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9.26.2012

NAT NESTS: PIZZA PARTY


we invited a few friends over for a homemade pizza night the other night and okay, i am hooked. i want homemade pizza for every meal for the rest of my life. i think the trick is having a killer dough recipe (i don't), or else buying the trader joe's premade dough from the refrigerated section and just lowering your homemade standards already.

we set out toppings and a beet salad and some cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto and made three pizzas--a margherita, a veggie, and a meat lovers. they all came out really, really great. 

and this is my favorite salad to make in the whole world, it's intensely good.

i now think arugula should be a requirement on all pizzas. 

37 comments:

  1. i feel to share with you my mama's pizza recipe. sorry it makes for a long comment, but enjoy! Straight from an email from the mama.

    2 1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour (I prefer at least half wheat flour.)
    1 package active dry yeast (measures about 2 1/4 tsp)
    1 tsp salt
    1 cup warm water
    2 tbsp cooking oil

    In a large mixer bowl combine 1 1/4 cups of the flour, the yeast and salt. Stir in warm water and oil. Beat at low speed of electric mixer of 1/2 min, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 min at high speed. Stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can mix in with a spoon. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic. 6-8min total.

    Cover dough and let rest 10 min. Divide dough in half, if making two 12in pizzas. Roll out each section and transfer to greased pizza pan or cookie sheet. Bake in a 425 oven about 12 min or til lightly browned. Spread pizza sauce over hot crust and add other toppings also. Return to the oven and bake for 10-15 min.

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  2. yum!! that sounds so easy and yummy


    www.studentswife.com

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  3. I never post comments...there are always so many! But I have to say that Pillsbury Hot Roll mix has instructions for pizza dough on the box, takes about 5 mins to make, and room temp homemade dough is so much easier to work with than the refrigerated stuff! (Although I love Trader Joe's!)

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  4. I agree. TJ's crusties are way good! And we finally got our TJ's this summer. Yay for The Woodlands, Texas :)

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  5. I wish I was invited. That pizza looks phenomenal!

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  6. Let's talk. The Pioneer Woman has an INCREDIBLE pizza dough recipe. Best part, you can make it 4 days in advance and it just get's better. Also, some of her pizza options are incredible. Enjoy!

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  7. Ooo, I was just commenting to recommend the Pioneer Woman's pizza dough recipe, I'll second the previous comment! I always make it the night before, but a few days is even better if you can swing it. It comes together so quickly in the kitchenaid mixer, if you don't have a kitchenaid mixer it is still pretty fast but you'll need to do a bit more kneading.

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  8. "Trader Joe's pizza dough is like crack cocaine"? I think I just fell in love with you.
    And I completely agree with you. Don't use any other recipe. Just stick with your current one. ;) jk
    Surely the Pioneer Woman has great ones too. I'm just a little biased.

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  9. For me, Tj pizza dough is the only way next to eating at my fav pizza joints!! I heart Trader Joes!

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  10. Garlic-herb, garlic-herb! I was using the regular TJ's dough, then decided to give this one a try. It was AMAZING and pizza is totally one of our staple meals now. We like to go quattro stagioni down here: mushrooms, prosciutto, kalamata olives, and TJ's marinated artichokes. YUM. (Btw, I abhor too much tomato sauce and love the fact that you didn't use any. These look so good and give me plenty of ideas!)

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  11. I Love homemade pizza. Get a pizza stone and it makes it that much better. the secret never put water on it. just scrape it off and the brown it gets the better. we had homemade pizza saturdays in high school. all our friends would come grab dinner and we'd leave for the night. My mom would seriously bust out like 10-12 pizzas.

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  12. Oh and spinach and tomato with pesto is my fav. and Margarita. You can add chicken to the spinach as well. also, half way through the cooking rub butter around the outer crust it makes it the perfect amount of crispy outside chewy inside.

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  13. I am all about Jim Lahey's no knead pizza dough recipe, seriously delicious. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe.html

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  14. Your pizza looks delicious! I love making homemade pizza, but I also use the premade dough. I haven't been daring enough to try making my own yet.

    Marissa / treetopnest.blogspot.com

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  15. I couldn't agree more. Homemade pizzas, using trader joe's crust and toppings are my jam. I like putting their canned artichoke hearts on it, and basically all the things you listed above. Cheers!

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  16. oh trader joes dough is THE BEST! and a pizza night? ummm hello, mcfly, why didn't i think if this already...

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  17. I use the same dough and I have to agree it's really amazing. I'm so obsessed we have at least one homemade pizza every week.. http://tastearea.blogspot.com/2012/06/night-habits.html

    http://tastearea.blogspot.com/

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  18. Okay, YUM. Time to make a trip to TJ's.

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  19. Oh my. that looks so yum. we don't have a trader joe's here in scotland. or any other pre-made kind of dough. shame. but i have a killer dough recipe ;) i think i will do this next week when my husband is off work! he'll love it!

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  20. Love homemade pizza and I love the idea of making it a pizza night!

    Theresa
    http://bomamma.blogspot.com

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  21. GIRL, you need a pizza pan. To my people, pizza on a cookie sheet is almost as bad as saying eXpresso or cutting your spaghetti noodles. Also, your pizza will turn out crispier and who doesn't love them a thin-crust, slightly crispy-bottomed pie?
    Pizza pan here - or any little houseware store in Little Italy.
    http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-AMB-14PP-Classic-Nonstick-Bakeware/dp/B0000D8CAO/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1348750104&sr=1-1&keywords=Pizza+pan

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  22. We do this every Friday, literally every Friday, and have friends over. The best dough recipe we have found is the Jim Lahey no-knead pizza dough, half whole wheat half bread flour.

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  23. I think the Pioneer Woman uses Trader Joe's recipe. ;)

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  24. dang - y'all go all out on your pizzas! our homemade pizzas consist of sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni. and i only use tj's pizza dough; it's by far the best. have you tried the garlic and herb one? divine!

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  25. those look amazing! pizza is one of my greatest weaknesses and i could easily eat it every single day.
    -ale

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  26. I wish anywhere close to a Trader Joe's so I could try this killer dough!

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  27. The pizza looks delicious! Seemed like all of u had a great dinner :)

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  28. this is so fun! i've been obsessing over pizzadillas lately! same idea just with tortillas instead of dough! it's super easy and yummy!

    http://babybakerlove.blogspot.com/

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  29. fun dinner party idea! i always buy the Trader Joe's dough and love it but I find it so difficult to roll it. It always seems to bounce back. did you have that problem?

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  30. go to your favorite pizza joint and ask to buy dough from them! Sometimes they will roll it out our just toss you a big old fat ball of it. It's usually only $3-$5....but then again I don't live in NYC.

    xo the egg out west.

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  31. TJ Pizza dough is our faaaaaavorite too. We have tried all and though we like the flavor of the garlic, it's too sticky. We like the health of the wheat, but it's not pliable at all. The white is juuuuuuuust right, but we like to sprinkle some seasoning (johnny's garlic, our wedding favor 'love rub', bbq, etc) into it when we pound and roll it. Our favorite is bbq pizza- throw some chicken and bbq sauce in the crock pot and then add on cilantro, mozzerella and gouda, and red onion. YUM!

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  32. we don't have premade pizza dough here and now i feel i am seriously missing out especially as my dough making skills are no existent.

    maybe i will just have t give it a go and try and make my own pizza dough and see how it ends up.

    and you have the cutest guests--those little cheeks i could eat them up.

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  33. How fun! Yes, I agree homemade pizza is the bomb dot com (I HATE that phrase but it was most appropriate here!). We love our pizza stone and our current obsession is chicken Gorgonzola pizza - the key is to brine the chicken first per America's Test Kitchen's instructions before grilling (we grill on the range in the winter). Peter Reinhart has a great homemade pizza dough recipe btw; we make it in batches and it freezes and thaws nicely (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html).

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  34. I like to eat fresh fresh vegetables. pizza is one of my greatest weaknesses and i could easily eat it every single day. Generic Ortho Micronor

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    downtown la venues

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  36. Best (and easiest) homemade pizza dough is the one by Deb from Smitten Kitchen. Every two weeks I make a double batch and freeze them. Student dinner's have never been so delicious (or cheap!)

    http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/10/lazy-pizza-dough-favorite-margarita-pizza/

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