Oil Cured Olive, Fresh Basil, Veal and Fresh Mozzarella Pizza

A nice pizza with traditional Italian flavors!

     Pizza Dough Recipe:  

     If you have dough making experience, then this will be easy.  
     High gluten flour is best for this recipe, but bread flour can be used.  Pizza dough is focaccia dough or Italian bagette style bread dough.  No oil in the mixture will produce a dough that is like many Italian breads that are not enriched with fat or French baguette bread dough.  Many pizzeria chefs do not add oil to a pizza dough and that is correct pizza dough too.  
     Focaccia style doughs require enrichment with fat.  Olive oil is a fat!  Oil strengthens and elongates the gluten strands of the dough.  It only takes a very small amount of oil to produce a nice texture.  The elastic gluten strands give pizza dough the ability to be stretched and tossed in the air!
     Add 2 tablespoon of fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon of dry yeast to 16 ounces of tepid luke warm water in a mixing bowl.
     Place the mixing bowl in a luke warm place like on top of a warm oven.
     When the yeast activates, add 2 teaspoons of sugar to proof the yeast.
     Add about 2 cups of flour.
     Add 2 teaspoons of sea salt.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.
     Stir the mixture with a spoon, till a very loose wet dough is formed.
     Start adding a little bit of flour at a time,while stirring, till a loose dough is formed.
     Add a little more flour at a time, while mixing with your fingers, till the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
     You will be able to feel when the dough is starting to get elastic.  It will stick to your hands when made correctly, but that will change after rising twice.
     Add flour, while hand mixing, till the dough can pull away from the sides of the bowl.
     Cover the dough in the mixing bowl with a dry towel.
     Set the bowl on top of an oven in a luke warm area, with a second towel underneath the bowl to protect the dough from too much heat.
     When the dough rises more than double, beat it down with your knuckles and gather the dough like a ball in the bowl.
     Cover the dough with a towel and let it rise again.
     When it rises the second time, beat the dough down and knead firmly with your hands for 1 minute.
     Place the dough on a floured counter top.
     Roll the dough into a large ball.
     Cut the dough ball in half for two medium size pizzas portions or into four portions for mini pizzas.
     Roll and tuck each dough portion with with your hands to make smooth dough balls.
     You can cover and refrigerate each dough ball for a few days or freeze the dough portions for later use.

   
     Pizza Sauce Recipe:
     I make several different Italian pizza sauces.  Some are suited for particular pizzas.  This pizza sauce is like a standard pizza sauce recipe.
     Place 1 1/2 cups of imported Italian canned crushed tomatoes into a mixing bowl. 

     Add 2 ounces of olive oil.

     Add 3 cloves of minced garlic.

     Add 2 pinches of oregano.

     Add sea salt and black pepper. 

     Stir the pizza sauce ingredients together.  (Do not heat or cook a pizza sauce!  Classic Italian pizza sauce is a cold mixture.  It only is cooked in the oven!)
  
     Veal Pizza Topping:
     Heat a saute pan over medium heat.
     Add 1 splash of olive oil.
     Add 4 ounces of ground veal.
     Add 1 chopped garlic clove.
     Season with sea salt and black pepper.
     Saute the ground veal.
     Dice the ground veal in the pan with a spatula, so the veal crumbles into small pieces.
     Saute the veal, till it becomes lightly browned.
     Plaice the sauteed ground veal in a fine mesh strainer to drain off the excess grease.
     Set the cooked ground veal aside.
  
     Oil Cured Olive, Fresh Basil, Veal and Fresh Mozzarella PizzaPizza Recipe: 
     Dust a a counter top with flour.
     Place a mini pizza size portion of pizza dough on the floured counter top.
     Pat the dough out with your finger tips, till a round mini pizza shape is formed.
     Place the pizza dough on a pizza pan that is brushed with olive oil.
     Pat the dough out again if necessary.
     Bake the pizza shaped dough in a 450 degree oven, till the dough rises and and becomes firm, but so the crust is still white in color.  (Bake till the pizza is about halfway cooked.)
     Place the pizza pan on a stove top.
     Spread the pizza sauce evenly from the center of the pizza out to the crust's edges.
     Place a few whole fresh basil leaves on the pizza.
     Sprinkle the sauteed ground veal on the pizza.
     Place several thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese on the pizza.
     Sprinkle 2 pinches of oregano on the pizza.
     Place several pitted oil cured black olives on the pizza.
     Drizzle some virgin olive oil over the pizza.
     Place the pizza back in the 450 degree oven.
     When the pizza crust is baked to a golden color and the mozzarella just starts to turn golden around the edges of the pizza, then the pizza is done baking.  (Do not excessively brown fresh mozzarella!  Just soften and melt the fresh mozzarella cheese.  Browned fresh mozzarella has an unpleasant bitter flavor!)
     Slide the pizza onto a cutting board.
     Cut the pizza into four slices.
     Place the pizza slices on  a plate.
  
     This is a nice tasting gourmet pizza!  Don't use any other cheeses like parmesan when making a fresh mozzarella pizza or the delicate flavor of the fresh cheese will be masked.  The ground veal is a step up from ground beef.  Basil leaves compliment the fresh cheese and the tomato sauce flavors.  The oil cured black olives have a deep rich flavor and they are not salty tasting at all.  The virgin olive oil drizzle adds a nice flavor for the fresh mozzarella cheese.
     Enjoy this pizza with a fine Italian Chianti wine.  Yum!  Ciao Baby!  ...  Shawna