Greek Pizza

Here is another one of my staple recipes. I absolutely love the combination of salty feta and briny calamata olives on a pizza. It is just so yummy. The pizza dough makes enough for two nice sized pizzas meaning that you can cook two different kinds and keep everyone happy. If you're like me and dinner is not something you usually have time to make, this dough is great because it can be kept in the freezer and pulled out the morning you wish to use it. I like to make my own pasta sauce for this. It's based on a recipe I got from Annie's Eats. At this point it has turned into a little of this and a little of that: a can of crushed tomatoes with a lot of salt, pepper, dried basil, marjorem, thyme, garlic, red pepper, and whatever else I have around. It's so much better than store-bought on my opinion. I also love this because my 2 year old daughter can get involved. For her pizza I buy squeezable pizza sauce and shredded mozzerella and let her top it. She loves to help!! It might even be a good way to sneak in veggies.

Pizza Dough

½ cup warm water (about 110°)
2 ¼ tsp instant yeast (1 envelope)
1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups bread flour

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the bread hook attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Knead at medium-low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a large bowl sprayed with nonstick spray, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a dark place until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls. If freezing one, cover with plastic wrap, place in a large zip-loc bag, and freeze. Cover the other with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minute but no more than 30 minutes

Greek Pizza

1/2 recipe for pizza dough
pizza sauce of your choosing
feta cheese
grated parmesan cheese
mozzerella cheese
baby spinach
pitted and chopped kalamata olives
sliced purple onion
anchovies and fresh basil (optional)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Spread the pizza dough to desired shape onto a cornmeal dusted (baking spray also works) baking sheet or pizza stone. Bake until crust is just starting to cook but not browned, about 3-5 minutes. Remove and top with sauce, cheeses, olives, onion, and optional toppings. Bake for another 5-8 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is browned. Slice and enjoy!!

Adapted from Annie's Eats