a homemade pie

lately the hubs & i have been on this gourmet pie kick. & by pie i don't mean the dessert kind. i mean pizza. after numerous date nights to some great pie places around town. like here & here. 

{we haven't been here yet, but am dying to go.} i felt i needed to try making my own. store-bought dough wasn't cutting it anymore. it wasn't giving me the results i craved.

so with this new found love i decided to tackle making my own pizza dough {yikes! scary!}, & sauce with a little help from another new found love, Cooking Light magazine. desperately trying to replicate my fav's.

armed with this recipe, mission-pie began! 

i made the dough the day before. it needed 24hrs to chill out in the fridge. sorry folks, didn't take photos of that. too much dough-kneading & sticky fingers to hold a camera!

the sauce: 

• 2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 5  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  (28-ounce) can San Marzano tomatoes
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried oregano

***so notice that i only have 1 14oz can of tomatoes? i didn't until i made the entire sauce! doh!

so i added another can and let it simmer a little longer! oops!***

heat up some the olive oil and cook minced garlic for 1 minute stirring constantly. 

don't just stand there fiddling with the settings on your camera while doing this part. 

burnt garlic is no good for anyone. 

i got it together in time! whew.

separate the tomatoes from the juice & crush tomatoes

add in crushed tomatoes, the tomato juice  & 1/2 tsp dried oregano to the garlic

1/2 tsp salt {i use kosher}

bring to a boil, then turn down heat & simmer for 30mins. 

meanwhile bring the dough to room temperature. so let it sit out for about an hour.

my dough is not in a pretty little ball. whatever. it still turned out great!

my fav pie has fennel sausage. so that's what i am replicating here.

slice the bulb of the fennel

& chop some of the fennel fronds.

saute the chicken sausage & chopped fennel

{i used a spicy chicken ground sausage, you could use lamb or pork or none at all if you prefer the veggies!}

once the dough is ready, punch it down and roll it out

sprinkle 1-tablespoon  of corn meal {i used yellow} & 1/4 tsp salt on dough

pinch a half inch border

i picked up some wonderful fresh mozzarella to slice for the top

top the dough with all the fixin's you prefer.

spread evenly the tomato sauce, leaving a border for crust

layer sliced mozzarella, sausage, kalamata olives & sprinkle fresh rosemary

*if you have a pizza stone, you'll heat your oven differently. see recipe

i don't, so heat oven to 450F  & bake pie on a baking sheet for 25min

look at my cute sous chef!

voilà!

oh, yum. 

heaven.

so after all, pizza dough isn't as scary as i thought & now this might have to make an appearance every week! {insert grunts & man-calls from my hubs here} 


what's your favorite toppings on a pie?