TRADER JOE’S FRESH PIZZA DOUGH

This is a total ”supermarket hack” for making the best pizza you will make at home.

I love to make my own pizza dough. It’s not hard, but it does take a couple of days to do it right. So, we often use Trader Joe’s fresh pizza dough…plus a couple other supermarket items including Casslico Traditional Pizza Sauce and Hormel (thin sliced) pepperoni.

I have a nice, non-stick 13 inch round pizza pan. This fits the 1 pound of pizza dough perfectly.

Chef’s note: When removing the dough from the plastic bag, use a scissors and cut the bag off. It makes it so much easier than trying to wrestle the sticky (moist) dough out of the little bag. Then, I oil a little mixing bowl and place the dough in it. Cover with a kitchen towel and let sit in a warm place for at least 1 hour. Longer would be better.

I put a little flour on my hands and on the pizza pan then drop the dough in the middle of the pan. Just start pushing it to the sides with the tips of your fingers until the dough reaches the edge. Try to keep it consistent in thickness while leaving a little edge for the crust.

Using a big spoon from your silverware drawer, spoon about 5-6 ounces of sauce onto the middle of the dough. Using the bottom of the spoon, make circles around the dough to evenly spread the sauce to the edges. I suggest not using more sauce, but that is your choice. I then added some topping. Here’s another fun part…go for it! I used fresh mozzarella broken into 1 inch chunks, small thin sliced pepperoni, then about 1 cups of thin sliced mushrooms, and finish with a couple tables of grated parmesan cheese. Place the pan in the preheat oven (475) on a rack near the top of the oven. I am fortunate to own an Anova Precision Oven allowing me to set it on top heat and rear heat convection. It cooks extremely evenly. Depending on your oven, try cooking it for 13 minutes, although your oven may be different. You want the edges to be a bit brown and the bottom golden brown. That’s the way I like it. Remove from the oven to a cutting board and let it sit for 3-4 minutes before slicing. The bottom was slightly crispy. Leave it a bit longer for a crispier bottom.

Honestly, our next pizza will have more toppings, ie, thin sliced red onion, a little thin sliced green bell pepper, sliced black olives, and cooked ground sausage.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (1 pound) Trader Joe’s fresh pizza dough, plain

• Flour

• Olive oil

• 5-6 ounces of pizza sauce (I used a 14 ounce jar of Classico Traditional Pizza Sauce)

• Thin sliced, small pepperoni (I used Horme)

• 1 cup of thin sliced white mushrooms

• 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, 1 inch chunks

• 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

• Other suggested toppings: Cooked ground sausage, thin sliced red onions, thin sliced green bell peppers, sliced black olives

DIRECTIONS:

(Please read the directions in the description above)