I can’t believe I made this – pizza and wine! And by ‘made this’, I mean I made everything in this image by myself and from scratch.
I made the wine and I made the pizza.
I made the dough – I let it rise, punched it down and shaped it into pizza crust. I made the sauce, from tomatoes I canned last summer and I chopped the veggies and cooked the sausage. I put it all together and cooked it in my oven.
I made the wine. I fermented the grape juice (I did not grow, crush or stomp on the grapes, but I did research their origin for the style and taste I was looking for). I cleared and stabilized the wine and I bottled it all by myself.
FYI, my wine has a fraction of the sulfites and no added sugars or preservatives than store-bought wine – so it’s much healthier.
It took about 4 months for the wine (most of that is aging), and 2 hours for the pizza (most of that is waiting for the dough to rise).
So why did I do this?
Good question. I did this because I — wondered what would happen if — I made a meal completely from scratch (ok, maybe not 100% completely, but close), and I was tired of frozen pizza, take out and eating stuff filled with preservatives and all the other stuff.
Plus, since I have been making wine – which is all about the yeast – I thought why not make some pizza. I used to have a fear of making anything with yeast, but since I’ve been making my own wine, beer, cider, root beer and even kombucha, I figured it was a silly fear.
In fact, it turns out I have many fears about cooking.
Each fall I can many of the veggies from my garden. Usually tomatoes, beans, carrots etc. I follow the directions for canning and I store everything in a cool, dark basement, and yet when I open a jar of pickles, tomato sauce or dilly beans I wonder if I’ll get botulism.
I suspect I am not the only one with this fear.
I Made This – Pizza and Wine!
Pizza crust:
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 package yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 cups water at 110°
Mix dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Using a stand mixer is easiest but a hand mixer will work. You can also use a food processor, but I don’t have one and don’t really know what settings to use. I suspect there are some directions that come with it.
Slowly add the water and oil to the dry mixture and mix until it is all incorporated. Remove from the mixing bowl and knead on a lightly floured surface. Shape into a ball and place in a greased bowl and cover. Place in a warm area and rise until doubled, about an hour.
After dough has risen cut into quarters and let rest for at least 10 minutes.
Shape on cookie sheet or pizza stone and add your toppings.
Pizza Sauce:
I used my own canned tomato sauce with garlic, basil, oregano and onions, but you can use tomato paste, water and add herbs to taste. Canned tomato sauce will also work. I threw in an extra can of diced tomatoes because I didn’t have any crushed tomatoes. I added about 2 tablespoons of sugar to the tomato sauce to cut the acid taste and then I boiled it down to thicken it up.
Toppings:
Thinly sliced green pepper, sliced black olives, sliced mushrooms, sliced red onions, mozzarella cheese.
Cook in a 425° oven for 10-12 minutes.
Enjoy!
So I made this pizza and wine, because it turns out the stuff I make is much better than the same stuff from a box or the freezer.
What have you made?
I’ve never made wine, but it is so gratifying to make one’s own pizza. I do that every other week and it beats the heck out of take. Disclaimer: I do like Domino’s pizza, but at home I’d rather make my own. Congrats on making both!!!