90s French Bread Pizza

As I thought about my childhood in the 90s while planning for my 90’s-themed birthday party, I remembered the French Bread pizza mom would make with birthday parties as well as weekend lunches.  My mom said she got this recipe from a magazine back in the day.  So easy yet so tasty!  They were a hit at the party!

• 1 loaf French Bread, cut in half horizontally
• Mayonnaise
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Sliced mushrooms
• Chopped green onion
• Sweet Italian sausage removed from the casing

1. Spread a generous amount of mayonnaise on each half of the French Bread
2. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese
3. Cover with sliced mushrooms
4. Dot sausage around the loaf
5. Sprinkle with green onions
6. Bake in the over….maybe at 375 till the sausage is fully cooked

Pizza Topping Ideas

We have been making pizzas at home for about 4 years.  Recently, it has become more of a stable, ever since we realized that our preschooler loves it (no surprise!)  Our go to method:

1. Use  a store bought whole wheat dough.  It’s sweeter and has a nice texture compared to regular dough.
2. Drizzle a metal baking pan with oil and press the dough into the pan.
3. Often less is more-not too much sauce or topping otherwise you end up with a raw crust.  But most would argue that you could pile on the cheese!
4. Using light shredded cheese takes some of the guilt away since we eat this pretty often.
5. Bake at 425 degrees on the middle rack for 10-12 minutes, depending on the amount of toppings works our quite well.

The product is a pizza with a chewy, fluffy, ready crust!   Here are a few of my favorite combinations

the Chicago-Sausage, mushroom, provolone, pecorino and caramelized onion, pizza sauce – our favorite thus far. Can’t go wrong with pork!

the Naked Pizza-Bacon, mashed potato, roasted garlic, roasted cauliflower, sautéed spinach, ricotta, pecorino (no sauce)

BBQ Chicken-Store bought BBQ pulled chicken, red onion, sliced black olives, frozen roasted corn, mozzarella, BBQ sauce

Meatball Sub-Meatball, marinara, mozzarella, basil, pecorino

I would love to play around with figs and more roasted vegetables. Next pizza will be sausage, roasted bell pepper, basil for tomorrow night.

My favorite restaurant pizza combinations:

Spinach, garlic, ricotta, tomato sauce

Broccoli, tomato, olive, onion

Zucchini, Mushroom, Eggplant

Pizza Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 28 oz can plum tomatoes
• 1 onion cut in half
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 sprigs basil
• salt
• sugar to taste

Put tomatoes through food processor till chunky

Place in small saucepan with remaining ingredients and let simmer for about 1 hour

No Knead Pizza Dough

From Bon Appetit 2012 – The last time I made this for our Pumpkin Carving Party, I was able to make 6 small single serving pizzas from 1 recipe:

• 3 3/4 cups (500 grams) all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp dry yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups water (room temp)

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour,  yeast and salt together.  Slowly stir in the water until the flour is well hydrated.

Using your hands, form a shaggy ball from the dough.

Cover the ball with oiled sheet of plastic wrap and let sit in a 72 degree room for 18 hours, until doubled in size

Portion out the dough, adding enough flour so that the dough is no longer sticky to the touch.  Let rest for 45 minutes or place in the refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap for later use.  Once ready to use, remove from the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Shape out the dough and top with desired ingredients.

Place in a 550 oven on a greased pan or parchment paper for a few minutes till cheese is bubbly and browned on the edges.

Alternatively, place dough on a grill on medium heat.  Grill with the cover on till half-cooked. Place ingredients on the cooked side, then return to the grill, covered.

Pizza Dough and Topping Ideas

B has been working on making pizza dough from scratch. He has come a long way from wet sticky globs of goo to tight little balls of dough. In the past month we’ve also tried different toppings, primarily inspired by left over ingredients. We’ve made some very standard pizzas like spinach, basil, mozzarella, pepperoni and mushroom which we had tonight. Some more memorable pizzas include:

Sausage, mushroom, provolone, pecorino and caramelized onion – our favorite thus far. Can’t go wrong with pork!

Mashed potato, roasted garlic, roasted cauliflower, sautéed spinach, ricotta, pecorino – this one was screaming for some bacon, and my original plan was to add it, but I chickened out last minute. Still not accustomed to using it as an ingredient in my cooking yet. I know I’m crazy!

I would love to play around with figs and more roasted vegetables. Next pizza will be sausage, roasted bell pepper, basil for tomorrow night.

As for the dough, we tried a mix of white whole wheat flour and all purpose flour which actually produced a more flavorful crust in my opinion. To make the dough:

Mix 3 3/4 cup of flour (try using half whole wheat and half all purpose flour)
1 1/2 cup water (room temperature)
1 packet of dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt

Stir and combine a sticky ball is formed. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set at room temperature overnight.

Divide into 3 equal portions and form them into balls using generous amounts of flour to prevent sticking and for improved manageability.

Wrap 2 of the balls in plastic wrap and keep in fridge got later use. May be kept in the fridge for 3 days or frozen.

Form the remaining dough into a flat surface approximately 8-10 inches in diameter. If the dough starts to recoil, let dough rest for a bit to allow the gluten to relax.

Coat bottom with cornmeal

Transfer dough to pizza pan (ours is cast iron) and add toppings

Season with salt and pepper along with s good drizzle of olive oil if desired

Bake at 500 degrees for 10 minutes in middle rack until crust is golden brown and cheese melts

Let pizza rest in pan at room temperature for about 10 minutes to allow the cheese go set

Slice and enjoy!