Pizza Stone Success!

Some days you fail in the kitchen. Other days you succeed. And Monday night was a major kitchen win for this girl. I actually meal planned last week (you know that thing we all love to do but can so easily get sidetracked away from...) so I knew I wanted to make pizza Monday night. There must have been something in the water I was drinking that day because I got brave and decided to use the pizza stone to make the pizza that night.

I bought a pizza stone a while back but have been too scared to use it. "What if I mess up and dinner is ruined??" I'd say to myself. Wah. Stop being a baby. You can always order sushi. I did my research (ring ring calling Mom) and developed a plan of action. I think things run so much more smoothly with plans of action. 

The key to using a pizza stone is seasoning it enough. First, I rubbed some olive oil onto the stone. You should thoroughly coat it with the oil but not too much - too much olive oil can lead to soggy pizza. I then placed the stone into the cold oven. Then I turned my oven on and began to heat it up to 450. Once I heard my oven ding signalling that it had reached 450, I set my oven timer for 30 minutes so I could allow that stone to really heat up for a half an hour. An even temp stone = evenly cooked pizza!

After the pizza was prepped with all the toppings, I moved the pizza onto the pizza paddle. Now, very important! Do I have you attention?! To make for a smooth transfer of pizza on pizza paddle to pizza on pizza stone - both the paddle and the stone need to be well coated with cornmeal. Too little cornmeal and you end up with sticky dough that won't slide from surface to surface. So don't be afraid to toss on a little more cornmeal!

Pizza Bianca With Tomatoes and Mozzarella 

Ingredients:

• One bag store bought whole wheat pizza dough 
• olive oil 
• 2 medium tomatoes sliced 
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 ball mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
• fresh basil, chopped 
• Your favorite Italian seasoning 
• shredded Parmesan 

Directions:

• Place pizza stone in cold oven. Turn oven on and pre-heat to 450. Once oven has reached 450, allow pizza stone to heat for additional 30 mins. 
• Place pizza dough in bowl. Let dough come to room temperature. Roll dough out. Drizzle olive oil and spread evenly. Season liberally with favorite Italian seasoning blend. 
• In medium skillet, saute tomatoes, garlic and basil for about 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat. 
• Place mozzeralla slices on dough. Top with tomatoes. Sprinkle on Parmesan cheese. 
• Gently slide pizza onto pizza paddle. Transfer pizza onto pizza stone. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cheese has started to melt and dough is golden brown. 

I have to admit- I shocked myself here. I'm surprised my first time using a pizza stone went so smoothly. I thought for sure I'd be reaching for a take-out menu in the end. So another lesson learned. Have faith in yourself! Good, delish, piping hot pizza will result. YUM.