Pizza Perfected

We've been making pizza quite a bit now since my first post on pizza, so it's time to give the latest and greatest! (I hesitate to say the perfected recipe, because it is far from that, but it's pretty darn good!)

I'm-Starving Pizza Dough

I used get my pizza dough from Trader Joes or Publix, but not tonight. Frances and her friend decided to open a restaurant, which I downgraded to a bake sale, so they spent the afternoon in the kitchen making purple sugar cookies (which now look grey) decorated with all colored sprinkles. (I pretty much left them to themselves.) So, it's now dinner time and we have nothing in the house except . . . mozzarella cheese and spaghetti sauce. So, pizza it is! How can I do that in a jiffy? No-rise pizza dough. We'll let you know how it turns out. I'm too hungry to take pictures.

1 1/4 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp rapid rise yeast
a pinch of salt
1 cup hot water from the tap
1/8 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cup additional bread flour

Put flour, yeast, salt, and hot water in a large bowl and mix using an electric hand mixer for 3 or 4 minutes. Add 1 1/4 additional bread flour and mix by had until mostly incorporated. Turn onto the counter and knead until all the flour is incorporated (adding a bit more if needed).

Let it rest under a damp dish towel while the oven preheats the pizza stone to 500°.

Roll your dough, dress your dough, and stuff it in the oven!

(The verdict: it was a little bit chewy and not salty enough for me, but the toppings made up for it - Paul Newman's marinara & freshly shredded whole milk mozzarella. In a pinch, it'll do!)

UPDATE: Here's the kind of post I was looking for. I'm trying this next.

What's for dinner?

I've been having the hardest time lately coming up with meals. Not because I can't think of something fun to eat, but because I don't have time right now ('cause I'm too busy blogging!). I've been working during the day, and once the girls get home from school, everyone is having too much fun to want to get in the car and go to the grocery. I can't blame them because it's been gorgeous out and we all have a little spring fever. Here are a couple of my go-to meals when there's nothing in the house.

Homemade Pizza

You gotta love Trader Joe's! My friend, Lauren, from book club introduced me to their awesome pizza dough. It's $1 and it's in the refrigerated section (over by the cheeses and fruit). They also have marinara sauce for maybe $1.29 or so that does great as pizza sauce.