Pizza... Thingies

Yesterday we were at a friend's house and she had Rachael Ray on. Rach (Raych?) was making these pizza thingies and I mentally noted them. Fast forward to tonight where SURPRISE! I have nothing planned for dinner for the kids. (MY dinner is a completely different post, let's say it shall be thusly called "Lettuce Topped With Precisely 2 Tablespoons of Fat Free Salad Dressing, Equaling 2 Points Total, Since the Prescribed Allotment of Points for the Day Has Already Been Consumed". Ah, well there goes that scintillating post.)

Messy One ate FIVE Thingies, No Thank You Boy ate FOUR (yahooo!) Thingies and the Little One ate TWO. DH gets the last one, unless Messy One gets there before bedtime. Without further ado, I present you with -

Pizza Thingies
Easy! Fast! Fun! Customizable! Winner Winner Winner!

Use one tube of Pillsbury (or whoever) croissants (I used the giant croissant 6 pack, but you could use biscuits just as well) and unroll all the sheets flat. Preheat the oven according to the package directions.

Take each of the 3 rectangles (equalling 2 croissants) and divide into quarters. Ditto for the other 2 sections.

Lightly spray a muffin/cupcake pan with cooking spray. Shape each of the dough pieces into a circle shape and press into the pan.

Bake the dough for the time shown on the package or until they become browned. My time was less. Remove from oven and using the back of a spoon (or Pampered Chef wooden dumbbell looking item) make a hollow in the dough, deflating it a little.

Brush the dough with olive oil and spoon a little spaghetti sauce into the well, exact amount to taste, but maybe a tablespoon or two. (This isn't an exact recipe ya know)

Fill up the wells with your choice of "toppings". We used various combinations of pineapple, pepperoni, ham (ala sliced up lunch meat), Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Pop out your mini Pizza Thingies with a spoon and serve.

Daring Baker's October Challenge: Pizza Dough!

This month's Challenge was “Pizza Napoletana” from Peter Reinhart's “The Bread Baker's Apprentice”. You had to film or photograph your tossing attempt and you needed to use both a “sauce” (or something otherwise spreadable) and “toppings”.

I would NEVER have made this without the DBers, much less video taped myself doing it! Please excuse my disaster of a kitchen and remember that the camera makes you look at least 10 20 pounds heavier than you actually are.



What a riot!

My variations were

Pizza 1: Apple with Caramelized Onion, Walnuts and Cheddar on a dough primed with Basil Flavored Olive Oil. (In hindsight, I should have sauteed/swished the onions in balsamic vinegar before putting them on the pizza. One bite without and I knew something was missing. I spritzed it on afterwards and it made it so much better.).

Pizza 2: Blue Cheese with Toasted Pine Nuts and Caramelized Onions on a spread of Mashed Roasted Garlic. Oh my. Sooooo good!

Cook’s Notes:
-I made the “regular” dough, aka: not the gluten-free one
-I used my stand mixer to combine the ingredients and knead the dough.
-I froze 4 of the 6 balls of dough for a later date
-I used an offset spatula to get the pizza off the cookie sheet and onto the pizza stone and then again to shimmy it off the stone and onto the cutting board
-I will use flour next time as the ballbearing / dough movement vehicle – no question. I forgot how I don’t really care for the gritty feeling of the cornmeal.

These pizzas were so wonderfully good - I can't wait to make good use of the stash of dough in my freezer and maybe get the kids into the act!

Thanks to Rosa from Rosa's Yummy Yums for selecting this month’s Daring Baker Challenge. You can find the complete recipe for the pizza dough on her site.

To see what all the other DBer’s did, you can find the blogroll here and if you’d like to join the monthly party, info about that can be found on that page as well.