Wait wait!!! I dare to bake!

It's still Wednesday, right? I've had a marathon day and just got home. And then I realized that it's daring bakers' posting day. So, fortunately, I already have the challenge done. This month, we made pizza! The challenge was hosted by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yum Yums and you can find the dough recipe we used there.

I made six pizzas and invited the Composer and Shrek the Medic over to eat with the Tummy and I. It's helpful to have a couple of big guys around when there's a lot of pizza to eat. The dough turned out pretty well, I thought. I'm not a huge thin crust fan, but it got rave reviews.

It was a little too wet to toss effectively, though Shrek got a good one in.


I ended up rolling it out, which worked pretty well. Then, I topped two of them with tomato sauce, mozzarella and bacon. Shrek and the Tummy both preferred these, labeling them the "Manly" Pizza.

The Composer and I opted for the Goat cheese and veggie pizza.

I found this recipe online, but I don't really have a good source for it. I lost the page. It's been a chaotic month.

Goat Cheese and Veggie Pizza
2 already baked thin pizza crusts
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups (packed) baby spinach leaves (1 1/2 to 2 ounces)
1 1/2 cups thickly sliced mushrooms (5 to 6 ounces)
1/2 cup drained roasted red peppers from jar, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup paper-thin red onion slices
8 large fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1 5-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place pizza crust on large baking sheet. Mix olive oil and minced garlic in small bowl. Using pastry brush, brush 2 tablespoons garlic oil evenly over crust. Top with spinach leaves, then sprinkle with sliced mushrooms, roasted red peppers, red onion slices, fresh basil, and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle pizza evenly with remaining garlic oil.

Bake pizza until crust is crisp and cheese begins to brown, about 18 minutes. Transfer pizza to board. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Then I made a dessert pizza with the last two. I sorta tweaked this recipe that I found on the same pizza web page:

Cherry Cheese Dessert Pizza

2 pizza doughs
8 ounces Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
42 ounces Dark Morello Cherries

Directions:

Roll out the pizza dough and put on a 16 inch pizza pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Blend the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until well blended. Pour into the pie crust and bake an additional 10 minutes. Cool until cold and top with the cherry pie filling. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

I think the dessert pizza was my favorite to eat, but I really enjoyed making all of them. It was a lot of fun to get the chance to be creative with toppings. Check out my big sister's fabulous pizzas over at Shazam in the Kitchen and all the other Daring Bakers. What a great group to belong to!