Pizza Dough Delight

google image

Keith loves pizza. He loves it so much, he would love to eat it for every meal, and would never get tired of it. Unfortunately, that is not the truth for me. Especially when that pizza is Little Ceasar's, the equivalent of cardboard with cheese and pepperoni. Yuck!

Because of this massive difference in opinion, something had to be done.

Enter Adrienne!

She makes a mean... well, anything, really. She is a fabulous cook, and I love eating her food, which is nice, because she loves sharing it! She shared her pizza dough recipe with me, and it makes Keith so much happier than not having pizza at all, or having the cardboard imitation.

I haven't felt great in the past, but I am just starting to get my mojo back, so homemade pizza is on the docket for tonight. And this is Adrienne's recipe.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 3⁄4 c warm water

2 tsp sugar

1 Tbs active dry yeast

2 tsp garlic salt (or less)

Dash of oregano

Dash of basil

4 1⁄2 ­ 5 cups flour

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for bowl (I use butter)

Cornmeal, for pan (optional)

Directions

Measure out 1 3⁄4 cups warm water (it should be pleasantly warm on your wrist). Sprinkle the yeast

on top of the water and allow it to activate, about 10 minutes.

Add salt, spices, and oil to the yeast mixture. Mix in flour one cup at a time, beating and scraping

the sides of the bowl until well blended. When it’s too hard to mix the dough with a spoon, dump it

out onto a well­-floured board and knead it until the dough is smooth and elastic. It should be soft,

but not sticky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat all sides. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel.

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until doubled in size; then punch it

down. Divide it in half; each half will make 1 (12 ­inch) pizza.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place on a cornmeal-­dusted pizza stone, pizza pan, or cookie sheet. Roll up edge slightly to create

a ridge around the pizza. Top as desired and bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until crust is light

brown.

Cook's Note: If using only half dough, freeze the other half. Place the dough in a Ziploc freezer

bag. To thaw, remove the bag from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Roll the

dough out while cold then allow it to come to room temperature before adding toppings.

Irish Pub Potatoes

My mouth died and went to heaven today.

It happened in the form of potatoes. I call them Irish Pub Potatoes. I found a recipe and adapted it, and it just makes my mouth so happy! I can't wait to make these again. They remind me of something I would have gotten on one of my late night college Denny's runs, except less grease and so much more flavor! I cannot sing their praises enough. Although now I am probably setting expectations too high, but I don't care. So yum!

What you need:

3 large potatoes
olive oil
rosemary
thyme
any other spices you so desire
salt
pepper
cheese
guacamole
1 green onion
bacon
sour cream

What you do

Wash and dry the potato. Slice it into 1/4 inch slices, or however thick you like them. Put into a bag with olive oil and spices. Shake until the potatoes are all coated evenly. Spread on a cookie sheet and place under a broiler until golden and crisp. Flip and repeat. When they are done, pull them out and use the plop and spread method to evenly pile them in a pie tin. Toss a handful of cheese in with it, I lifted up some of the potatoes so the cheese would be all throughout rather than just on top. Put the tin of potatoes back in the oven until the cheese has melted. Plop a couple of spoonfuls of guacamole in the middle of the potatoes. Add a dolop or two of sour cream to the center of the guacamole, sprinkle on some thinly chopped green onions, and sprinkle with crisp bacon crumbs.

Devour while hot.

I made this twice tonight, and the second time I used the bacon grease instead of the olive oil to coat the potatoes. Jeffrey liked it a lot better with the bacon grease, but he will always favor bacon flavor over healthy olive oil, so what can you do? It is great both ways, I think.

Obviously this isn't a science, and I don't have it down to exactness yet. I doubt I ever will. It is more of a "do what your mood dictates" sort of food. But that is part of what makes it so lovely, the versatility.

Enjoy!