Pizza night lose its fun? Make it a gourmet feast

Crust
Dissolve yeast in water: set aside for 5 minutes. Combine flour, salt, sugar, and oil in bowl; make a well in center. When water/yeast mixture is bubbly, pour into center of well. Knead until smooth and elastic. Roll into ball; cover with damp cloth. Let rest in warm place for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 475. Punch down dough and divide in half. Roll dough half to a flattened rectangle and transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Topping
Brush with 1/4 cup marinara. Sprinkle with 1/2 of Fontina, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. Sprinkle 1/2 cooked Italian sausage evenly, followed by 1/2 of sage. With a mandoline, shave apples and fennel bulb into thin slices. Cut each slice into 1-inch long pieces. Distribute 1/2 over sausage and sage. Sprinkle with salt and pepper generously. Bake until crust is golden, 13-15 minutes. Repeat with 2nd half of dough.

Sauce
Into a saucepan on medium heat, pour 3 turns of the pan of olive oil. Add 4 cloves of garlic, chopped in halves, and simmer for 30 seconds - 1 minute. Add one can of whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Pour contents into a food processor and puree until almost smooth. Return contents to the saucepan

Add:
3 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sugar
1 palm-full fresh oregano leaves, chopped
5 basil leaves, chopped
Simmer on medium-low for one hour
Let cool before adding to the pizza
Use 2 ladel-fulls of sauce for each pizza, adding more if necessary (i.e., don’t use all the sauce)

Dough

1. Stir together flour, salt, and yeast.
   
2. Create well in center of dry ingredients and add cold water, incorporating the dry ingredients until the water is absorbed (a minute or two).
   
3. Add olive oil and stir until absorbed.
   
4. Knead the dough by hand for about 5 minutes (not too long or the dough won’t rise enough). At this point, the dough should be sticky, but not wet.
   
5. Shape the dough into a ball and coat with olive oil or olive oil spray
   .
6. Store in airtight container (e.g., a Ziplock bag) in refrigerator overnight.
   
7. Remove dough and place on floured surface, dust with flour, spray with olive oil spray, and cover with plastic wrap.
   
8. Let rise for 2 hours.

Pizza/Toppings

1. Stretch/form dough by hand so that the pizza has a very thin crust (approx. 1/8 thick) but keep the crust edge much thicker (at least ½ inch thick).
   
2. Coat bottom of pizza with a thin layer of olive oil, sprinkle generously with corn meal, then flip to prepare toppings.
   
3. Coat top of pizza with a thin layer of olive oil.
   
4. Ladle sauce onto pizza.
   
5. Place the mozzarella slices evenly around the pizza (should be thick so the cheese melts slowly and is less likely to burn).
   
6. Salt and pepper the pizza.
   
7. Sprinkle fresh oregano on the pizza.
   
8. Coat the edge (just the crust) of the pizza with olive oil, then sprinkle the crust edge with sesame seeds.
   
9. Drizzle olive oil on top of the pizza.
   
10. Cook pizza, preferably on a pizza stone, at 500 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  The crust edges should be browned and crispy. If using a wood or coal burning oven, cook for 5 minutes, or until crust edge is browned and crispy.
    
11. Place basil leaves evenly around pizza.

Rehydrate the mushrooms using warm water and repeated rinsing. Make sure mushrooms are fairly soft. Pat dry and chop. This may be done beforehand, and kept in fridge until use.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) and place a pizza stone in the oven to preheat.

Combine the flour, salt, honey and ½ cup warm water in an electric mixer with a dough hook. Mix on low for 2 minutes. Proof the yeast with ½ tsp sugar and 1/3 cup of the water. Let foam for 8-10 min. Add the yeast mixture, and let mix for another 6 minutes on medium speed. You may need to add a few extra drops of water until=2 0dough clumps into a ball form during this phase. Add 1 tbsp the oil and let mix for another 1 minute. The dough should be fairly tough. Make a Make a nice round dough ball. Place the ball in a warm, moist place covered with saran wrap, and let rise for approx 30 min.

Heat the 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in ½ of the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Remove this oil/garlic mixture and place in small dish. (save later for brushing) Then add the last tbsp olive oil, remaining garlic, and mushrooms. Saute for about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

On a lightly floured pizza peel, pat or roll out the pizza dough to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Take a fork and many small holes throughout the crust. Fold back the dough and dust the peel with cornmeal. Place the crust back over the cornmeal. Brush the crust with prepared garlic olive oil. Sprinkle the Fontina and Parmesan cheeses, followed by the sauteed mushrooms. Garnish with Parley. Carefully transfer the pizza to the pizza stone. Bake at 450 degrees F for about 9-10 min, or until crust is light brown and cheese is melted and bubbly.