I got an email Monday morning asking if there was room at Clark Towers for the night. I had not taken anything out for dinner and wasn’t sure what I really wanted to make. I was going through what I had on hand and decided to try a new skillet thin crust pizza recipe I had been dying to try. I LOVE thin crust pizza and if I could make it quickly for dinner any night of the week, I HAD to check it out.

The dough came together super easy and very quickly; with the help from my food processor. The simple toppings, if you keep them to a minimum, which you really should help make the crust stay crispy and keeps the time to a minimum.

You could make this any night of the week and look like a rock star. At least that was how I felt Monday night, or that could have been the wine talking.

Toppings

4 plum tomatoes, cored, seeded, and chopped

½ tsp kosher salt

4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated

½ cup chopped fresh basil

Dough

1 cup AP flour

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

7 Tbs olive oil – divided

1/3 cup dark ale

Toppings – toss tomatoes in a bowl with the salt and let sit a few minutes; then transfer to a paper towel, let drain for 15 minutes. Mix cheese and basil in a bowl and set aside.

Dough – process flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. With the processor running, slowly add 1 Tbs oil and beer, process just till dough pulls away from the sides.

Using floured hands, form into a ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Divide dough in quarters, roll each half into a very thin 8-9 inch round pizza on a lightly floured surface.

Heat 3 Tbs of oil in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium heat until just smoking. Transfer 1 dough round to skillet and cook. Poking any bubbles that form with a fork until the bottom is golden brown and crisp 3-4 minutes; flip dough and sprinkle with half of the drained tomatoes and half of the cheeses.

Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, until second side is crisp and cheeses have melted, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board, wipe out skillet and repeat.

Garlic Cream Sauce – this is for you KP

2 Tbs butter,

2 Tbs Flour

1 ½ cup milk or heavy cream whatever you have on hand

1 clove minced garlic

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in saute pan, add flour to make a roux, cook on low for 1-2 minutes. Whisk in cream add garlic and cheese simmer on low till thickened

Tip – as long as you keep the ingredients to a minimum per pizza and make sure like the tomatoes they are dried on a paper towel, you can add what you would like. We added sausage, and garlic cream sauce to some of our pizzas – Also the dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and spend a week in the freezer if needed.