We had the privilege of having some of our German exchange students over for Pizza 101! They had a great time and loved the pizza!
I decided to make my our pizza sauce when I lucked out with these tomatoes!
1 pound of tomatoes for $1 
I sliced them in quarters and generously sprinkled them with salt and pepper while 1 tablespoon of minced garlic was being sauteed in my stock pot with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Every batch I make is different because it depends on how the tomatoes are – some are really sweet, some are really tart – these were somewhere in the middle!
Biz’s Pizza Sauce
- 1 pound fresh tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 to 10 basil leaves
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Cook tomatoes until soft, about 20 minutes. Puree with stick blender and simmer for up to two hours to reduce.
I had to make the dough ahead of time, because it needs to rise for at least 30 minutes.
Biz’s Deep Dish Pizza Dough
- 3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
- 1 1/4 cup warm water (room temperature is fine)
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon oil (for the bowl when rising)
Put the flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar and yeast in your stand mixer with dough hook. Add the water and butter and let the machine knead it for about 5 minutes. Add to a bowl with olive oil and let rest for 30 minutes.
mix dry ingredients first
Then I add the melted butter to the water and mix that together – 5 minutes in the mixer and you are done!
I set the dough in the corner of my kitchen to rest. I made WAY too much dough! I don’t know what I was thinking, because each dough recipe is enough for two 16 inch pizzas!
Then I had my ingredients on the other side:
And I got giant pepperoni from my deli – so good!
I also bought new rolling pins and pizza pans:
Maxi and Eyke were ready to roll the dough:
Larissa had some awesome knife skills! She sliced up the mushrooms and onions. (Yes, I know, I let an onion into the house!)
Larissa made a mushroom, pepperoni and onion pizza:
putting on the homemade sauce
ready for the oven!
Hannah and Eyke rolling out their dough
this one ended up being mostly mushroom with a little bit of pepperoni and light on the cheese
Eyke also made a tiny pizza with some of the dough – his “mini pizza!”E
Since I baked both of these at the same time – I baked them at 425 for 30 minutes, then 5 minutes off the pan straight on my oven rack to crisp up the crust – they loved it!
I love how charred the pepperoni gets
While the kids ate, I made a pizza for me and Tony – sausage, pepperoni, green olives, black olives and fresh basil on my side – I ate 2 pieces, or 1/4 of this pizza:
I may have added this to my slices – if anyone likes crushed red pepper flakes, you’ll love this! When you open up the jar it smells exactly like jalapenos! Tony found this at TJ Maxx and gave it to me for my birthday last week
my plate!
For dessert I bought an assortment of butter cookies from our ethnic grocery store. Um, pretty sure the turtle ones were a big hit! I only had two cookies left this morning from a pound!
And as a thank you, we gave our German exchange students travel coffee mugs that have the Chicago skyline on it and winter caps with Chicago on it.
Nici and Eyke
Thanks to FoodBuzz for selecting my submission for this months 24, 24, 24! It was a great night
How cool! I love that you’re hosting an exchange student…that’s something I always wanted to do in high school but never had the chance!
Whoa! Holy dough! I really need to try making my own pizza dough. Yours looks beautiful. I would have loved the bacon, basil and pepperoni! YUM!!! Those jalapeno flakes look great too. Spicy pizza is the best kind of pizza.
So proud of you for letting that onion into your kitchen! What a fun thing to do for the kids – the pizza looks great and obviously everyone had a blast!
How fun!!
The pizza looks so amazing. And so thoughtful of you to give them sweet souveniers!! 
I wanna come to a pizza party at your house! Looks like a fun night
looks like the exchange students had a lot of fun! Homemade pizza is always the best
Can’t wait to see you griling pizza this summer.
You let an onion in the house – lol! Good thing because they’re deliciousssssssssss! : )
The exchange students are all so cute! That is my only (small) regret from college…not going abroad. What love will do to you…I didn’t want to miss out any any time with Mark. Good thing it worked out, or else it’d be a big regret!
I am in Chicago April 23-25th — I’m going to post tomorrow asking Chi-towners if they’re interested in a get together — I hope you can join!
That should work Nicole!!
Looks like a fun night! And the pizza looks awesome (like always!)!
I bet you had to roll everyone out the front door after all that yumminess!
I am a huge fan of the Airbake Pizza pans. It makes great pizza crusts. I saved your recipe for pizza sauce–can’t wait to try it! Great deal of those tomatoes..can’t say I’ve ever found them at that price
yay!! Homemade pizza is the best – just made one myself today! Love the idea of jalapeno flakes – TJ always has the best spices and sauces!
Pizza looks awesome!!
I feel that my little ball of pizza dough is so inferior now, I only make 1 serving at a time for myself LOL. Your pizzas look scrumptious! YUMMMMMMMY
Jenn
Man I can’t remember the last thing you made that my mouth wasn’t watering at the thought of eating it! Glad I already ate or I may be tempted to order pizza for dinner.
That looks like it was so much fun! YOu and Tony must be the cool parents where kids like to be!! I wish I was one of the exchange students, but I would be to old to be one!!
It looks like you had a fabulous time!
oh my gosh! how fun! the pizza looks so good!
What a great party!! And making everything from scratch…I LOVED it! What a treat to the German exchange students…I knew your 24, 24, 24 will rock!
Looks like they are having the time of their life. Oh to be young again!
The party looks so fun!
There’s not much in life that beats homemade pizza! I’ve had a hankering for homemade pizza for a while now; I really have to make some soon.
And I have such an infatuation with crushed red pepper flakes- those jalapeno ones sound awesome.
That looks like so much fun. I bet all the students just had a blast. If I were you i’d be carefull cause some of them may want to move in with you!
That looks awesome Biz! So fun that you were able to do that!
your homemade pizza always looks so delicious! i bet everyone had a great time. i love that you even made the sauce!!
I think the whole pizza part is awesome ~ you are such a great host mom. I LOVE the pizza (your pizzas always look AMAZING!) but, all the little details you did for them too
omg, this is a pizza lover’s dream! what a fun party!!! and congrats to a fellow foodbuzz 24 winner!
I have never attempted my own pizza dough before – nice job! I am officially inspired!
Congrats on your 24 feature! Bet the kids were excited to eat all of this food.
Biz, I would pay some serious cash for a slice or four of your delicious pizza. You have some serious skills, lady!
Those pizzas look amazingggg! YUM. Now I’m hungry.
I’ve got to try your homemade marinara- thanks for posting!