Mother Andrea K. Jones’ Pizza Perfection

I was just wondering if your preacher could deliver an outstanding sermon and whip up an impressive pizza all on the same Sunday? Mine certainly can. While her message gave us food for thought and filled us up with The Good News, her rustic style pizza was simply spectacular and made quite a hit with the members who stayed behind for an after church workshop. Holy Smokes it was sinfully good.

Mother Andrea K. Jones’ Pizza Perfection

Dough:

2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 packages active dry or quick-rise yeast

1 cup very hot water (120 – 130 degrees F.)

2 tablespoons salad oil

4 teaspoons olive oil, divided

1 can (35 oz.) Italian plum tomatoes, chopped and well drained

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried

1 teaspoon oregano

Salt and freshly ground pepper

12 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

Dough: In mixer bowl combine 1/2 cup flour, corn meal, salt, sugar, and yeast; mix well.  With mixer at low speed, gradually add hot water and oil.  Increase speed to medium and beat 1 minute.  Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough.  On lightly floured surface knead 5 minutes.  Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning to oil top.  Cover and let rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled in bulk, about 20 to 45 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to lowest position.  Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Punch dough down.  Cover and let stand 10 minutes.  Oil bottom and sides of a 12 inch deep-dish pizza pan.  On lightly floured surface roll dough into a 16 inch circle.  Place in pan, pressing dough up sides of pan to form a 1 ½ inch edge.  Prick bottom with a fork.  Bake 4 minutes.  Remove crust from oven and brush lightly with 1 teaspoon olive oil.

In bowl combine tomatoes, basil, oregano and salt and pepper to taste.  Arrange mozzarella evenly on crust and spoon on tomatoes.  Sprinkle  with parmesan.  Shape sausage into 1 inch rounds, flatten slightly.  Distribute evenly over filling.  Drizzle remaining olive oil on top.  Bake 20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and sausage is cooked through.  Makes 6 servings, 790 calories each.

Mother Andrea says she uses just one package of yeast since she prefers thinner crust.  She also makes two pans with this recipe.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 10:42 pm. It is filed under Lifestyles, Season to Taste. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.