Homemade Frozen Pizzas

I love pizza. It's so flexible; there aren't really any rules.  Have a base, sauce, and some toppings - and go wild.  Last Sunday afternoon, I took a little time and made up a few pizzas (6 to be exact) to keep in the freezer for busy nights.

I made a triple batch of basic pizza dough from Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes, using half unbleached all-purpose and half wheat flour (next time I'll use bread flour).  I also threw in 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed.  After it was done rising, I split the dough in half, then split each half into 3 equal pieces.

I rolled each one out on a floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick and poked holes in the dough with a fork (to prevent bubbles from forming).

I then put them on a greased baking sheet and cooked at 425F for 12 minutes or so.  Once out of the oven, I let the crusts cool and then froze them for several hours.  (If you wanted to, you could just leave the pizza crusts plain for now, then pull one out and add toppings when you're ready to bake and eat it.)

After the crusts were frozen, I pulled them out and added the toppings.  I made 3 kinds of pizza:
1. Potato-Broccoli: thinly sliced Klondike Rose potatoes and finely chopped broccoli over a basic tomato sauce

2. Pineapple-Sauerkraut: OK I know this one sounds weird, but try it before you decide.  Sauerkraut, diced canned pineapple, and finely diced broccoli over basic tomato sauce

3. Garlic-Agave: There's a local pizza restaurant that makes a garlic-honey pizza, and everyone raves about it.  It's basically minced garlic and alfredo sauce topped with shredded mozzarella, and then you drizzle honey over it.  I used bechamel sauce instead of the alfredo, agave nectar instead of the honey, and left off the mozzarella.  This pizza also received a sprinkling of finely diced broccoli - can you tell broccoli was on sale last week?  Sadly, I don't have a photo of this one, but it was delicious!

After all the pizzas had their toppings (I made 2 of each kind), I stuck them back in the freezer on a cookie sheet for several hours.  Once the toppings were frozen, I put them in individual bags and stacked them in the freezer.  When you're ready to bake one, just preheat the oven to 425F (with the pizza stone in the oven during preheating, if you're using one), then put the frozen pizza on a pizza stone or cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.Voila!  Frozen pizza made any way you want it!

Here come the holidays

Yesterday we had the first snowfall of the season.  Luckily we only had a little flurry of snowflakes; nothing like the 9+ inches other places received.  It was enough, though, to awaken my holiday spirit.  I may not care much for the ice and frigid temperatures that will be here before too long, but I still manage to love Thanksgiving and Christmas.

A big part of the holidays for me is the baking.  My mom doesn't bake at all the rest of the year, but at Christmas even she pulls out the cookie sheets and candy thermometer.  As for me, well, I probably go overboard.  But by the time I disperse the goodies to friends and family, the remainder doesn't even last until the new year.  Here's what I'll be making this year:
- cashew cinnamon brittle
- peppermint bark
- fudge
- decorated sugar cookies
- zimtsterne (German cinnamon cookies)
- lebkuchen (German honey-molasses cookies)
- vanilkove rohlicky (Czech crescent cookies)
- vanocka (Czech holiday bread)

I'm 1/2 German and 1/4 Czech, so that's why I have some traditional recipes from each of those countries.  I went to Germany this summer and met some of my (distant) relatives.  It was great, and I like to have little reminders of my roots around.  Especially during Christmas, when it's all about family.