Sundried Tomato Reduction Pizza + Butternut Squash Pizza with Sage & Fontina val d’Aosta

Some of you know that I have stolen my go-to pizza dough recipe from Wolfgang Puck. Here it is for your convenience.

1 pack dry yeast, with an expiration date we have not yet reached
1 tsp honey or brown sugar
1 cup warm water (about 105-115 degrees)
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 T olive oil

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water & the honey/sugar. Let it get a bit frothy while you gather your other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Create a well. Add the yeast mixture to the middle and the olive oil. Add the rest of the warm water, using it to get any yeast that stuck in the bowl. Mix together. It may be quite sticky. Add more flour and knead dough until smooth and supple.

Cover with thin, damp towel (well wrung out) and put in a warm spot like on top of your gas range. Let it sit at least an hour but more if you can.

Cut it into fourths. Grab a fourth and punch it down, gathering it back into a ball. Roll it out on a large floured surface with a rolling pin, until thin but not too thin to handle and put onto a well dusted cookie sheet without a lip or a piel, if you are fancy enough to own one. I was, but I gave it away several moves ago. So back to the cookie sheet.

You’ll want to cook this on a pizza stone–if you’re going to bother making your own dough, you should get one. It makes a huge, huge difference in the texture and moisture of the pizza and how well it holds up to your toppings. It also is handy to leave in a stubborn or unpredictable oven because it will help regulate heat.

Cook it as hot as your oven goes. Don’t over fill it. Too much = hard to handle & won’t cook right. Your pizza, when ready to cook, should NOT resemble any restaurants “veggie” pizza. Too much!

Butternut Squash Pizza
Sautee cubes of fresh butternut sqash in butter or olive oil. Add salt & pepper. When tender, add some fresh or dried sage.
Thinly coat pizza skin in olive oil, and add thin slices of red onion. Add cubes of fontina. Lastly, squash.

Sundried Tomato Reduction Margarita Pizza
My mom visited a while back and left us with a sundried tomato reduction which she had made to use in a risotto. Fancy. We put it on our pizza with some mozzarella and some thyme and it was deliciousss.

My mom is pretty well known for reducing things, too. For example, demi glace. Or, port reduction for sauces on beef or pork. She’s been known to boil beef bones for days. We once had a golden retriever who would lay next to that pot for days. My mom taught her the words “reduction sauce.” She would react like you said “cookie” or “walk.”