Cooking . . . It's a Family Thing!

Richard is cooking chicken on the grill tonight for tomorrow's lunch! Tonight, however, I decided on pizza. Not store bought, not delivery, but homemade pizza including the crust. This crust is so easy. I think you'll like it a lot! It comes straight out of my "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" cookbook. (Thank you Sheryl)

PIZZA CRUST

INGREDIENTS

1 t or 1/2 packet active dry yeast (1/2 packet = 1 t)
4 cups all-purpose flour (feel free to use all white or all whole wheat; I used 2
cups of white and 2 cups of whole wheat
1 t kosher salt (now I have Kosher salt but if you don't I think regular salt
will work just fine
1/3 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) plus more for drizzling

1. Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water.
2. Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer)
3. With an electric mixer on low speed, drizzle in the olive oil until just
incorporated.
4. Gentle stir the yeast/water mixture. . .
5. And drizzle it into the flour/oil mixture; mix until the dough forms a ball
(You can also mix by hand until the dough comes together)
6. Drizzle a little olive oil into a large clean bowl. Toss the ball of dough
in the bowl and turn over to coat in oil.
7. Cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and set in a warm place for 1 to 2
hours. At this point you can cover bowl with plastic wrap and store in fridge
for up to 2 days. I turned my oven to 200, let it preheat, turned it off and
set my bowl of dough in the oven. Also, I let mine set for only about an hour.
I was in a hurry (Katie had a date)
8. To prepare the pizza, preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
9. Divide the dough in half. Lightly drizzle olive oil on a pizza pan or rimmed
baking sheet.
10. Using your hands, stretch the dough to the desired shape, pressing the dough
into the pan with your fingers. The thinner the better. Some holes came in mine
but I just worked the dough around to close up any holes. The surface of the
dough should be lumpy from finger marks. It will hold your toppings better!
11. Now just add whatever toppings you want. Tonight I used Marinara Sauce, Monterey
Jack & Cheddar cheeses, caramelized onions that I made last week from recipe in
Wilson Times (they are so good, let me know if you want that recipe), a piece of
leftover meatloaf that I crumbled up, a few sliced, black olives that I found in
fridge, some basil pesto I had and a couple of garlic cloves that i sliced up.
12. Bake the pizza for 8 to 10 minutes (I had to bake mine longer to get the crust
as crispy and brown as I like it). If you're using all white flour just bake till
the edges of the crust are golden brown. It's harder to tell if you use whole
wheat flour as it's already a little brown.

The other half of the dough may be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 3 days before use, or frozen for up to 6 months. I wrapped mine in 2 layers of plastic wrap and then stored in a zip lock freezer bag. The next time I want pizza I'll just take out of the freezer, let it thaw. It's very easy and very good. The basil pesto really gave it a fresh taste. Remember, when you make your own, you know everything that's in it, where it's been prepared and whose hands have been involved!!! I hope you enjoy.