Sweet Corn and Cooked Ham Pita Pizza

Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 pita breads
4 tsp red pesto
3 plum tomatoes, diced
½ red onion, thinly sliced
4 slices of cooked ham, shredded
1 cup of sweet corn kernels
¼ cup pineapple chunks
½ cup mozzarella, grated

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.

Place the pita breads onto a baking sheet. Spread each pita with 1 tsp of red pesto. Layer with the shredded ham, red onion, sweet corn, pineapple chunks and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the pitas are no longer soft.

Serve immediately with a tossed green salad.

Mom’s Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Set your oven to its lowest setting, 200 ° or below.

Slice Roma or Plum tomatoes in half, top to bottom. Scoop out the seeds with your fingers. Season with seasonings of your choice, such as, salt, pepper, garlic, Italian seasoning, herbs, etc. Place, cut side up on foil lined baking pan; drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 12 to 15 hours, which causes tomatoes to dry and shrivel. Refrigerate tomatoes in a resealable plastic bag.

It is now time to focus on a tomato sauce that will complement the flavor of the crust, plain or with oven roasted tomatoes. An elegant sauce recipe is one that is homemade, yet simple to prepare!

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Gourmet Pizza Sauce Recipe

1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup diced onion
15 oz can crushed or whole tomatoes
6-8 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
½ Tbsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf

Sauté garlic and onion with olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes until onion is translucent. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, sugar, basil, oregano and bay leaf. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (In the meantime, you can prepare the dough.) Remove sauce from heat and let cool. Remove bay leaf.

Oh boy! We are getting so close to sampling your pizza masterpiece! We have the crust and the sauce, but what shall we top the pizza with? There are a vast array of delicious pizza toppings to choose from that will provide a delightful taste to your palette!

Pizzeria Style Dough

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 teaspoons of honey
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Prepare the dough by mixing the yeast, 3/4 cup of lukewarm water, 1/2 cup flour and 1 teaspoon of honey together. Dissolve the honey in the water, add and smooth the flour then add the yeast. Stir to mix and let sit for about 20 minutes. The mixture will become light, frothy, and foamy. If your mixture does not, throw out the mix and begin again with fresh yeast.

When the above dough is light and frothy, mix 1/2 of the remaining flour, the remaining water with the remaining honey dissolved in it, the olive oil and the salt all together in a large bowl. Add in the frothy sponge mixture and stir. Then mix or knead in the remaining flour bit by bit. The dough should be only slightly sticky. Use more flour if necessary…add less to prevent the dough from becoming too dry and stiff. Knead for 15 minutes on a floured surface until smooth and elastic.

TIP: Over-kneading the dough will make it tough. It’s important to give the dough time to relax while stretching it out. This may take more time, but will help to eliminate tearing.

Take a large size zip lock baggie and lightly spray the inside of the bag with vegetable oil spray. Slide the bag between your hands to cover the inside completely with the spray oil. Place the dough into the baggie and seal. Then, place the baggie into the refrigerator and let sit for about 20 to 24 hours. That is the trick for making pizzeria style dough…letting it rise only once in the fridge before forming into a pizza and baking.

Crust Variation: Try kneading dried tomatoes into the dough! The following recipe for oven roasted tomatoes is extremely simple, but is full of fresh taste that will add a well deserved kick to any flavor of pizza!

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