Happy Pi day!  Okay, so maybe this isn’t the kind of “pi” people are expecting but here at CPM, we LOVE our pies/pis. And, I could seriously eat 3.14 of these a week.

This pizza sports some of my absolute favorite flavors, combined in one of my favorite dishes – Pi.  And this Pi hits the spot!  Serve as an appetizer or a main dish.  I actually had to deliver some to a neighbor because I couldn’t believe my own taste buds.

Shrimp Scampi Bruschetta Pizza

12 shrimp (31-40 size), peeled, deveined and rinsed
½ stick (4 tablespoons) butter
pinch of salt
splash of white wine
2 diced tomatoes
½ cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons freshly minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
pizza dough (recipe follows, or store bought if you like – Boboli or even French bread would be good in this application too)

Prepare pizza dough.

Place pizza stone, griddle or sheet pan on lowest rack of oven.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Preheat sauté pan to medium-high heat.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter and cook 1 tablespoon garlic and shrimp for a couple of minutes (just until shrimp are turning pink).  Pour splash of wine and pinch of salt in the pan, stir to coat and cook one minute more.  Remove from heat.  At this point, all shrimp should have turned pink.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl stir together basil, tomato, garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Melt remaining two tablespoons butter.

Roll/toss pizza dough out to desired size/thickness.  Sprinkle pizza peel or other pan or dinner plate with cornmeal.  Place dough on top of cornmeal (cornmeal will act as ball bearings between the pan and the dough).  Brush dough round with melted butter.  Sprinkle on fresh Parmesan cheese, reserving a little pizza garnish.

Slide dough from peel/pan/plate onto preheated pan.  Cook for around 8 minutes or until dough round looks done – sides will puff up and underneath will be brown.

Remove from oven, top with sautéed shrimp, tomato/basil mixture and garnish with remaining Parmesan cheese.  Inhale.

Eat Well!

~Trish

Neapolitan Style Pizza Dough

1/2 cup (3 oz.) gluten (“00”) flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon yeast
2 ¾ cup (15 oz) all purpose flour
1 3/4 cup water

Using a paddle attachment on stand mixer at low speed, combine gluten flour, salt, yeast, water and 1 ¼ cup (6.5 ounces) flour until thoroughly combined (2-3 minutes). Mixture will look lumpy. Let mixture rest about 10 minutes.

Switch to dough hook and knead in remaining 1 1/2 cup (8.5 oz) all purpose flour. Let knead on low speed 6-10 minutes or until dough comes together and starts creeping up the dough hook.

The dough will be sticky. Tuck and roll into a ball and place into the bowl. Cover bowl with a towel and let rest and rise in a warm place for around one hour. If not using the dough right away, place into a Ziploc bag and store in the refrigerator. (This dough is actually better after a day or so in the refrigerator.) Dough keeps well in fridge or freezer indefinitely. Make sure to proof your dough until room temperature before using.