Friday, July 8, 2011

Mama Lisa's Pizza Pie

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust (store bought or homemade)
1 jar of sauce (store bought or homemade)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Italian Seasoning
Toppings of your choice

For homemade sauce (which is worth the effort) watch this video:


In my world, homemade pizza crust is a lot of work and I typically stick to store bought. You can buy the kind in the can in the refrigerated section of the grocery store or they sell packets of dry mix on the baking aisle close to the jiffy cornbread. I usually use the kind in the can for calzones and stick to the flat crusts that they just have hanging up by the peperoni. If I use store bought sauce, I prefer the Boboli that comes 3 packs to a box. It is much easier to use and keeps longer than the jars, however, I have not found them in all stores.

Homemade pizza is pretty basic. You preheat your oven to 400 degrees, rub the olive oil directly on the top of your crust, spread the sauce on the pizza dough in a circular motion, add the cheese and toppings and bake it. The most important thing is to make sure you season it with either an Italian blend seasoning or oregano. This will make or break your pizza. I season mine on top of the cheese before I add the toppings. Also, when spreading your cheese, spread it along the outside edge first and try to make sure all your sauce is covered, then cover the center. The bake time will depend on your crust so follow the package directions (usually 10-14 minutes).








Tips for success:

* If using thin crust, spread the sauce to the edges, for hand tossed or deep dish, leave one inch around the edge uncovered.

* If using sausage, buy hot (I use Tennessee Pride). Cook the sausage thoroughly and dry on   paper towels before putting in to in the pizza. Pepperoni is greasy and the sausage needs to be as dry as possible.

* Bake pizza directly on the wire racks instead of on a pan for a crispy bottom crust.

* Let pizza sit 3-5 minutes after removing from oven, allowing it time to set, before slicing it.

Here's mine.....


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