Grandma Pizza

This Grandma Pizza is sort of a cross between pizza and focaccia, and originated from the memories of Donna Curry, the author of the amazing bread baking cook book, Make Ahead Bread: 100 Recipes for Melt-in-Your-Mouth Fresh Bread Every Day.


Eleven years ago, when I first found out I was going to be a grandma, I was in total denial. After all, I was way too young for this role (in my head at least)!

Once my grandson was born, all bets were off. I went into Mama Bear mode. This little boy (who is now almost my height and eleven years old) is the light of my life. Life is not perfect, and crap happens (lots of crap). Being a grandmother has been just about the best job I did not sign up for.

Every time I see this boy, he immediately exclaims "grandma!" and runs over to give me a big hug. I'm pretty sure this won't last forever. Eventually, he'll be too cool, right? I now embrace the title of grandma. This is why, when it was time to choose a bread from Donna's book, I was immediately drawn to Grandma Pizza. Plus, he luuuurves pizza!

One of the joys of this pizza recipe is that you make the dough in advance, throw it into a plastic bag, and then toss the bag into the refrigerator for up to 2 days. When you are ready to bake the pizza, you just press the dough into a quarter sheet pan, top it with tomatoes and cheese, and bake! How easy is that?!

This pizza makes amazing leftovers too. We toasted slices of this pizza for breakfast and dipped them in olive oil and balsamic sprinkled with chili flakes. Delicious!

This recipe is from the book Make Ahead Bread by my friend Donna Curry who writes one of my favorite blogs, Cookistry. Donna is into bread... and cocktails! Girl after my own heart. She also writes for several publications, including Whisk Magazine, by Melinda Lee, of whom I am a fangirl.

Her book has 100 recipes for bread that you can make ahead and then bake when you need fresh bread! There are recipes for sandwich loaves, rolls, pizza, breadsticks, and even sourdough.

I am giving away an autographed copy of Donna's book after the recipe for this pizza. This giveaway is for U.S. and Canadian readers. The book is awesome!!

Grandma Pizza

Ingredients

1 tsp instant yeast

13 1/2 ounces (3 cups) bread flour

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 1/4 cups room temperature water

2 T olive oil

1/2 cup canned crushed tomatoes (I used the kind that had Italian seasoning and added some garlic), drained

4 ounces sliced mozzarella cheese

Sliced fresh basil

Instructions

1. Mix the yeast, flour, salt, and water together in a bowl until they form a shaggy mass, and all of the flour has been absorbed. 
2. Toss the olive oil into a gallon sized zip log bag and distribute it to coat the bag. 
3. Form the dough into a ball and add it to the bag. Seal the bag and refrigerate the dough overnight or up to two days. 
4. On baking day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and heat the oven to 375 degrees F. 
5. Transfer the dough, along with the olive oil, to a rimmed quarter sheet pan (13 inch by 9 inch). 
6. Using your fingertips, poke the dough to prod it toward the edges of the pan. Take your time if the dough resists. 
7. Sprinkle the tomatoes over the dough, leaving about a 1/2 inch edge. Scatter the cheese on top of the tomatoes. Scatter the basil on top of the cheese. 
8. Bake the pizza until the dough is browned and the cheese is bubbly, about 40 minutes. 

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