FRIDAY NIGHT PIZZA AND FUN

Hey there Harmons, how are ya'll? I have had Fridays as "pizza night" for some time and really like the routine. I recently read that Barbara Kingsolver has a Friday night pizza night too, along with a movie. So I now am inaugurating a Friday family pizza and fun night (movie or games).

Here is my favorite pizza recipe:

pizza crust (Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven) I always double this so I can have pizza left-overs the next day for lunch!

1 c wrist-temp water
1 pkg (2 tsp) active dry yeast
pinch sugar
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP olive oil
3 c unbleached white flour (1/4 c may be whole wheat or rye)
extra flour for kneading

Place water in medium-large bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and sugar, and stir to dissolve. Let stand 5 minutes, or until mixture begins to bubble.

Stir in 1 c flour, the salt, and 1 TBSP olive oil. Beat for several minutes with a wooden spoon.

Add remaining flour 1/2 c at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be soft, but should not be stickky. (Don't add too much flour!)

Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead for several minutes. Place in oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap (or plastic shower cap from hotels) and let dough rise until doubled in bulk. This will take about 1 hour.

Punch down dough, and return to floured surface. divide into six equal parts (or less for bigger pizzas), knead each piece for a few minutes, then let the balls of dough rest for about 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500F. Patiently stretch each ball of dough into a 6 inch circle (or larger for larger pizzas. Can roll out with rolling pin--crusts should be thin--1/4 inch thick or less. Finish by stretching with your hands after rolling with pin). Can bake on pizza stone or oiled pan with sauce and toppings. Bake for around 9 minutes or so, until edges are crispy and brown.

Favorite sauce recipes:

Simple Pizza Sauce (Pizza Any Way You Slice It--Chs. and Michele Scicolone)
1 can (28 oz) peeled tomatoes, with their juice
4 TBSP olive oil
Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and let simmer 20 to 30 minutes. Tomatoes should fall apart. I usually saute chopped garlic in the oil until very light gold (burned garlic ruins the oil too--can't just fish it out and start over). I blend the tomatoes before adding to the oil since the kids don't like chunks.

The Pizza Maker's Sauce (same book and authors as above)
2 large garlic cloves, finely choopped
pinch of crushed red pepper
3 TBSP olive oil
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano

Sautee garlic, red pepper, and oregano in oil until light gold. Add tomatoes. Simmer 20-30 minutes and taste for salt.

Simple Sauce from chef Nando in Siena 2008
Take a huge can of peeled tomatoes (no seasonings) and blend in the can with immersion blender. Spoon onto pizza crust and add liberal amounts of olive oil on top of this. Sprinkle on some salt if your toppings aren't very salty.

Topping ideas:
mozzerella, fresh mushroom, olive, sliced potato (boiled for 5 minutes and drained). Sprinkling hot pizza with dried red pepper flakes and dried oregano is good too. One of our favorites is to bake crust with mozzerella cheese only (no sauce)! Pull out of the oven and grate a bit of fresh parmesan reggiano on top. Then pile a bunch of fresh arugula on top and sprinkle with olive oil, salt, and fresh-cracked pepper. This is Sam's favorite pizza from Italy.

Here is an amazing topping I love--it is so worth the work! Not much work, really:

Topping 2 from the New Vegetarian Cookbook by Nadine Abensur (Crank's of London)
1/2 c canned artichoke hearts
1/2 c olive oil (less)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
dash of Tabasco
1 lb baby spinach
pinch nutmeg
2 medium red onions
1 1/2 c feta cheese
tomato sauce
1/3 c undried tomatoes in oil
1 heaping TBSP pine nuts (I use walnuts and more than 1 TBSP)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain artichoke hearts and marinate them in most of the olive oil for an hour or so, adding a little of the crushed garlic and a dash of Tabasco (I add Tabasco to artichoke oil/liquid). Set aside. Meanwhile, sweat the spinach in 1 TBSP olive oil, with the nutmeg, remaining garlic, a pinch of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper for 1 minute. Set aside. Cut each red onion into 6 or more wedges. Break the feta into rough pieces. Brush crusts with tomato sauce. Heap on the prepared vegetables and sundried tomatoes in a generous pile, hiding most of the spinach under the artichokes and red onion. Sprinkle with the feta and nuts. Trickle a little olive oil on top. Bake for 15 minutes or so at 400 F (until edges are golden and crisp) or at 500 F for 8 minutes or so.

*note about pizza stones--they are awesome but it is very difficult to get a heavy, wet pizza like the above from the peel to the stone. Either use tons of flour or cornmeal on the peel, or bake pizza on an oiled pan, which also gives excellent results.