Pizza Kits

This week I thought I would share my very favorite recipe from my collection of Investment Cooking recipes, Pizza Kits! What is a pizza kit you might be asking- well simply put it is a bag with all (or most- we'll talk about that later) of the stuff you need to make a pizza.

You have to understand that I love pizza, I just don't always want to go to town to pick up a pizza. (I live in an area that has no delivery- fun fact I've never actually had food delivered, ever) Also as much as I love pizza I don't really want to get a huge pizza and have to eat it all by myself. I know that the grocery store has frozen pizzas but I have never been a fan of those, they always taste like a frozen pizza and most to the time it seems like all the toppings end up on one side of the pizza and the other side is bare.

With a pizza kit you spend part of a day getting all the stuff ready and package it up. Then when you want a pizza all you have to do is thaw and assemble. By keeping the toppings separate until you assemble the pizza it does seem to taste fresher. Also a lot of times I will add things from the fridge to the pizza when I put it together.

So on prep day for these kits I make enough dough for 6 small pizzas, then they along with their toppings are frozen for later use. I like to make 6 at a time because a lot of the items I use for the toppings work out even that way. Most times I make two types of pizza each time so 3 of each.

Another perk of making these kits yourself at home is you are in control of everything that goes into/onto your pizza. So if for instance you don't do gluten use a gluten free crust recipe and gluten free toppings. Maybe you don't/can't do dairy again use dairy free cheese and you have a pizza you can eat. Same with vegetarian options or whatever your needs dictate.

For the crust I am sharing the one I am using currently, it not by any means the only option. I started using it in an effort to use more whole wheat flour in my diet. Since it is sweetened with honey it seems like maybe it might be a bit healthier....... Anyway feel free to use your favorite pizza dough recipe. For every 12” pizza your recipe makes you will get 2 small pizzas for your kits.

Since the dough (being a yeast dough) takes the longest I usually start my process by starting the dough.

Pizza Dough

1 ½ cup warm water

1 Tablespoon yeast

2 Tablespoons honey (or sugar)

¾ teaspoon salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose flour

(I use my stand mixer for this, feel free to hand mix/hand knead the dough)

Combine the water and yeast in the mixer bowl and allow to sit for about 15 minutes to give the yeast time to bloom. You should see some bubbling that shows the yeast is alive.

Add honey, salt and whole wheat flour and beat until combined. Allow this mixture to sit at room temperature for about an hour or two. This step is optional but does give the dough a better texture.

At the end of the rest time I change out the paddle attachment on my mixer for the dough hook at this point.

Add the all purpose flour and knead the dough for about 6 to 8 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Punch the dough down and divide it into 6 equal portions.

Roll, stretch, pull the dough pieces into discs that are about 8” in diameter. And I am using the term disc very loosely. Personally I don't care if my pizza is perfectly round and mine usually end up shaped in some roundish shapes.

Now it is time to partially bake the crusts for about 8 minutes. You want them to just barely start to brown.

Cool the crusts thoroughly before you wrap them.

Meanwhile you need to prepare your pizza toppings. This time I made Ham and Pineapple Pizzas and The Works Pizza (a combination style) 3 of each.

Here is the list of what I used to make these.

1 (8 oz) can pineapple tidbits or chunks

3 slices of deli ham (I prefer a Black Forest Ham for this)

2 Italian Sausage links

Mushroom slices

Black olives

Sliced pepperoni (about 15-18 slices)

1 jar (15 oz) pizza sauce

8 oz (2 cups) Shredded cheese, I use an Italian Style Blend but Mozzarella works too.

6 gallon size zip-lock freezer bags

6 quart size zip-lock freezer bags

zip-lock sandwich bags

zip-lock snack bags

When you are putting the following items into their individual bags be sure to get as much air out of the bags when you seal them. The less air in these bags the better the results will be and the longer they will keep in the freezer.

Divide the pineapple into 3 of the snack bags.

Cut the deli sliced ham into bite size pieces and put into 3 snack size bags.

Cook the Italian Sausage and drain well and allow to cool. When completely cool divide between 3 snack size bags.

Cook the mushroom slices in the same pan you cooked the sausage in, drain and allow to cool. When completely cool divide between 3 snack bags.

Place about 2 Tablespoons of sliced olives into each of 3 snack bags.

Place about 5 or 6 slices of pepperoni into each of 3 snack bags.

Place ¼ cup of pizza sauce in each of 6 sandwich bags.

Place 1/3 cup of shredded cheese into each of 6 sandwich bags.

At this point I make out a card to go into each kit. It has the name of the pizza, the baking instructions, and the date I made the kit. I put these cards into sandwich bags just in case something in the kit leaks.

So now I create fill a quart freezer bag with the toppings for the kits.

In the 3 bags for the Ham and Pineapple Kits I place:

1 bag ham

1 bag pineapple

1 bag sauce

1 bag cheese

1 bag with the index card

In the 3 bags for the The Works Pizza Kits I place:

1 bag cooked sausage

1 bag mushroom slices

1 bag olive slices

1 bag pepperoni

1 bag sauce

1 bag cheese

1 bag with the index card

Again get as much air out the bag as possible.

Store these bags in the fridge until you are ready to put the pizza kits together.

Make sure that the crusts are completely cooled to room temperature before you bag them up so that they don't get condensation in the bags.

Once the crusts are cooled place a par baked crust into a gallon zip-lock freezer bag along with the quart bag of toppings. Again get as much air out of the bag as possible and seal the bag.

Place the bags in the freezer.

When you want to have pizza all you need to do is thaw out the pizza kit and assemble the pizza. At this point you can add what ever you want to. There are some ingredients that I prefer to not freeze like green pepper, onions, spinach, etc.

Preheat the oven to 425°F

Cook the assembled pizza for 7-10 minutes and enjoy!

Toad in the Hole

This week I decided to share a breakfast recipe I first made years ago when I was in college. I was going through some old recipes a while back and found it again.

If you haven't run into Toad in the Hole before as I understand it we can thank our friends in old England for this one. Basically it is a large popover with meat (in this case sausages) in the bottom.

This is a really easy recipe but don't tell anyone else that, it's our secret. You can make this one to impress that special someone and they will think you have some fantastic skills in the kitchen.

Since the batter can be held in the fridge for up to 24 hours this is also a great one if you are cooking for just yourself. You can either mix it up on the first day and then make it again on day 2 or use that leftover batter to make 2 popovers to go with another meal. (they are great with salad for lunch)

The batter calls for an optional egg white, I use it if I happen to have one on hand but it really isn't necessary. It does make the bready part pouf up more so if you trying to impress someone add it (or if you have one to use up) but don't stress if you don't have the extra white.

For the sausages this recipe uses the Brown & Serve ones from the freezer aisle of your local store. I have subbed in regular cooked sausage links and that works too. You could also use any cooked meat in place of the sausages. Bacon or ham also work really well.

Toad in the Hole

4 to 6 Brown & Serve sausages (thawed)

Butter & jam (optional)

batter:

1 egg

1 egg white (optional)

½ cup half and half (or milk)

½ cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

4 to 6 Brown & Serve sausages (thawed)

Butter & jam (optional)

Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a medium bowl beat the egg (an egg white if you are using it) Blend in the half & half (or milk) then stir in the flour and salt.

Put this mixture into the blender and process for 1 minute or until no lumps remain. (at this point the batter can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours)

Place sausages in 2 10 ounce glass or ceramic baking dishes. Place the baking dishes with the sausages into the preheated oven for 5 minutes.

Pour the batter into the hot baking dishes (immediately after removing from the oven)

Place the baking dishes in the hot oven for for 20 minutes.

Turn the oven temperature down to 350°F and bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Note: if you want to make just 1 toad in a hole and 2 popovers preheat 2 6 ounce custard cups in the oven with the casserole/sausages. Use half the batter for the toad in a hole. Then divide the remaining half the batter between the 2 preheated custard cups. Bake as above but remove the popovers from the oven after 10-15 minutes at 350°.