My 'Gourmet' Pizza

Every other Sunday, I make two home made pizza's. One for the night, and the other to freeze for the following Sunday.

While we were in Glenelg yesterday, we noted many pizzerias offering gourmet pizza with similar ingredients to mine. The closest one in regards to items and types of cheeses and type of crust only cost $32 AUD for one about the same size as mine. Wow!

Most of my ingredients are either bought at wholesale restaurant prices (such as prawns from the Asian groceries at Adelaide Central Market), or were purchased marked down and either frozen or stored until used. For example awhile back I bought chilli peppers stuffed with feta cheese. These were stored in sealed airtight containers in olive oil. They were only a $1 a package, and have made for an interesting pizza topping after slicing. I buy green and red capsicums (peppers) in bulk and then dice them up and freeze them. This is just to say that even though my pizza's are definitely extravagant, they aren't 'expensive' to prepare.


Flitterby's Pizza
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Crust - put the ingredients in your Automatic Bread Machine in the order recommended for your particular machine.

290 ml (1 and 1/4c) water
3 T Olive Oil
500 g 3 and 3/4c) Unbleached Plain Flour
1t Sugar or Splenda
1/2 t Salt
Handful dried onion flakes
Herbs to taste - I use about a T each of oregano, basil, mixed Italian seasonings and chilli flakes.

Put in ABM on dough setting. I sometimes add about 1/4c parmesan cheese to the dough when it beeps for the fruit and nut additions.

When the dough is finished, preheat oven to 220c or 430f. Spray 2 pizza pans with oil and then divide the dough onto the pans. Flatten dough so it fits the pans nicely (I've never been able to roll out dough and this method works fine for me). Use the tines of a fork to put small holes throughout the crust (even the edges) as this helps it to cook evenly.

Topping:

I don't use pizza sauce. Instead I use a garlic and olive oil spread.

Spread about 1/2 or 1 T olive oil onto crust.

Add about 2T finely diced garlic to the oil and spread evenly covering entire pizza.

Next add a layer of pizza cheese (a mix of mozzarella, parmesan and cheddar cheese).

Now add any toppings you prefer. The above pizza has prawns, pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, onions, red capsicum (red pepper), and green chilli peppers stuffed with feta cheese and then sliced. Other ingredients we enjoy are anchovies, pork sausage and chorizo.

Once the toppings have gone on, sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over each of the prawns. Follow with another layer of pizza cheese and then finish with either parmesan cheese or grated reggiano.

Allow to sit for about 5-10 minutes to let the dough rest, then put in a hot oven (about 220c or 430f) for approximately 25minutes or until cheese is bubbly all over.

For freezing, cut cooled pizza into slices, then put on a large plate and seal with plastic wrap. To cook this pizza, first thaw it all the way, then put in microwave for about 4-5 minutes (depending on your microwave) until the cheese is bubbly. We've found that using this method, the crust is actually softer than if we reheat it in the oven.

This is NOT a diabetic recipe and isn't low carb, or low calorie. It is good though. :-)