Pizza Crazy

This summer, everyone made pizza. I did too! This recipe rocks. I mean, SERIOUSLY rocks. Kickpleat, you've done it again.

Check out the pizzas I made!!

This one has fresh and roasted veggies ...


This one has chicken ...


This one has bacon and spicy salami ...


This is a breakfast one with eggs, sausage, spinach ... I was guided by this recipe ...


And LOOK!! That's pizza dough too! Chili powder, herbs, honey, olive oil, crunchy, chewy bready goodness inspired by the lovely tara ...

I never knew pizza could be such an easy thing to make. It feels so liberating to add whatever you want to the dough; kind of like an empty page waiting to be filled up -- reminds me of my journal days when I would write stories and things in my head on the subway, the bus, in front of the computer in the middle of studying for an exam, during the early morning hours of insomnia .. Those days may be gone, but my pizza days have just begun!

Check this one out ...

Ok, it's not really a pizza. It started when I saw my cooking love, Anna Olson make a concord grape focaccia on her newish show Fresh. And then I saw this post from smitten kitchen who made kind of the same thing, but with rosemary. But Anna Olson's version needed to rest a for different periods of time .. time that I didn't have ... And smitten kitchen's version required fancy equipment like a hook and an electric mixer. So, I went back to my summer discovery: a pizza dough that you don't have to knead and that doesn't need a lot of rest. I used a combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat pastry flour, added just a touch more honey than the recipe called for and then piled on the grapes, sprinkled on the rosemary and sugar and hoped for the best.


My grape pizza turned out wonderful -- a perfect treat, nice enough to give to friends, and wonderful the next morning for breakfast alongside a little smoothie. The texture was really interesting, almost pastry like and crumbly because of the type of flour I used. If you wanted to turn this into dinner, I'm sure you could add some crumble goat cheese, or even extra old cheddar, some chopped walnuts, and some baby arugula. Wow ... I need to try that next!

So, it's not really focaccia; big deal. One day, we'll dig through storage and find that big monster kitchen aid that comes with all the fancy attachments. One day, I'll take an entire day off so that I can let a dough rise as much as it likes. One day I'll find my story-writing groove again and write on the streetcar on the way to work instead of sleep ... Until then, I'm consoled by pizza.

Sweet Pizza with Concord Grapes and Rosemary
crust from Everybody Likes Sandwiches
inspired and guided by Anna Olson and Smitten Kitchen

For the crust:
1 package of instant yeast
1 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of honey
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of chopped rosemary
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1.5 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup of all purpose flour (+ more for if needed)
cornmeal

On top:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 cup of concord grapes, halved and de-seeded
2 teaspoons of coarse sugar

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the yeast, water, honey, salt, rosemary and oil. Sift in the flour and stir to combine. Dough should be soft, but not too sticky. Add more all purpose flour if needed. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

2. Sprinkle corn meal on a baking sheet (rectangular works too!). Knead the dough a few times in the bowl, adding more flour if needed until you get a soft, smooth ball of dough. Press the dough out on the baking sheet.

3. Brush the dough with olive oil. Sprinkle on the grapes and press down on them slightly. Add the rosemary needles and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

4. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the crust gets lightly golden brown.