Mamma Mia!

Itza pizza fresh out of the oven!

Everybody helped toss the pies, it was gettin' crazy. I dropped mine in the sauce bowl... so I kneaded it some more and we had tomato pizza dough ; )

We had so much fun!

This one turned out round, and I have no idea how.

He's a pro.

We had a lot of toppings... mozzarella, goat cheese, kalamata olives, spinach, artichoke hearts, basil, tomatoes, chicken and pancetta.

This recipe is from Saveur magazine and it's a keeper. The hotter you can get your oven the better. The article instructed to put your pizza stone in the oven at 500 degrees for a full hour before putting the pizzas in. Also brush the crust with olive oil and sprinkle with salt before baking.

Magnifico!

For dessert we had chocolate chip cookies from Phoebe's french grandmother's recipe...neh-slay         

 toll-how-ze... otherwise known at Nestle Tollhouse.

Does anyone remember the episode of "Friends" when Monica spends days trying to figure out Phoebe's grandmother's chocolate chip cookie recipe? She discovers it was Nestle Tollhouse all along. So funny.

Below is the recipe for the squash blossom pizza on the cover, as well as a great pizza sauce.

Buon Appetito!

From Saveur, March 2010

This recipe, inspired by Pizzeria Mozza, yields a crisp, chewy crust.

For the dough:

9 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus
more for drizzling
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more
to taste
6 cups flour

(For the squash blossom toppings:)
2 cups pizza sauce
60 squash blossoms, stemmed
1 lb. burrata

MAKE THE DOUGH:
 In a bowl, combine 1 tbsp. oil, yeast, sugar, salt, and 2 cups 115˚ water; let sit until foamy, 10–12 minutes. Stir in flour to make a dough. Transfer dough to a floured surface; knead until smooth, 8–10 minutes. Quarter dough; roll each portion into a ball. Put balls on a floured baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap; let sit in a warm place until soft and tripled in size, 2–3 hours.

Preheat oven and pizza stone for one hour before baking at 500 degrees (broil).

MAKE THE SAUCE:
For many of their pizzas, the cooks at Pizzeria Mozza use an uncooked sauce of puréed canned tomatoes. It has a brighter tomato flavor and a more vivid color than the sweet, thick, long-simmered sauces commonly found on American pizzas. To make the sauce, put one 28-oz. can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes into the bowl of a food processor, along with 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tsp. dried basil, 2 minced cloves garlic, and half a grated medium onion. Purée and season with salt and pepper.

SHAPE THE DOUGH:
Dust a 16 1⁄4" x 12 1⁄4" sheet of parchment paper with flour and lightly flour your hands. Place a ball of dough (see Squash Blossom Pizza) in the center and use your fingertips to press, pat, and stretch the dough into a 10" circle, leaving a 1" rim of thicker dough. Once you become more comfortable with the dough, try this technique: make two fists and rest the flattened dough on your knuckles; lightly bounce the dough on your fists, allowing the weight of the dough to stretch it gently. If you like, make an extra batch of dough to use just for practice, until you've found a technique that works for you.


LET THE DOUGH REST:
To make a fluffier, chewier crust, leave the shaped dough on the parchment paper, covered with a tea towel, and let it rise for 15 minutes.

TOP AND COOK:

Uncover the dough and top with the sauce and other desired ingredients. When you're ready to bake, just leave the pizza on the parchment paper, lift it by gripping the paper at opposite corners, and lay it carefully atop the preheated pizza stone; this eliminates the need for a pizza peel, the paddle-like tool used for getting pies in and out of hot ovens at restaurants. The paper will turn dark but will not burn in a 500º oven and is thin enough not to interfere with the browning of the crust. When the pizza is done, use a metal spatula to slide the pizza onto a plate or a cutting board.

Squash Blossom Variation: Prepare the dough and follow the recipe below.

 Place a pizza stone on a rack in lower third of oven. Heat oven to 500˚ for 1 hour. Transfer 1 dough ball to a floured 16 1⁄2" x 12 1⁄4" piece parchment paper. Working from center, gently flatten dough with fingertips, leaving edges thicker than middle. Stretch dough to a 10" diameter. Cover dough with a tea towel; let rest for 15 minutes. Brush edges with 2 tbsp. oil. Season dough with salt. Spread 1⁄2 cup pizza sauce over dough, leaving a 1" border. (Arrange 15 squash blossoms over sauce in concentric circles. Transfer pizza (on paper) to stone; bake until golden brown, 10–14 minutes. Remove pizza with a spatula. Top with spoonfuls of burrata; drizzle with olive oil.) Repeat to make 4 pizzas.