese on top.

5. Bake in preheated oven (probably around 425 - I can't recall) until the crust is golden brown.

Hope you like it. For more great pizza, you can try these amazing California Pizza Kitchen recipes:

Rosemary Chicken and Potato

http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/pizza/rosemary-chicken-potato1.html

BBQ Chicken

http://www.recipezaar.com/BBQ-Chicken-Pizza-California-Pizza-Kitchen-Style-155744