Summer Pizza

 I have been wanting to make pizza for a really long time. I love homemade pizza, with fresh toppings. But I never feel like I have the time to prepare the dough and allow it to rise, and quite frankly never feel like it will come out right in my little apartment kitchen that has a way of drying everything out before you even notice it’s happening. So ever since I saw the yummy looking pre-made dough in plastic bags at Trader Joes a few weeks ago I have been dreaming about getting one and trying it. I have only used pre-made dough a few times, but it just seems unimaginably easy and too good to pass up the opportunity for semi-homemade pizza. So last sunday (where has the time gone?!) I finally got a bag of the kind with herbs mixed in, and a ball of mozzarella, along with some sausages and a container of small tomatoes (of course the first time I was going to buy tomatoes so far this summer there weren’t any) and rushed home to get started.

  Spreading out the pizza dough is surprisingly difficult without a rolling pin (add that to the ever-growing list of kitchen supplies I still need to get). I could not get it flat or even with my hands and resorted to using an empty wine bottle covered in flour.. who knew how handy my roommates lack of cleaning up could be? At first I was afraid the dough would be too wet and sticky to get out of the bag but it actually wasn’t difficult. Ended up with a more square than round pizza but that really makes no difference. Coated it with a thin layer of sauce, followed by crushed garlic and slices of the tomatoes, sausages and cheese. Ended up also throwing on some shredded cheddar I found in the fridge along with some grated parmesan. You can never have too much cheese. Sprinkled with oregano and spices and viola. 

 The bag said to cook 6-8 minutes, and I don’t know if maybe my oven wasn’t all the way preheated or something, but it actually took much longer. Still not very long, but definitely more towards 15-20 minutes before it was really cooked through. Although this again could have been partly due to the make-shift rolling pin situation, through the crust didn’t end up seeming too thick at all. 

All in all it came out pretty delicious. I finally got my pizza, and the fresh toppings just made it feel so summery and delicious. And not I know that bagged dough is really not bad and makes a quick and easy pizza I’m sure to make again.

mmm..