The Pajama Chef

Remember yesterday? And the most amazing pizza crust ever? Made out of cornmeal [who knew?] Well today is your lucky day, because I am going to introduce you to the best pizza sauce I ever had.

Before, my problems with homemade pizza included a crust that never crisped, sauce without flavor, and cheese that didn’t brown. Well, I fixed the crust–and this recipe fixes the sauce.

My major gripe with homemade pizza sauce was that it wasn’t flavorful enough. I do want to taste tomatoes, but I also want more flavor and spice. More like a restaurant pizza sauce. When I saw a recipe on Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures that claimed to be more like a restaurant sauce, I knew I had to try it. And I’m so glad I did.

This sauce is different than any other pizza sauce I’ve made from scratch. This sauce tastes like more than just tomatoes! The herbs shine through and make their presence known, and there is just enough tang and sweetness to make everyone happy as can be. Except when the pizza is all gone. It’s also really easy. No cooking required–just throw it in a bowl, mix it up, and it’s ready for your pizza! What more can you ask for?

The Bestest Pizza Sauce Ever

from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures

28 ounces tomato puree
1 1/2-3/4 cups water
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients except salt and cornstarch in a bowl and whisk together. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, taste, and add more salt if needed. Store in the refrigerator until use or up to 1 week. Can also be frozen.

That’s it! How simple. I love it.

The finished products.

The Bestest Pizza Sauce Ever + a Pizza How-To — His

Here’s how we made up those pizzas:

Make the dough–cornmeal pizza dough–please!
Preheat the oven to 450 way in advance. The hotter the better!
Spread dough in two pans–his & hers. This time, I made a deep dish pizza for me in a 9″ springform pan and his was rolled thin on a 16×12″ rectangular baking sheet [but was not that big–not sure of the exact dimensions.]
Bake for about 14-16 minutes or until crust starts to brown and is not doughy.
Brush edge of crust with olive oil.
Top each pizza with sauce, a little mozzarella cheese, toppings, and more mozzarella cheese. My pizza was chopped deli ham and onions, while my husband wanted pepperoni. I love putting the toppings between a layer of cheese [25% of cheese below the toppings and 75% above makes for cheese the browns like a restaurant!]
Bake an additional 15-20 minutes or until done.
Eat and enjoy! Be sure to let it rest about 5 minutes before cutting so the cheese and toppings don’t slide off.

Main Dishes, Pizza, Recipes

Cornmeal Pizza Dough in the Breadmaker

August 31, 2010June 4, 2015 Sarah

Mmmmm pizza. Everyone loves it. [Except random people like my dad. He’ll eat it but I don’t think he loves it.] Even though I’m a huge proponent of home cooked meals, pizza was always one of those things that I felt was better left to the professionals… if not a pizza place, then even frozen pizza or store-bought pizza crust and sauce was better, in my mind, than homemade. I always wanted to like homemade pizza, and I know many people swear by it. I just wasn’t one of them. Not that I didn’t try.

Over the years, I have had many failed and/or halfway decent but mostly blah pizza attempts. Some were so bad they were inedible. Other times the crust was soggy or would not cook completely [no matter how long it baked]. Or the sauce wasn’t flavorful. Or the cheese wouldn’t brown. You name it, I failed at it. Until now.

Why is this the case, you might ask? [I certainly did.] After thinking about this perplexing situation for awhile, an answer dawned on me.

A good pizza–no matter your favorite component of a pizza–is built upon the crust. If the crust is bad, the pizza won’t be any good, no matter the quality of the cheese or the freshness of the veggies or the flavor of the meat. Funny… this sounds a lot like other things in life… the quality of the whole is based upon the strengths and weaknesses of individual components… who knew pizza could be so enlightening? 🙂

Anyways. Back to the point at hand. If you want to make great homemade pizza, you gotta make a great crust.

And this pizza dough makes the crust of your my dreams.

It’s absolutely incredible in your mouth, and incredibly easy. Not only did the crust cook all the way through, but it was chewy and crisp and soft and flavorful and versatile just like pizzeria pizza is.

And to make the best pizza ever? Of course you need the best sauce. But you know what… you’re just going to have to come back tomorrow for that. It’s worth it, I promise. 🙂

Cornmeal Pizza Dough in the Breadmaker

Servings: 6
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from The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook by Beth Hensperger, recommended by Life As Mom

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup olive oil
3 2/3 unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup medium-grind yellow cornmeal –> I’ve learned that freshly ground cornmeal is amazing. My parents got some for me at the Graue Mill. Yum!
1 teaspoon salt –> I am so guilty of omitting salt from recipes but use it in bread or your bread will fail miserably. 🙂
2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Directions:

Add all ingredients to the pan of your breadmaker according to the manufacturer’s directions. My breadmaker calls for liquids and salt, then dry ingredients, then yeast, but yours may be different.

Turn on the breadmaker using the “dough” setting.

When dough is prepared, remove from the pan and turn out the dough on a floured work surface or countertop.

Split into desired number of portions [2 thin 12-14″ pizzas, 1 deep dish 14″ pizza, 4 8″ pizzas, 6 individual pizzas, or 1 17×11″ rectangle] and shape into balls. Knead each ball [portion] a few times and then flatten slightly into a disc shape.

Cover with a damp towel and let rest for about 30 minutes or until the dough has grown in size about 20%. Then roll out and shape dough in your greased and cornmeal-ed [think flouring a pan, but with cornmeal] pan(s), and bake as desired.

I like to bake my dough for about 14-16 minutes at 450 degrees before topping with sauce and cheese and baking an additional 15-20 minutes, or until done. More on that tomorrow!

Notes:

This recipe can be prepared in advance and stored, unbaked, in a plastic bag in the refrigerator up to 24 hours [let rest for 20 minutes at room temperature prior to use] or frozen up to 3 months [defrost for 24 hours in the refrigerator prior to use]. I have not tried this so I cannot speak about the quality

While I haven’t done this personally, tips for converting breadmaker recipes to manual [aka your own two hands] recipes can be found here and here. Good luck! 🙂

Breakfast, Pancakes, Recipes

Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes

August 30, 2010June 4, 2015 Sarah

I love pancakes. And breakfast food in general. I even had it at my wedding as breakfast for dinner. Ha ha–take that, tradition! 🙂

I grew up a Bisquick gal but in the past 2 years have been making my own from scratch because it’s just so easy. This is a fabulous pancake recipe. The pancakes are light and flavorful, and easy as can be. Plus they are from the Pioneer Woman and she’s just great.

One thing I really liked about this recipe was that it didn’t make a huge amount. Since it’s just the two of us, we usually halve breakfast recipes, but we didn’t with this one. If you’re making it for a bigger family or a large group, double it at will. We made these one night recently for dinner and they were devoured in minutes between the two of us. Mmmhmmm, that good. Well, two were leftover that Ben heated up for breakfast the next day. But they were gone just like that! Enjoy!

Edna Mae's Sour Cream Pancakes

Servings: 2
Time: 20 minutes
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from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients:

1 cup fat-free sour cream
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
canola oil

Directions:

Preheat a griddle on the stove over medium-low heat. In a medium bowl, mix sour cream, flour, sugar, and baking soda. Stir together but don’t worry about everything being incorporated–PW suggests “interesting texture” is better. 🙂 In a measuring cup, mix the eggs and extract. Whisk the mixture to break the yolks, then pour into the sour cream batter and stir together.

Pour some canola oil in the skillet to fry the pancakes. Add batter to skillet in 1/4 cup increments. Cook pancakes for about 90 seconds, then flip and cook for another 45-60 seconds and remove to a plate. Repeat until batter is gone, serve, and eat with butter and syrup.