Back to THE ART AND SOUL OF BAKING: PIZZA!

My, my--how did the Grand Baby get in here?

I haven't forgotten that I'm supposed to be baking my way through Sur la Table's book, THE ART AND SOUL OF BAKING.  It's just taken me some time to get around to the next dish because it's pizza!

This was really a simple recipe to make--the dough took an hour to rise, but it was no trouble to mix it up in the stand mixer and let it sit.  I let it rise in an oiled bread bucket, and it grew from one inch to four inches, so it was a lively loaf. :-)

I divided the dough and froze half for another day.  My friend Christal came over to help me bake, and half the dough was more than enough for two.

The pizza recipe. 

We had a good time trying to spin the dough around to get it nice and thin--we're not spinners, but we managed to get it spread out in the peel.  Then we spread it with pizza sauce (from a jar), turkey pepperoni, pineapple, and some shredded cheeses.  Then we slid it into the oven (takes practice to master the art of sliding a pizza from a peel onto a baking stone), and let it bake for about 16 minutes, or until it was nice and brown.

Kneading is done with a mixer. 

Semolina on a baking stone. Don't spread it too early. 

Note:  one thing I'd do differently.  You have to spread semolina flour on the baking stone so the pizza won't stick to it, and the book suggested that we preheat the oven to 500 an HOUR before baking.  So I did both--trouble was, the semolina on the  preheated baking stone burned, filling my house with the aroma of burning . . . something.  I was able to put on a pot hit and brush the brunt semolina off the hot stone, but still . . . next time, I'll sprinkle the stone with semolina right before we slide the pizza on.

Verdict?  Delicious and easy.  Definitely worth a repeat.  :-)

The pizza, she's a-baking. 

Christal displays our finished product. :-) 

~~Angie