Recipe of the Week

This week's Recipe is my personal favourite: Pizza! Now I realize that many people would much rather order in, and that many others already have their own recipe for pizza dough, but let me tell you first that take-out pizza doesn't hold a candle to homemade pizza, and secondly, that this dough recipe is absolutely fabulous! So I encourage everyone to give it a try, pizza newbie or no...

Moosewood Pizza Dough
courtesy of The New Moosewood Cookbook

1 c. wrist-temperature water
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 T. honey or sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 to 3 c. flour
olive oil

Place water in a medium sized bowl and sprinkle in the yeast and honey. Stir until everything dissolves. Stir in salt and flour, when it gets too thick to stir, mix with your hands. Knead in bowl 5 minutes. Brush excess flour out of the bowl and wipe lightly with olive oil. Oil the dough and place in a warm area covered with a damp towel to rise until doubled in bulk. Preheat oven to 450F and after assembling bake about 20 minutes or until dough begins to brown.

Now I haven't made any recommendations as to what to top your pizzas with, because I know that everyone has their own preferences. However I've just got to put out there that chevre (soft goat's cheese) is my absolute favourite pizza topping and I would never dream of going without it... nudge nudge.

Lastly, a couple of insights from a lady who's baked many a pizza: this recipe also works wonderfully for calzones, don't use too many toppings (keep it simple!) or too much topping (sprinkle sparingly!), and I find that a pizza stone works wonders to reduce the cooking time. Enjoy!!