What most people don’t know about me is that my father was born and raised in Harlem, NYC. Up until my grandmother past away in 1993 we spent many holidays and summer vacation in NYC. It has over 10 years since I been to NYC but the one thing that I miss almost as much as my grandmother is the food to be more exact …PIZZA! Man, when I was a kid there is nothing better than eating a slice while walking down street with cheese and sauce running down my arm. I was in heaven. Now everyone in NY has their favorite pizza palor. Over the years I have eaten at a lot of palors in the Bronx, Harlem and manhatten I can honestly say I never had a bad slice.
Living in Kauai, Hawaii a pizza much less a slice is hard to find. Don’t get me wrong I do love living in paradise and I would have to think hard and long about trading that for a New York slice of pepperoni. Our options are limited we have the fastfood chains here that you take the kids to after soccer game and a high end spot that serves good pizza but really who the heck in this economy can afford to pay $30 for a large pizza? It better have some truffles or eatable gold in it. Right!
So once again I was force to being resourceful. I started crafting my own homemade pizza. Now I not in any way comparing my pizza to NYC (which I consider the holy grail of Pizza) but it’s pretty darn good. My pizza is definitely more rustic and I use cookie sheet. For the 2 pizza which feeds 4 to 5 people cost $10.59.
I found a super easy pizza dough recipe on food network courtesy of Bobby Flay. This dough can be made ahead time and refrigerated/frozen. This particular time I double the recipe and made calzones for my kids to take to school for lunch.
Recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay
Ingredients
3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling (Chef’s Note: Using bread flour will give you a much crisper crust. If you can’t find bread flour, you can substitute it with all-purpose flour which will give you a chewier crust.)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope instant dry yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
Directions
Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.
Roll out dough and to size of your pan. Again, I used a cookie sheet because I own a fancy pizza pan/stone.
Toppings as follows:
Top with 3/4 cup of Mariana. See recipe from What’s for Dinner post.
Sliced mozzarella
Pepperoni
Homemade sausage ( see recipe below)
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning.
Homemade Italian Sausage
Ingredients
1/2 pd of ground pork – You can replace with turkey or chicken
2 tbsp Ground cumin
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp Kosher salt
1/2 tsp of Black pepper
Mix and store in plastic wrap.
Enjoy!
KAUAI ORGANICS 