Roasted Tomato Pizza

Recipe

This recipe requires a pizza stone and a bread machine.

Ingredients (makes one 14” roasted tomato pizza, serves 3-4):

Dough:

1 package Rapid Rise yeast
2 cups of Bread Flour (if using All-Purpose flour, which will yield a denser, more rustic crust, increase flour to 2 1/4 cups)
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
¾ cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

Toppings:

1 cup canned crushed tomatoes (or your favorite pizza sauce)
2 cups grated mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
20-25 slices of pepperoni (if desired)
Fresh organic basil – a dozen leaves or so, to taste
Olive oil
Fine sea salt
Black pepper
30-40 tiny cherry tomatoes (sometimes called grape tomatoes)

Directions:

Dough:

• Add 1 cup flour to bread machine, followed by yeast, sugar, salt, and olive oil.
• Add water, followed by 2nd cup of flour, and knead per machine’s instructions for dough.  Be prepared to sprinkle additional flour into machine if dough appears too sticky after a few minutes.
• Transfer dough to a glass or ceramic bowl coated with olive oil.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours.
• Punch dough down and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roasted Tomatoes:

• At least an hour before you’re ready to cook the pizza, place the pizza stone on lower-middle rack and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  (Preheating the pizza stone while roasting the tomatoes saves time and energy).
• In a small bowl, toss grape tomatoes with olive oil until the tomatoes are well coated.  Transfer to a baking pan that is lined with parchment paper.
• Sprinkle with about 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.  Roast in the preheated oven (on an upper rack) until the tomatoes begin to caramelize and split, about 35 – 40 minutes.
• Set aside to cool.

Pizza Prep:

• Turn the oven up to 450 degrees.  High heat is critical for the crust to have the perfect amount of light crunchiness, and depending on your oven, it will take several more minutes for the pizza stone to be fully pre-heated.
• Note:  We use parchment paper for ease of transfer in and out of the oven; we don’t remove the pizza from the parchment paper until serving.  If you prefer using a pizza peel, adjust the directions accordingly.
• Remove dough ball from refrigerator, cover it with a light dusting of flour, and flatten into a thick disk about 6”-8” in diameter.  Let rest on parchment paper for a few minutes, then slowly spread and shape (or try tossing!) until about 14” in diameter, being careful to keep uniformly thick.  Let rest again for a few minutes.
• Drizzle olive oil over dough; sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Spread pizza with crushed tomatoes or pizza sauce. Spread the grated mozzarella evenly over the pizza.
• Add pepperoni slices and basil leaves.  Top with Monterey Jack cheese.  Finally, add roasted tomatoes.
• Slide pizza (still on parchment paper) onto a cookie sheet; then carefully slide off cookie sheet and into the oven onto the pizza stone.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, plus or minus a minute or two depending on your oven.  Pizza is done when cheese is bubbling in the very center of the pizza.
• Transfer pizza from stone to cookie sheet to remove from oven.  Do not attempt to remove stone from oven until cool.
• Let pizza cool for 3-5 minutes, serve.

Hints:  Getting the water to the right temperature to activate the yeast (between 105 and 115 degrees) is easier than it may seem.  Just start with a larger amount of water than you actually need, like 2 cups.  Use an instant-read thermometer to verify it’s at the right temperature.  You’ll find that, because there’s more water, the temperature won’t change much after you get it into the perfect range. Then reduce the water to 3/4 cup and add to the bread machine.

Also, if you find your crust is getting too dark on the bottom while you wait for the cheese to bubble in the middle, here are several things to try.  First, make sure your sauce and cheese are at room temperature before cooking the pizza.  Second, don’t pile too much cheese in the center (spread it evenly towards the edges).  Lastly, try turning your oven down (or off) right before you put the pizza on the stone and let the heat from the stone do the cooking.

*Note:  Total time includes about 45 minutes to prepare the dough and the roasted tomatoes, 2-3 hours for the dough to rise and chill, and 15 minutes to assemble the roasted tomato pizza.