Mom's Pizza Dough Recipe File

Fried zucchini flower pizza

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With the arrival of summer comes the zucchini. Every year I have way more zucchini then a family could possibly eat. This problem is magnified by "friends" who try to solve their zucchini problem by sharing it with others. Barbara Kingsolver has a funny chapter in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle in which she recounts her losing battle against the overabundant zucchini. She might have won if she was only dealing with her own zucchini, but neighbors were kindly dropping more off at her house while she was away.

She writes, " It's a relaxed atmosphere in our little town, plus our neighbors keep an eye out.... So the family was a bit surprised when I started double-checking the security of doors and gates any time we all were about to leave the premises. 'Do I have to explain the obvious?' I asked impatiently. 'Somebody might break in and put zucchini in our house.'"

Despite the inevitable zucchini fatigue, there is no greater pleasure for me than zucchini flowers. Battered and fried, they are such a treat. As I was stealing the male flowers (the ones not attached to a zucchini) from the plants at my daughter's preschool garden, I had a vision of fried zucchini flower pizza. It is delicious and you can even get rid of a few zucchini by grating them and hiding them under the cheese and putting them in the sauce.

 

Fried zucchini flower pizza

6 zucchini flowers

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup club soda or seltzer water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup red sauce (whatever you like. Make your own tomato sauce or used jarred pizza sauce)

1 small zucchini, grated or chopped

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

2 tablespoons small basil leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Remove the pistils from the flowers by breaking off the ends and pulling them out. Rinse and set aside to dry.

Make batter by whisking together flour, salt and club soda in a bowl. Dip flowers in batter and remove any extra batter by scrapping along the side of the bowl. Fry in olive oil over medium high heat until golden brown on both sides. The recipe calls for 6 flowers, but there is plenty of batter if you want to do a few more to eat while the pizza cooks!

(You may also use a yeast batter to fry the flowers. Check out this recipe and this one from the cook (almost) anything at least once blog.)

 

Roll out the pizza dough and lightly brush the rim with olive oil. Spread out sauce, zucchini and then cheese. Arrange the flowers on top.

Bake on the bottom rack of a 500 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, until crust is slightly brown. Remove from oven. Add the basil leaves, cut and serve. Enjoy!

Use it or lose it pizza

No idea what to do with the vegetables in your refrigerator slowing going bad? Try this. Stand in front of your refrigerator with the door open and take out everything that needs to be used up . Put it on a pizza.

One sausage, a little left-over onion waiting, half a squash some spinach on its way out and chopped cilantro made a delicious pizza.

Delicate Squash, Spinach and Sausage with Cilantro Walnut Pesto Pizza

quarter of an onion chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 of a delicate squash thinly sliced.

1/2 cup steamed spinach

1 sausage thinly sliced

1/2 cup cilantro

small handful of walnuts

olive oil

8 slices of fresh low-moister mozzarella cheese

Sauteed the onion, garlic and squash for about 15 minutes while the oven heated. Salt and pepper to taste. Put cilantro, walnuts and a dash of salt and pepper in a Cuisinart and blend while adding olive oil.

When completed, roll out dough and brush with olive oil. Add pesto. Next layer sauteed vegetables, sausage and spinach. Finish with slices of mozzarella cheese.

Bake on the bottom rack of 500 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

Cherry tomato and corn pizza on whole wheat crust

Nothing says summer like tomatoes and corn. Why not put them on a pizza, grill it and eat outside. Oh summer, I love you.

Cherry Tomato and Corn Whole Wheat Pizza

1 ear of corn, cut off kernels

handful of cherry tomatoes

5 slices of mozzarella cheese cut in half

olive oil

whole wheat pizza dough

Slice tomatoes, salt and set aside on a paper towel to drain water. Roll out Mom's Pizza Dough and brush with olive oil. Arrange cheese and tomatoes and sprinkle corn on top. Salt and pepper to taste. Bake on the bottom rack of  a 500 degree oven or a grill for about 9 minutes.

Cherry tomato, arugula and sausage pizza

Cherry tomatoes make beautiful pizzas. This pizza combines sausage and arugula to make a well balanced summer meal.

Tip: when using tomatoes on pizza, remember to salt them and let them drain ahead of time. This will keep the pizza from getting soggy.

Cherry Tomato, Arugula Sausage Pizza

1 sausage (optional)

handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced and drained (see above)

2 handfuls of arugula

1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated

Roll out Mom's Pizza Dough and brush with olive oil. Transfer to peel. Top with arugula, sausage, cheese and then tomatoes. Slide  onto pizza stone in your oven. Bake for 8 minutes on bottom rack of oven.

Margherita pizza

For many people, pizza means tomatoes. With summer comes tomatoes and there is nothing better than Margherita Pizza.

Try cooking the pizza on the grill so your house doesn't heat up any more than necessary.

Margherita Pizza

2 tomatoes (add a handful of cherry tomatoes too if you have them)

Mozzarella cheese sliced and patted dry if needed

salt and pepper

Cut up tomatoes and salt them ahead of time. Let them sit on some paper towels. This will draw the water out of them so that they don't make your pizza crust soggy.

Roll out pizza dough and brush with olive oil. Top with tomatoes and cheese.

Throw on the grill for about 8 minutes. Drizzling a little olive oil before serving never hurts. Enjoy!