You Wanna Pizza Me!

The Confused Pizza with Whole Wheat Flour, Semolina, Prosciutto, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Capers, Baby Peppers, Basil, Mushrooms, Kalamata Olives… Oh! AND CHEESE! This is one confused Pizza! It doesn’t know if it wants to be healthy or fat! Either way, it makes one yummy PIZZA!!!!

First things first… To make brick oven worthy pizza at home you need a few ingredients and utensils. Without these you might as well just open up a frozen box of Ellios pizza and call it a day…

1. PIZZA STONE - Please! Invest $25 bucks on any pizza stone. I promise you, you will never be disappointed with the end result. Steer clear of aluminum or metal pizza pans.. they are GARBAGE!
2. Pizza Peeler – It just makes easy handing to and from the oven.
3. Semolina Flour – No respectable pizza goes without it!
4. An Oven that heats to 500 (or more) degrees

With the above essentials you will give any pizzeria a run for their money.

Let’s get the ingredients ready…

Elena’s Confused Pizza – Makes 2 large Pies – or 4 ten inch pies. Depending on your stone.

For the Dough;

• 5 cups whole wheat organic flour
• 2 cups Semolina Flour
• 2 (1/4) packs Active Yeast
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 Tsp Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp raw sugar
• 2.5 cups warm water

For the Pizza;

• 4 cups of your BEST pasty Marinara sauce
• 2 tbsp Williams Sonoma Pizza seasoning or 1/2 tsp each of…  garlic flakes, sun-dried tomato, California chili, cayenne pepper flakes, onion flakes, sea salt, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped Kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup Capers
• 1/4 lbs Imported Prosciutto (thinly sliced and fat trimmed
• 1 bunch fresh sweet basil
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 1/2 tbsp dried sweet basil
• 1/2 tbsp roasted garlic powder
• 1 cup sliced sweet baby peppers
• 32oz shredded fresh mozzarella cheese

First step is to make the dough..

1. Mix the 2.5 cups warm water, 2 Pkts. yeast, sugar, and olive oil. Stir and let stand for 5 min.
2. Sift together the flours and salt

In a stand mixer with the kneading attachment (or by hand) mix the flours and stir in the water until blended together. Knead for about 5 minutes.

Find a comfortable workplace in your kitchen. Flour the workspace, dump the dough on the workspace and continue kneading for another 5 minutes.

Split the dough into two balls and cover with a damp cloth for about an hour.

While the dough rises let’s get all the pizza ingredients ready!

Shred the cheese and place in an airtight container and place in the fridge. This allows the cheese stay fresh and not melt. Do the same with the Prosciutto.

In a small sauce pot bring the 4 cups of sauce and the pizza seasonings to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand to cool.

In a bowl mix the sliced sun-dried tomato with the 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper, 1/2 tbsp oregano, 1/2 tbsp dried sweet basil and 1/2 tbsp roasted garlic powder. Mix well and let stand.

Finally chop up the olives, capers, basil, mushrooms, peppers and set aside.

And start adding the toppings to your liking… I like sprinkling some salt and fresh ground pepper to my pizza before it goes in the oven.