Home Made Pizza

I wanted to be able to make a scratch pizza sauce for not much more work than opening a jar of Ragu, but have it taste like it didn't come out of a jar, or even better, have it taste like I wanted it to. This is consistent with a recent theme I am on of eliminating as many processed foods as possible.

So, I did the requisite research and voila, the recipe below.

For crust, we used Wendy's recent crust recipe, which I like, but halved it for a single pizza. Jeannine would like it a little thicker, so next time we might vary quantities. One day I will "par-bake" the crust before putting on the sauce to see if it avoids the little bit of "soggy bottom" that usually occurs.

This sauce recipe intrigued me since you really only need a can of tomato paste and your spice cabinet at its simplist. Tomato paste usually doesn't have any other ingredients than tomatos. If you have fresh spices, all the better.

Wine of the night: Kamiak 2007 Rock Lake Red blend. The old Kamiak stocks are being depleted and this is their new blend. I think I like it a little better than the old stuff which was good. $10+ reliable red blend that has no bad habits.

Crust (Wendy's recipe makes two pizzas):

Combine 1cup warm water, 1/4 tsp sugar, and 1 package dry yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Combine 2-3/4 cups flour and 1 tsp salt. Then mix with 1-1/2 TB olive oil and yeast mixture. Add flour as needed until mixture is smooth and not tacky when squeezed. Kneed dough 4-5 times.

Put dough lump smooth side up in medium bowl that has been brushed or sprayed with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warmed (off) oven for about 40 minutes or until doubled.

Remove from oven, punch down, divide in two and let rest for about 10 minutes before stretching dough into pans.

Sauce

(1) 6 oz can of tomato paste
(2) cans of water
2+ TB minced onion
2 minced garlic cloves or equivalent of pre-minced
2+ TB Italian seasoning to taste or equivalent of Oregeno, Rosemary, Basil
Dash of red pepper flakes
½ tsp pepper
Dash of red pepper flakes
½ tsp basalmic vinegar
½ tsp sugar + to taste
½ TB butter
3 TB grated parmesan

Saute on low minced onion in olive oil, add garlic at end
Add all other ingredients except parmesan and simmer to combine flavors
Turn off heat and add grated parmesan. Let cool before putting on dough.
(optionally added a little anchovie paste to sauce)