How could pizza get any better? How about a pizza that saves you money? With this Ham and Olive, Artisan Pizza is made with leftover ham so no need to spend extra cash on toppings here!!
Okay call me a dork or old school if you want, but I am totally bringing back TGIF family night! It is so hard in today’s society not to get caught up in the mayhem we call this world. We dream of the day everything will slow down, but somehow things just speed up and next thing you know you get bogged down in to-do lists and everything that is included in being an adult. The unfortunate thing is our kids are living that same life with all the extra circulars or in my case doctors and specialist appointment. We seem to try and squeeze family time in wherever we can.
That was the cycle we were in and honestly one day I told myself this has got to stop, we need to make time for family not just squeeze it in, especially when the kids are young, and want us around because let’s face it one day they will not.
So at least 2 Fridays a month we just hang as a family, make pizzas and snacks, watch movies, play games, even just camp out in the backyard. We try to stay in instead of going out this way we don’t get distracted by our surroundings and our focus can be on family and nothing else. Honestly, it is just nice to have a few hours a week to just chill with the ones I love most!
We make pizza almost every family Friday night, for two reasons. The first being what kid doesn’t love pizza? Have them pick out their toppings and they will be sure to eat. The second is pizza is such a diverse food you can use any sauce you can think of, top with anything you want, make it your own creation and it is the perfect use for leftovers!!
Typically Thursday nights I make my pizza dough, I let it rise and before bed, I put in an airtight container and refrigerate it until I get home from work on Friday (well before I lost my job that is). When I would get home I would take it out of the fridge and allow it to rest on the counter for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out to any shape we picked that night! Lightly flour a flat surface and roll out the dough. You get to pick what kind of crust you would like, roll thin for a crispy thin crust, leave thick if you would like chewy crust. Make a crust edge or just go flat, make it round, heart shaped, oval, rectangle… your options are endless, just have fun with it!
The Quick Basic Pizza Sauce can be made either that day or up to a week in advance. If you do make it in advance put in in your refrigerator until the day you are ready to use. Take it out 30 minutes before using. If it remains firm warm it up for 30 seconds on high in a microwave-safe dish and then stir.
The fun prep is picking your toppings!! For this specific pizza, we picked the ham because we had some leftover Bourbon Cherry Drunken Ham in the fridge, my husband wanted onions, and my daughter wanted “tons and tons of black olives.” Thank goodness everything paired well together with basic pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese.
Once the dough, sauce and all your ingredients are ready, it’s time to preheat your oven. I am a fan of pre-cooking my crust just for a little bit, there is nothing worse than a soggy crust and I have learned if I pre-cook I avoid the soggy crust factor! With that being said before you place your toppings, poke the crust with a fork all around this will ensure you don’t get any bubbling up crust, and then place the crust in the oven for 5 minutes.
Remove crust from oven, it will not be fully cooked, spread sauce, sprinkle cheese, scatter toppings, and finally sprinkle with a little more cheese. Place back in oven and allow to finish cooking this take anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes depending on how you like your crust. If you want it, chewy cook, it 10 minutes if you like it crispy cook it for 20. Remove from the oven allow to cool slightly, slice, and enjoy.
This amazing Ham and Black Olive Artisan Pizza is a family friendly delicious dish to help you use up that leftover ham!
Other leftover ham recipes you may enjoy!
Ham and Asparagus Carbonara
Ham and Potato Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Ham Boiled Dinner
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A simple way to give your pizza more flavor!
- 1 package active yeast
- 2 cups hot water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil divided
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 cups All purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cracked wheat flour
- Extra flour for kneading and Rolling
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Combine water yeast and sugar in a bowl and allow to rest until yeast starts to bubble. Approximately 5 minutes.
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Add in kosher salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, honey, all-purpose flour and cracked wheat flour and mix until the dough comes together into a solid ball. If dough is too sticky add a little more flour. If it is too dry add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the solid ball is formed. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until you have a smooth slightly firm ball. (Only knead about 10-15 times)
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Grease a large bowl with remaining tablespoon of olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm area to let it double in size about 40 minutes.
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Once the dough has risen it is time to make your pizza!!
A simple and quick way to make pizza sauce
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes optional
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Combine all the ingredients, tomato paste, water, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes (optional) in a medium mixing bowl. If the mixture is too thick add extra water 1 tsp at a time.
A great way to use up any leftover ham that your kids will love
- 1/2 ball honey wheat pizza dough
- 1/2 cup quick pizza sauce
- 1 cup leftover ham chopped
- 1/4 small sweet onion sliced
- 7 black olives sliced in half long ways
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- 1/2 cup Italian cheese blend shredded
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If you are using a pizza stone place it in the oven while the oven is warming. If you are using a pizza pan grease it while you wait for your oven to preheat.
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On a lightly floured surface roll out your dough to whatever shape you desire. Using a fork poke holes in the dough all around the pizza. (This will prevent big air bubbles)
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Once the oven is preheated place crust in pizza and precook for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and spread sauce all over the crust, sprinkle with 3/4 of the cheese, place the ham, olives, and onions on top of the cheese, and then sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese.
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Place the pizza back in the oven for an additional 15-25 minutes depending on how you want your crust. 15 equals soft doughy crust, 25 minutes crispy crust.
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Allow pizza to cool slightly. Slice and Enjoy!!
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Leah Ashley recently posted…Ham Onion Pepper and Cheese Loaded Potato Cakes: The Ultimate Way to Use Up Your Leftovers