I had my ceramic pizza stone crack in half when I pulled it out of the oven. It almost ruined my pizza.
For your generous effort finding a round metal “stone” here is my pizza recipe:
Pizza Sauce:
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz can tomato paste
28 oz can crushed tomato sauce
¼ cup Merlot wine
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp marjoram
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp oregano
1-1/2 tsp basil
¼ tsp sage
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 very small pinch of cinnamon
1 TBS Concord grape jelly
1 carrot, peeled
White sugar to taste
Olive oil for cooking garlic and onions
Method:
1. Chop the carrot and put in with half of the tomato sauce, in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth.
2. Mince onion and cook in olive oil until golden brown in a sauce pan. Do this on a low enough heat to keep this browning process under control to keep from burning. Add minced garlic and cook briefly before adding the other half of the tomato sauce. The tomato sauce can be used to stop the browning process of the onion at the perfect stage of browning. Note: never cook garlic until it turns brown. This causes the garlic to get bitter.
3. Add the tomato paste, the rest of the tomato sauce from the food processor, and all of the ingredients. Simmer on low, stirring `every ten minutes. Be careful not to cause the sauce to splatter due to excessive heat. When sauce is thick, add sugar to taste. Let cool, then put in a storage container for the refrigerator. This sauce can be stored in the freezer for six months.
Pizza Dough from a Bread Maker:
You will need:
3 cups flour
1-1/4 cups water
2 tsp salt
2 TBS butter
2 tsp bread machine yeast (Pizza Sauce—by Jon McIntyre
You will need:
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz can tomato paste
28 oz can crushed tomato sauce
¼ cup Merlot wine
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp marjoram
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp oregano
1-1/2 tsp basil
¼ tsp sage
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 very small pinch of cinnamon
1 TBS Concord grape jelly
1 carrot, peeled
White sugar to taste
Olive oil for cooking garlic and onions
Method:
1. Chop the carrot and put in with half of the tomato sauce, in a food processor or blender, and puree until smooth.
2. Mince onion and cook in olive oil until golden brown in a sauce pan. Do this on a low enough heat to keep this browning process under control to keep from burning. Add minced garlic and cook briefly before adding the other half of the tomato sauce. The tomato sauce can be used to stop the browning process of the onion at the perfect stage of browning. Note: never cook garlic until it turns brown. This causes the garlic to get bitter.
3. Add the tomato paste, the rest of the tomato sauce from the food processor, and all of the ingredients. Simmer on low, stirring `every ten minutes. Be careful not to cause the sauce to splatter due to excessive heat. When sauce is thick, add sugar to taste. Let cool, then put in a storage container for the refrigerator. This sauce can be stored in the freezer for six months.
Pizza Dough from a Bread Maker:
You will need:
3 cups flour (bread flour will make a crisper crust)
1-1/4 cups water at 110 degrees F
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 TBS butter
2 tsp bread machine yeast (or instant yeast—not rapid rise)
Method:
1. Put bread maker on 1st rise setting and add the water, sugar, butter, yeast, flour, and salt in that order. If not using a bread maker, use a dough hook and when it forms into a ball put in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm location.
2. When cycle is complete (or the dough has risen), take dough out and spread out on a 15” pizza pan or pizza stone. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spreading dough out on the pizza pan will take a little time because fresh dough has an elasticity that likes to return to its original shape. With a little punching and poking, the dough will form to the pan.
3. Without putting any ingredients on the pizza crust, put the pan in the 425 degree oven and cook the dough for 4 minutes. This precooks the dough so that the topping does not cause the dough to get gummy. You do not have a professional pizza oven and this step is necessary. The dough will have a stiff consistency when taken out. At this time you can put your toppings on the pizza crust.
4. First, spread a thin layer of sauce over the crust. Then, spread a layer of mozzarella cheese. Next, put you favorite toppings: pepperoni, red onion, olives, thin sliced tomato, mushrooms, anchovies, etc. Finally, put a thin layer of mozzarella cheese over your toppings.
5. Put your pizza in the 425 degree oven for 14 minutes. Check for done-ness. Add 5 more minutes if the topping appears watery.
Theoria deserves some credit to - their link to a square plate led me to the round plates. So Theoria can enjoy some pizza too, as long as it is square or rectangular in the Sicilian style!