Friday

Roasted Garlic, Tomato and Mozzarella Pizza ~



Pizza again, but this time it's Roasted Garlic, Tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.  And it's put together in about 15 minutes, provided you have let your dough sit on the counter all day in a bowl wiped with a little olive oil and covered with a towel.  Don't worry, your dough will not go bad, or spoil.  To get the best results with pizza dough, you need to allow it to rest all day.

1 lb. of pizza dough (I used store bought)
1/4 C. Chunky style, canned, crushed tomatoes (Pastene)
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
8 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly (I used Costco)
Parmesan cheese for grating on top.  I don't measure and I grate it right before it goes in the oven to bake.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
On a 1/2 sheet pan, sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of cornmeal.
In a small bowl, mix your minced garlic and olive oil together, set aside.

Roll or stretch your dough on a lightly floured surface of your counter, until it nearly equal the entire 1/2 sheet pan.  Place dough on sheet pan.  Spread the garlic and oil over your dough, leaving about a half inch border on all of the edges.

Spread the tomatoes over the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Place and gently press the mozzarella cheese all over the top of the tomatoes.  Grate your cheese all over the top of the pizza (I am kind of heavy handed).  Place pizza in the oven and set your timer for 15 minutes.  Take the pizza out and lift crust with a butter knife.  The crust should be slightly brown.  If it's not, then place pizza back in oven for 2 minutes longer...... no more than that.

Take pizza out of oven and let sit on a surface to cool for 10 minutes.  It should look all bubbly and melty, like this:



Can't get much better than this, unless you are heading into Regina pizza in Boston.  Enjoy ~