Surviving College Life

Cheap & Easy College Recipes: Pizza!

April 21st, 2009 Jamie

With spring beginning to shine down on us and lovely new fruits and veggies popping up at the local farmer’s markets, I am thinking more and more about making good food with fresh ingredients. I found an amazing recipe for a margherita pizza (no, it doesn’t involve alcohol) and have adapted it to be more new-chef friendly. Give it a try! It’s easy and YUMMY!

Pizza Dough

You can always by a pre-made or ready-to-cook dough at the store, but those are pricey and honestly, never taste as good as home made. This dough, adapted from a Martha recipe , is easy and yummy.

• 1 1/2 c warm water
• 2 packets active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 c olive or canola oil (olive oil is expensive so canola can substitute!)
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups flour (leveled off)

1. Pour the warm water into a bowl, and pour the yeast on top of it (you don’t need to stir). Let it sit for about 5 minutes. The yeast should “activate” meaning it will bubble slightly, and begin to smell very… well… yeast-y.

2. Whisk in sugar, oil, and salt.

3. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour 1 cup at a time until a sticky dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it sit in a warm place for an hour. Dough should “rise” meaning it will about double in size.

4. Turn dough onto a well-floured surface (a countertop is fine). Flour your hands and knead dough for about 15 seconds. Split dough in half. This is enough dough to make two large pizzas!

Margherita Pizza (adapted from a Cooking Light recipe )

• Fresh pizza dough or 1  (10-ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
• Cooking spray
• 1  teaspoon  olive oil
• 5  tomatoes, thinly sliced (Roma or on-the-vine tomatoes work great)
• 1  cup  shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1  teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2  cup  thinly sliced fresh basil
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Coat cookie sheet with cooking spray, and spread and pat dough into a 13 x 11-inch rectangle. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes.

3. Remove crust from oven, and brush with 1/2 teaspoon oil. Arrange tomato slices on crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border; sprinkle evenly with cheese.

4. Bake at 450° for an additional 8-10 minutes, or until cheese melts and crust is golden.

5. Sprinkle pizza evenly with sliced basil, salt, and pepper.

6. Whisk together 1/2 teaspoon oil and vinegar. Drizzle the vinegar mixture evenly over the pizza.

Voila! You’re done! Enjoy!

Have a recipe to share? Feel free to leave it in the comments!

Photo: Cooking Light Magazine

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Entry Filed under: food & recipes