Gourmet Girl Cooks: Monday Night Pizza...Quick, Easy & Pretty!

Tonight I got home late from work and decided to make it a "pizza night". I used Publix's fresh pizza dough that they make fresh daily in their bakery. Tonight, the only thing I really did differently was try to work the dough out with my hands (pizzeria style). Previously, I've always rolled it out with a rolling pin. If you've ever worked with fresh pizza dough...you know that the one really annoying thing about it is that it keeps shrinking back over and over again. It's a battle to finally get it rolled out to the size you want it to be. I know that pizzerias stretch it out by hand, using their knuckles and backs of their hands to stretch it out as they go around and around in a circular pattern. So...I decided that tonight, regardless of how it might turn out or how I might mess it up...that I was going to do it the way THEY (pizzerias) do it.

I must say with a rather shocked and puzzled look on my face....it turned out absolutely fabulous! I couldn't believe it....and then suddenly, I realized what a dork I was standing there in my kitchen so excited that I was able to stretch it out the way you are supposed to. It made the pizza much bigger around and the dough/crust thinner (which I like). Maybe next time I will actually toss it up in the air....hahaha! If I made it any larger, it wouldn't fit on my already ginormous pizza stone. This pizza is obscenely huge!

I put our usual favorite toppings on it -- his was turkey pepperoni, Kalamata olives and artichoke hearts...mine was a trio of colorful peppers and onions. I just ran and took a peek at it baking in the oven...I must say it is absolutely gorgeous. I think it is one of the prettiest pizzas I have ever made!!! Of course, I've snapped a few photos to share with you below. It looks like a masterpiece to me! Abbondanza! ;-)