Pizza!

For Christmas, one of my girls bought me two pizza stones.  I've always made my pizzas on baking sheets, and it's worked fine, but I figured I'd give the pizza stones a try.  Of course, lacking a pizza peel (a lack which has since been remedied), I put the pizzas on cold stones, but they were still fine.  And they looked pretty fancy.  My dearly beloved was quite pleased to have pizza for his birthday last Friday - or as pleased as an adult man can be over being reminded that he's getting older!

So, just in case you need a great pizza crust recipe, Mr. James Beard to the rescue.

JAMES BEARD'S PIZZA CRUST

1-1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Pour the warm water (about 110F) into your mixing bowl or bread machine bowl; sprinkle the yeast over it, and add the remaining ingredients in the order given.  Run the bread machine through its first knead and rest cycle, or beat the flour in at the lowest speed with a stand mixer, and let the mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes (or follow the directions over there -----> for other methods of mixing dough).  Split the dough in half, roll out to fit your pizza stone or baking tray (which may take the whole batch, depending upon the size of the tray and how thick you want your crust), sprinkle the stone or tray with cornmeal and put the crust in place.  Top with sauce and whatever toppings you desire (I used mushrooms and ground beef with onions and garlic on one, and tomatoes with ground beef with onions and garlic on the other), liberally cheese the top of your pizza, sprinkle with some oregano, and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 400F.

And, remember, a birthday pie is a great way to end the day!

Happy Thursday, everyone!