Pantry Pizza

We're in the middle of an arctic blast. Nothing makes Texans more nervous than seeing 9 degrees forecast.

Unfortunately, I have a slight problem. While we planned ahead and blew out water lines and covered plants and animals, I didn't plan on getting sick. Out of nowhere, I came down with norovirus. I'd never had it before and I hope to God, I never have it again. Covid was a cakewalk next to this. While norovirus was more painful (akin to being in the ring with Mike Tyson), at least it had a shorter duration.

Because I'm so contagious, Greg has had to do all the cooking. For the first week, it was relatively easy for him because I couldn't eat anyway. The only thing I could stomach were Saltines. Thanks to a dear friend and neighbor who saw my FB post, she messaged me right away and came to my rescue. Thanks, Annette!

Today, I'm over my stomach issues but I'm still restricted to home. Our bitter temperatures descended on us on Friday. From local social media, I'd read the shelves emptied days before the blast hit us. Luckily, we really didn't need anything. 

According to the news, everyone was panic buying again. Are people really that unprepared or were they fear-buying? 

Meanwhile, let me share a recipe that I made before I got sick. I call it Pantry Pizza because I had all the ingredients readily available frozen, canned, and fresh.

Pantry Pizza

In a perfect world I like to make pizza from all fresh ingredients, but one day I decided to make a pizza only with the ingredients I had in the house.

Start with pizza dough. Pizza dough is nothing more than flour, water, salt, sugar, and yeast. Some people add additional ingredients, but that's your basic dough. (recipe follows)

In a real pinch, you can use pita bread, or even an Italian loaf sliced open, but I wanted real pizza crust.

Go through your pantry, freezer, and fridge. I found precooked Italian sausage (already crumbled), a jar of sun dried tomatoes, pasta sauce, sweet bell peppers already chopped and frozen, onion, and a small package of mozzarella. I really wanted mushrooms, but I had nothing fresh, then I remembered the canned mushrooms in the pantry.

Et voila! All the makings for pizza.

Now you can toss in whatever you want. Given my way, my pizza would be vegetarian, but Greg loves meat, so I concede to sausage and just layer it on his side of the pizza. 

Normally, I'd have made my own sauce, but I just wanted something fast and easy. I keep jarred spaghetti sauce for that reason alone. When I don't feel like doing extra work, I go for the jar. I season the sauce with oregano, garlic, and cracked pepper.

Stretch the risen dough out with your fingers, right on the pizza pan. No rolling pin. When you use a rolling pin you flatten the air bubbles that give you that nice airy and chewy crust.

Layer your ingredients. Sauce first, tender vegetables next, like onions, peppers, and mushrooms, then finish with sausage and cheese. Put it into a 450 degree oven for 13-15 minutes. 

It comes out perfect.

Dough Recipe

I pkg of active yeast

3/4 cup warm water

2 tsp of sugar 

3/4 tsp salt 

• Stir yeast, water and sugar in a small bowl. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. You're looking for bubbles to tell you that the yeast is good.
  
  
• In a larger bowl add the flour first, salt, then the yeasted water. 
  
  
• Mix well. You really don't need a machine for this. I start out mixing with a spoon and then kneading lightly with my hands.
  
  
• Roll it into a ball. Put it into an oiled bowl and cover. I think the longer you let it rise, the better it turns out--at least in my experience. Let it rise for 1-2 hours. 
  
  
• Grease your pan. Throw that finished dough in the center and spread it out with your fingers. Once it's the size you want you can start adding ingredients.

Ingredients

Really the sky's the limit. You can make it plain, just cheese, sauce, and some basil leaves. If you're a meatosaur, like my husband, you can make it all meat. 

Add olives, jalapenos, spinach, cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, or even broccoli. You can't go wrong, but if you're the kind of person who like pineapple on their pizza, don't tell me. 😏

Finish it off with whatever cheese you like. I had mozzarella handy, but if I hadn't, I would've used some goat cheese I had in the fridge. 

Bake at 450 degrees for 13-15 minutes. 

So what's on your favorite pizza? 

Is it cold by you?  

This is the view from my studio window.

 

 

 

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