I want Pizza, P.I.Z.Z.A.

This whole of the winter I have been satisfying my urges for pizza much more than I probably should. Mainly because I found this easy and amazing recipe for dough and I purchased a pizza stone at the end of last summer. I would say any lover of pizza should just go ahead and invest in a pizza stone. SO WORTH IT. You can easily get one for about 7 bucks, buy some flour and yeast and cheese and you have basically purchased one medium pizza from pizza hut, except that now you can make amazing pizza anytime. Such a good idea.

We decided to make it a pizza party night, especially since we're tapping into the fourth season of the wire (best). So we prepped a bunch of toppings including bacon, caramelized onions, red peppers, sauteed mushrooms, chevre, spinach, fresh tomatoes, BBQ sauce and some awesome pesto I made fresh last summer and froze. This was one of my mom's kitchen tricks that I only started using in my twenties. It's simply using ice-cube trays to store broth cubes or pesto cubes or fresh herbs. This summer I really went wild because we got so much basil from our CSA and my little balcony, so we've been enjoying fresh pesto well into the end of winter. 

I think the melange method is best. Basically all of it tastes delicious together, so let the creativity run amuck and choose your own adventure. Next time I think we're gonna try for some slightly more off the wall flavors (citrus? Sweet potato pizza?) but or tonight, I just wanted something to remind me of my TGIF nights as a kid when we baked pizza at home and watched the trinity of television shows: Sabrina the teenage witch, Family Matters and Full House. All Hail sitcoms of variable caliber.

Pizza Dough

3 cups AP flour

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 3/4 cup warm water

1 tsp salt

pinch of sugar

olive oil

place the yeast in a bowl with the warm water for 5 minutes. Add in the flour and salt and knead for some time with your hands, until the dough becomes transparent. Place the dough, which is now shaped into a ball, into a large bowl that has been well oiled. Let the dough rise for 3 hours with a damp cloth over the top. Every hour punch the dough down again. 

To bake on a pizza stone, set the oven to 500 deg F, let the pizza stone get hot in the oven as well. Assemble your pizza by taking the dough in both hands and letting gravity pull it into a longer shape as you work your way around the edges. Prep the pizza with whatever your heart desires on a floured surface, and when ready take the pizza stone out and transfer the whole pizza on. Bake for anywhere from 8-12 minutes. YUM.