Trader Joe's has been making and selling fresh pizza dough for some time and we've been buying it for some time - mostly for making grill bread during barbecues. But sometimes I stretch the boundaries of reason and actually make pizza with it. Despite a small mishap this morning I managed to make some very nice salami, artichoke and olive pizzas for the girls.

Minimalist pizzas

One discovery I have made is that with homemade pizzas less is more. So don't overdo the toppings since it is really about a few high quality toppings rather than lots of crap.

Get a bag of Trader Joe's pizza dough or make some yourself by making any plain simple pizza dough from a recipe book. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Smear a little olive oil on a baking sheet. divide your dough into approximate thirds. Coat your hands lightly with olive oil and knead and work the dough into a decent sized ovoid shape and lay it on the baking sheet. Decent sized means about five inches across. Repeat for the other pieces. Now put toppings on starting with sauce like toppings and ending with cheese. I tore up a single slice of salami and scattered it on top, then added four nice kalamata olives and two chunks of marinated artichoke heart cut into pieces. Then I scattered on some shredded mozarella - use the freshest you can get and a faint dusting of parmesan and a little sea salt and a pinch of italian herbs. Repeat for the other pizzas, varying to suit individual tastes if you know them or care. Bake for about twenty minutes, but after fifteen minutes start checking for doneness about every three minutes. Serve and eat hot.