Pesto Pizza

My husband gets the Food Network magazine every month. If you like cooking and like magazines, you need this. I promise. March is all about Italian. There is a recipe for pizza crust I had to try last week. We love pizza here. It. Was. Awesome.

This recipe makes two 1-lb balls

1 T sugar
1 1/3 c warm water
2 1/4 t active dry yeast (1 packet)
3 T olive oil, plus more for brushing
3 3/4 c flour
1 1/2 t salt

1. Mix the sugar and the water in a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let it sit until foamy (about 10 minutes).
2. Stir in the olive oil.
3. Mix the flour and salt together. I used my mixer with the paddle starting with this step.
4. Add in the liquid mixture.
5. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. By hand about this takes about 5 minutes. With a mixer, only about 2.
6. Brush a large bowl with olive oil and put the dough in to rise. It should double in size. This takes about an hour and a half. Be sure to cover it tightly. I love to use the big Tupperware bowls with lids.
7. After it has doubled, separate the dough into two balls. Keep one in the bowl covered tightly.
8. Roll out the dough. I always use a rolling pin. No tossing it in the air for me. I used corn meal and flour to dust the counter when I rolled it out. My husband loves thin crusts, so I rolled one super thin for him. He loved it. The other was about 1/4 inch thick. Once the dough is rolled you can leave it like that and add your toppings, leave about 1/4-1/2 inch border for a crust. If you like a thicker crust to hold, roll the dough out in a circle and then fold the edge in about a 1/4 inch. Do this twice and gently pinch it down after the second fold. If you like stuffed crust, cut a string cheese in half the long way and lay it out along the edge of the dough. Roll the crust over the cheese and pinch it down to seal it.

The magazine says once its rolled out put it on your pizza stone and bake it for 7 minutes, in a preheated 500 degree oven, before you add the toppings. I overlooked that step-oops-and just put the toppings on. It was fine. I would try baking it before for a thicker crust but no way for the thin.

For the topping:
Buitoni Pesto with Basil
Mozzarella Cheese
Sliced Olives
Mushrooms (Do you see those? Don't they look beautiful?)
Artichoke Hearts
Deli Ham (Not pictured. I used Black Forest Boars Head Ham. I bought it from the deli and asked them to shave it paper thin.)

This is so easy! Spread the pesto first. I used about half of the container for one pizza. Sprinkle the mozzarella as much or little as you like. Slice the mushrooms. I kept ours thick; they were just too good. Layer them on. Throw on the olives. Break up the artichoke hearts and slap them on as well. I took the ham and browned it up a little in a frying pan. It was sliced so thin that it felt like I was scrambling it. Then throw it on the pizza too. Then I added a little more cheese to tie it all together.

Before it went in the oven-Yum

Bake at 500 degrees as well. It took about 6 minutes since the crust was so thin. The crust browned very nice. Reminder, do NOT bake the thin crust first

I made a cheese pizza with red sauce for our kids, and since the crust was thicker it took around 9 minutes. Keep in mind since I didn't bake the crust before it wasn't really brown. Everything was cooked and melted, but the crust wasn't golden.