Delicious Dutch Girl Pizza

Pizza can be really easy to make, even on a weeknight, all it takes is a little pre planning and voila, pizza night is any night without paying exorbitant prices to the franchises. Preheat oven to 385 degrees F for convection oven or 400 degrees F for regular oven, baking time varies, depending on the number of ingredients. If you make a basic cheese pizza, it could be ready as quickly as 20 minutes. makes enough for 3 extra large pizzas, dough and sauce are easily frozen, defrost overnight in fridge, or dough will last a week if refridgerated, but in any case ready anytime you're in the mood!

Pizza Dough
7 cups all purpose flour
Or
5 cups all purpose flour
2 cups semolina flour (get it at the bulk barn)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon bakers yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2-1/2 cups warm water 105 degrees (warm but not hot)

In a large bowl or (special for raising dough) 4-6 litre container with lid, add all of the dry ingredients, whisk them all together, make a well in centre, add the olive oil, then the warm water, then with the straight end of a wooden spoon mix all together until it starts to stick together and you can't stir it with the handle any longer, clear the handle of the spoon of any dough, then with clean hands start to mix and knead the dough, until the dough is smooth about 5-7 minutes, pat until it is a round ball. Clean the mixing bowl or container of flour residue, dry well, then pour a little extra virgin olive oil in, swirling it around to coat the bowl/container, add the dough, turn over a couple of times to coat dough with the oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or the container with the lid let stand in a warm place until the dough doubles in size, or when poked with a finger the indentation takes a while to pop out, or it will smell yeasty and will be puffy making air bubbles that look popped. Punch down, then shape into 1 pound balls, wrap in plastic wrap and put into zip locks into fridge or freezer for another day or prepare right away-instructions below.

Pizza sauce

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 white onion, chopped fine
2-3 garlic cloves chopped fine
1-28 ounce can ground tomatoes
3-4 chopped fresh tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon each, basil, thyme, oregano
Pinch crushed chillies

While dough is rising, prepare the sauce. Heat oil in a 2 quart sauce pan, add onions, sauté until soft, add garlic, sauté for another 2 minutes, then add the ground tomatoes, fresh chopped tomatoes, and the herbs and spices, salt and pepper to taste, bring to boil for about 3 minutes, stirring well occasionally, turn heat down, then simmer for 30-40 minutes, add a little water if it gets too thick, check for seasoning, turn off heat, set aside.

Putting it together

When you are ready to shape the pizza dough into your desired shape or onto a pizza pan, best to use your hands, letting the dough rest a couple of times to allow easy stretching of the dough shaping it to either large or individual sizes, cover dough with the cooled pizza sauce up to the edges,using the back of the spoon to spread out and then add layer of Parmesan cheese,covering dough and sauce evenly before other ingredients are placed on the pizza, sprinkle with more oregano if you like.

Toppings
Other toppings could include: a layer of lightly sautéed (not completely cooked) and well drained: onions,mushrooms,red or green peppers; sliced green or black olives, thinly sliced fresh tomatoes,(for marguerite pizza) or thinly sliced pepperoni, pre-cooked Italian sausage, pre-cooked ground beef, or let your taste buds dictate, even making a white pizza with broccoli, artichokes, cheesey Alfredo sauce!
Once you have topped your pizza with ingredients of your choice, cover with a layer of shredded mozzerella cheese or mixture of shredded Asiago, white cheddar, mozzerella. Then cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 20 minutes, you will see the edges of the crust become puffy, take the plastic cover off, bake at 385 degrees F convection or 400 degree F regular oven for 20-25 minutes, longer if pizza is fully loaded, cheese should be bubbly and golden, crust bottom should come up from the pan easily and be golden. enjoy your creation! Shown is mushroom and onion pizza.

Mieke's Lasagna

I used to make lasagna regularly, it tastes good, it freezes well, and it's a great dish for lots of company, with a salad, perfect meal!

It starts with a good meaty boulognaise, (meat sauce), I also use lasagna noodles that cook in the oven, which means that your sauce needs to be loose, not watery but more saucy than you would use for spaghetti with meat sauce. The cheesy layer I usually use ricotta, but recently I used a dry cottage cheese, which I processed to sauce consistency with a bit of milk, turned out perfectly, but here you can add spinach to enrich your lasagna and hide a bit more vegetable goodness for those who don't like to eat plain veggies. This boulognaise recipe makes a lot, but it is for a double recipe of lasagna(I use my stainless steel roasting pan), if you don't want that much lasagna, freeze half of the sauce for a spaghetti dinner, and cut the cheese layer ingredients in half. Preheat Oven 350 degrees F, cooking time 1-1/2 hours.

Boulognaise

1-1/2 pounds lean ground meat
1 pound ground Italian sausage meat, (casing removed if using sausages)
2 yellow onions, chopped medium fine
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
4 garlic cloves, chopped fine
6 chopped fresh tomatoes
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2-28 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1-28 ounce can ground tomatoes
Approx. 1 liter of water
2 beef boullion cubes
1/2 tablespoon each, dried basil, oregano, black pepper
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic powder

Brown the meat in a large 6-8 quart Dutch oven, when the meat has lost its pinkness, drain most of the fat, set meat aside, use 2 tablespoons of the drained fat to sauté onions, celery, carrot, when those are soft, add garlic when you can smell the garlic, add the chopped fresh tomatoes, and the tomato paste, sauté them for a couple of minutes, then add all of the canned tomatoes, with some water rinse the cans holding the tomatoes, at least a couple of cups to start, add the boullion cubes, bring all to a boil, add back the meat, add the dry seasoning, taste for salt, being careful not to add too much, add the granulated garlic, and hot pepper flakes, if using, stir well, turn heat down, simmer the sauce, checking for seasoning for about 40 minutes.

Cheese Layer
1 litre of ricotta
4 eggs, beaten
4 ounces of shredded Parmesan
6 ounces of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, squeezed dry
1/2 teaspoon salt, grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all ingredients together, set aside.

12-16 dry lasagna noodles
12-16 ounces shredded white cheese, I use a mixture of Romano,Asiago, mozzarella, white cheddar, but you can use just Romano and mozzerella.

Putting it all together:
Layer of sauce (without meat) covering the bottom of the baking dish, layer of noodles, lots of sauce then some shredded cheese, another layer of noodles, then using all of the Cheese mixture, spread evenly, another layer of noodles, lots of sauce and then shredded cheese, then another layer of noodles finish with lots of sauce, then bake in oven 350 degrees F for about an hour, check the tenderness of the noodles, add more sauce if needed, then add a layer of shredded cheese mixture, bake for another 20-30 minutes until all is bubbly and cheese on top becomes golden brown. Don't add the last shredded cheese layer for the first part of baking as it becomes too well done and rubbery. Enjoy!