Pizza!

Living out here in the country, we don't get pizza delivery and since the bridge over the interstate is being rebuilt after a big accident on March 15th, it is an extra 10 miles to get to town! However, a girl still needs pizza and beer on Friday night occasionally! I realize this is a pretty boring pizza recipe to be posting in Blogger-Land but if it just inspires you to make your own that is good! The dough recipe is from the "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook" and makes two 14-inch thin crust pizzas or one deep-dish crust.

1 cup water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour (I replaced one cup of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour because I was out of all-purpose and I liked it even better.)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Prepare dough for crust in the bread machine according to the maufacturer's instructions using the dough cycle. Divide into two pieces. Wrap one piece and freeze for later use.


Preheat the oven to 425 degrees with a pizza stone on the center rack for at least 20 to 30 minutes. I LOVE my pizza stone, it makes the crust so much crisper!

Roll dough into a 14-inch circle. If I had a pizza peel, I would dust it liberally with cornmeal and roll the dough out on that but I don't so I use parchment paper.

Add some sauce. I just use tomato sauce with a little dried oregano, dried basil and garlic powder added in.

Top with some shredded cheese. I used cheddar and goat cheese this time because I'm trying to use up the goat cheese! LOL!!

Next, add your meat. We like pepperoni and spicy sausage. :)

Now, pile on lots of veggies! I used red, yellow and green bell pepper and green onions.





Carefully slide the pizza off the pizza peel directly onto the pizza stone and bake for 12 to 15 minutes (5 to 8 minutes longer for a thick crust) until the underside of the crust is brown and crisp. Check the underside of the crust by lifting with a metal spatula to be sure it is browned enough. Since I use parchment paper, I just pick the whole thing up and place it directly onto the pizza stone. Pizza Hut's got nothin' on us!! But wait, our little town is too small even for Pizza Hut!! :)