Shrimp Pizza

Welcome back to the Tiny Ass Kitchen, I hope you've been having as much fun cooking in this Christmas Season as I have.



If you have been following the blog or have been reading any of my past posts you'll know I made some pizza dough in November and I have finally had time to take some of that dough and do something with it!

To begin this whole thing you'll want to defrost your pizza dough, normally I take it out the night before so it's ready the next night for dinner time. Since it should be defrosted, I'll move past that.



Take a can of chopped tomatoes and drain them out.



You can then add the drained tomatoes to a mini chopper or a large food processers if you don't have a mini one, otherwise I don't have a large one, I don't need it and I don't need all that to do the small things I do with mine. Anyway. In this add not only the tomatoes but about 2 cloves of garlic along with some spices like oregano, basil, salt, pepper and whatever else you feel. Pulse it a few times until you get this nice tomato sauce that ::gasp:: isn't from a jar!



Since that is done clean off your counter top and put down some flour because you're going to press out your dough.



Then you're going to put some flour on both sides of the dough and on your hands. Then you can begin to press it out by using the heel of your hand. Don't do it to rough because then you'll rip the dough. You can use a rolling pin, but my mom has it and I was to lazy to go over there and get it, I also make my dough to thin when I use the pin, and when I need a thicker crust I just use my hands.

Oh and don't kill yourself trying to make a circular pizza, leave that to the professionals (but not to Papa Johns or crap like that)



When you get it to the right thickness, then you need to put it in a greased cookie sheet. (doesn't it look a little like Australia?)



Then you can start spooning on your sauce to the dough and spread it around so it's nice and even in all places.



Gracie and Danny were there to supervise this...



Then you can take some shredded mozzarella cheese and spread it all around the pizza. We like a lot of cheese, so yeah. Also note I have some shrimp defrosting on the stove, you can put whatever you want on this pizza, I like shrimp, but you can do tomatoes, broccoli, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, whatever. Just make it your own and enjoy it.



Then go ahead and add whatever topping you want (notice my husband placing his shrimp - he decided to help that night)



Then you can place the pizza in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

You can make a side salad in this time too so you can have something additional to your pizza.



When it's done, I have to say, not only does it look good, but it tastes even better. The whole wheat dough is so tasty, it's not gritty and really makes you enjoy the pizza without feeling horribly guilty. The smell in the house is wonderful too, but what's even better is you save lots of money doing it at home so you can enjoy your pizza a little more often.

Happy cooking!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Pizza has gotten fucking expensive.

I have been the victim of spending $50 for pizza for people who have helped us move in and for when friends stop by. Because I enjoy having pizza every so often I decided to strike it out and make my own whole wheat pizza dough.

I've tried a lot of different recipies, this is my favorite and the one I think is the best out of many failed doughs. Just so you know I make all my doughs without the use of a bread machine, I think that's the cheaters way to do it. Making dough, no matter if it's for pizza or bread is really easy and my cat could do it, so just suck it up and give it a chance.

Gracie of course was in the kitchen, supervising. It's what she does best.



You'll get to know I mostly shop at Aldi, and as a winter/fall special they had some yeast for 77 cents, so I bought quite a bit, it should last me through the winter. If you have an Aldi by you, so you know their quality is just as good as the other stores, so give them a chance and save a bundle.



You start this dough by mixing two packets of yeast with warm tap water in a bowl. Stir the yeast a bit so it dissolves and let it sit for about 10 minutes so this way the yeast can come to life.



While the yeast does what well... what yeast does, start mixing your flour. I use a mixture of white and wheat flour. I also like to use King Arthur Flour.



It's not as gritty as other flours can be, it can be expensive so I only buy it on sale. I mix 2 cups of sifted white flour with 3 cups of the wheat flour.



When you have all the flour sifted, mix it together with the salt. At this point your yeast should have sat for about 10 minutes, add to it 2 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 cup olive oil (or whatever oil you have)



Dump the watery yeasty mixture into the flour mixture and just mix it together. You'll have to get your hands in this too, so remove any rings that you have on unless you like to lick the dough off it and risk swallowing it. After it's mixed you'll knead it up.



Once your done kneading, spray your bowl with nonstick spray and put the lump of dough in it. Place the dough in a warm spot.



I like to put it on top of the stove while I'm baking or in the oven when it's not on since it is still kind of warm. (I don't know if that's normal, but I don't pay for it)



Cover it with a clean dish towel and let it rise for about an hour and a half to two hours. The dough will double/triple in size, and it'll look something like this....



You can then flip it on a clean surface and cut it up. The dough makes two normal crust pizzas.....



But I like small thin crust pizzas so I cut it into quarters.



After your done, bag it in freezer safe bags and stick it in the freezer. Try to use it in a two months or so. You can take it out a day before and then roll it out when your ready. Since I didn't make pizza tonight I can't show you that but trust me one day I will.

Here is the recipie for those who are interested:

2 envelopes active dry yeast
1/4 cup oil
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups sifted whole wheat flour
2 cups sifted white flour
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Combine yeast with two cups of warm water and let stand for 10 minutes. In large mixing bowl combine sifted flours.
Add sugar and oil to yeast mixture and combine with the flour, mix it and knead it.

Let rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.