Our Best Pizza Yet

Saturday night, J and I decided to whip up some cocktails with the leftover grapefruit from my Easter tart. We also decided that since we couldn't go to the Timbers game against Real Salt Lake, we would make a fun dinner and watch it at home. We hadn't made pizza in a while, mostly because we've never gotten the crust quite right and while tasty, is always disappointing in some way. I'm pretty sure we prepared ourselves for this time not being any different, because pizza is a lot of fun to make -- and eat. While I prepped the toppings, J juiced the grapefruit and concocted our version of a traditional Greyhound (recipe below) and we brought the laptop into the kitchen to stream the soccer game. 

I must admit, we did not make our own dough this time. It's a day-long (or with some recipes, two-day-long) process and we have an Italian market up the street that sells frozen dough for less than $3 and it is quite tasty. We let the dough thaw and rise for about 4 hours and I flattened it out on the counter. We let it rest for about 10 minutes and transferred it to the pan. J made up a sauce of tomato paste, fresh garlic, some dried basil, and a little water. I thinly sliced mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion in addition to the paper thin slices of pepperoni J had cut at the deli. We brushed the dough with olive oil, spread the sauce, topped it with mozzarella and a bit of Parmesan, layered the mushrooms, pepper, onions, and then pepperoni. We sprinkled just a bit more of the two cheeses and salted the outer crust, and threw it in the oven for 10 minutes. As we peered in the oven window I was shocked at the beauty that we created. Seriously, look at that pizza!

Now, two things that made this pizza outstanding: heat and thinly sliced toppings. While we prepped everything for the pizza, we cranked the oven up to 550º (highest temp) and let it heat up for at least 30 minutes. As I mentioned, J had the pepperoni sliced paper thin and I did the same with the mushrooms, bell pepper, and onions. This ensures that the toppings don't get soggy, and even crisp a little with the high heat. And look! We got bubbles. That never happens at home. I was so excited about how this pizza turned out that we're going to try it all over again sometime this week. 

The cocktails were not exactly a perfectly paired beverage for pepperoni pizza, but they were delicious and tasted like summer. They were also necessary for the numerous toasts we made on our perfect Saturday night. The baby is in bed! Cheers! The Timbers beat Salt Lake! Cheers! We rock at making pizza! Cheers! And Cheers!


Awmercy's Greyhound Recipe

2oz. Gin (not your best gin here -- we like Seagram's)
4oz. Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (with pulp)
~1 tsp. Honey

Pour room temperature ingredients into a cocktail shaker, stir to dissolve honey, throw in a few ice cubes and shake to chill. This drink is very simple, so needless to say, it's the ingredients that make it spectacular. Our grapefruits were particularly tasty and the honey was fresh from Salt Spring island in Canada.