Product Recommendation: Mamma Cozzi's Ready to bake Pizza Dough

Oct 5

*Please note: I am no way sponsored or receive any compensation for writing this review or the products linked to this article. Everything I describe, I paid retail prices for. I do not represent Aldi or Pampered Chef*

Last summer my husband and I were invited to a neighborhood block party by some friends. We've been invited before and had a good time, so we decided to stop by before going to dinner.

Sitting with the group, my friend had made this loaf using pizza dough and people were raving about it. When she told them what she used, she mentioned the premade pizza dough at Aldi, specifically the stuff that 'comes in a bag.'

Hmmm...I shop at Aldi a lot and I don't ever remember seeing this item. So I make a mental note to look for it.

My experience with homemade pizza is not a positive one. My mom used to make it using some premade dough that was weird and chewy and I remember the flavors of whatever found its way onto the pizza to be less than desirable. I wouldn't go so far to say that I was comparing it to takeout (which was all we had close by), it just wasn't a very rewarding thing to be eating.

Fast forward to my adult years and when anyone says 'homemade pizza' I make other plans.

What Angela made that day wasn't pizza, but still I was curious to see how this Aldi dough might fare now that I have a little more experience in the kitchen.

Last weekend, my husband and I got back from vacation. Still buzzing from our New York Pizza and Philly cheesesteaks. We needed to do a grocery run and restock the fridge, so he joined me for a trip to our local Aldi.

We moved through the store with an outline of what we wanted, and then low and behold, I noticed the premade pizza dough Angela had mentioned months ago. Putting it in the cart, I wasn't sure what was going to be put on top of it, but we were going to give it a try.

Wednesday in our how is date night. I know in many circles the weekends are date night, but long ago Levi and I decided Wednesday was the night. I think it began when he was in school and on occasion it changes or shifts, but I imagine at this rate, we have been having date night for at least half of our 13years together.

I initially thought we might grill pizza. Something we both have been very tempted to do and Levi tried it on his own once. Needless to say, we dined out that evening.

My husband is a wonderful human, but 'winging it' in the kitchen doesn't usually end well.

I made the decision to keep the pizza simple. Especially since we were still longing for Angelo's on 57th. So I put my trusty Pampered Chef pizza stone in the oven and preheated it to 450F.

I lightly floured the surface of my counter and hands and removed the dough from the bag and it landed on the counter with a nice PLOP!

I started working the dough in my hands letting it get wider, trying to meet the size of the stone, when it got big enough I put some flour on the flat side of my very large cutting board and began to assemble the toppings.

Using what I had on hand:

canned tomato sauce
garlic (I used the jarred kind this time)
green pepper
mushrooms
shredded mozzarella cheese
fresh basil (added prior to serving)
Optional: red pepper

When the oven was ready, I tossed a little flour on the stone to make sure the dough didn't stick and then I carefully picked up the cutting board with the pizza on it and slid it onto the stone. The trick is to get the farthest edge of the pizza to land on the stone because it will stick initially with with heat.

It wasn't the most beautiful of attempts, but it was going to work for us. The package said the pizza would take 12-16minutes to cook, so I set the timer for 12 to start.