Pizza Love

Did you have pizza this weekend?
Come on...'fess up! You come home, you are tired, you are hungry, there's a great movie you've been waiting to watch (or an entire season of Dexter to catch up on) and all you want to do is climb into some jammies, dive under a blanket and order in some pizza.

I don't blame you at all. In fact, I'm going to join you..move over and share that blanket please!
I think though, that if I am convincing enough (or charming enough at least), I can sway you to make pizza with me instead!

I know what you are thinking...why should I make pizza when I can buy a perfectly great one from the local delivery place and not have to touch anything in the kitchen? But I'll tell you what, this pizza is not only saving your hard earned cash (although, you are more than welcome to go nuts with fantastic toppings), but is healthier and can be made even faster than restaurant pizza. It's true I tell you!

The key thing to do is to stop and pick up some fresh dough (not frozen) from your local grocer (Yeah, I know. This will be the hardest part, so make a note of it earlier in the day...besides, you can have it sit in your fridge for a few days if you change your mind!). Most grocery stores these days have pizza dough at the ready. Just ask one of the employees and they'll be able to help out! Once you get to the premade dough, you have more choices to make..white, wholewheat, multigrain and sometimes even other savoury 'artisan' doughs! (For example, our local grocery store makes garlic & rosemary dough as well as roasted red pepper & basil dough. Yum!)

(I'm a bit partial to the garlic one, so I tend to purchase this I'm in the mood to make pizza...and hello, it's only $2.29 CDN!)

Come, let me show you how we're going to do this.
We're gonna make a white pizza. White pizza simply means without tomato sauce.
Without tomato sauce, you really need to use ingredients that will shine and be very flavourful.

The combinations really are endless at this point, but I will tell you that tomato and feta pizza is perhaps one of the most delicious combos you can get...and simple!

1. Cut up all the ingredients you are going to use on your pizza and tidy up as you go (I promise, it'll only be a knife and a cutting board! Pretty simple!)
2. Once that is done, spread your dough out on a well oiled pan..or use a pizza stone (these really are a timesaver and if you have pizza on a regular basis, you need one) You can either spread out the pizza to fit the pan or you can create little mini heart pizzas like I did here which are great if you are prepping for a romantic evening, sending them off to school with your little ones, or are a bit of a hopeless romantic like I am. :)
3. Once the dough is spread out, put a decent lug of olive oil on top of the dough and rub in with your fingers. (This will help keep the dough moist) Then let it rise for about half an hour.
4. After the dough has risen, flatten it again and layer your ingredients. I used ripe tomatoes, cubes of feta, a sprinkling of coarse salt and freshly ground pepper on top.
5. Set your oven to about 500F (generally premade dough has directions on the bag..you'll want to follow these for the best result) and place your pizza on the medium rack. Generally you are going to have this in the oven for about 15 minutes. (Again, if there are directions on the bag, be sure to follow them)
6. Remove from the oven and serve with your own dipping sauce! I like a zesty Italian or Greek salad dressing with this.

Simple, affordable and kinda romantic for those nights in! :)