Football Weekend Pizza!

I'm not sure if we've done double pizzas before, but it's football playoff time and this is a great crowd pleaser for little money... and it's the crust that makes it so perfect.  I have two of these monster-sized pizza pans.... The holes allow the crust to cook evenly and "dry" the way you expect pizza crust to be.

I lightly rub the pans with olive oil then sprinkle corn meal over the corn meal... gives the crust a nice, store-bought old-fashioned texture!

So the crust... well we've tried everything under the sun over the years and in a "DUH" moment, I used my favorite chewy bread recipe and it's the best... Just absolutely the best....

It's from Betty Crocker and I use the recipe exactly as the cookbook presented it, which is a rarity for me... but this recipe is perfect.

Mix together in large bowl:
3/4 Cup warm water
2 Tablespoons Yeast (or two packets)

Mix together... Let sit for a minute or two...

Add:

2 2/3 Cups warm water (about 110 to 115 degrees)
1 Tablespoon salt
1/4 Cup sugar
3 Tablespoons Crisco
5 Cups Flour (I use bread flour, higher gluten content, I love bread flour!!!!)

Mix all of this on medium speed on big mixer or with hand mixer for a couple of minutes until well-blended and smooth.

Add three more cups of flour.

Blend with dough hook until smooth and elastic and dough cleans sides of bowl.

If dough is sticky, add a little more flour and blend with dough hook.

Take dough out of bowl. Grease bowl. Put dough back in bowl. Flip dough so that all the dough is "greased" to prevent drying out. Cover loosely with towel and set aside to rise....

When dough has doubled in size, punch it down (stress reliever!!!) divide dough in half and press each half out onto pizza round.

We press it out gently, teasing it to about one inch in from the edge....

Use fork to prick surface of dough thoroughly to prevent over-rising. Rub surface of dough with olive oil (or use a brush, that's okay, too!!!)

Sprinkle surface with salt, Parmesan cheese and granulated garlic or garlic powder. (Our kids won't eat roasted garlic chunks...)

Bake for about ten minutes. Remove from oven.

See how the crust has risen some, but not too crazy... and the oil and seasoning and Parmesan protect the surface from drying out for the pre-bake. Boboli does this... other producers do, too. It gives you a solid crust base for folks who love thick-crusted pizza and I love thick crusts! 

FOR RED SAUCE PIZZA:

Drizzle sauce over crust of one pizza. We use a bottled marinara sauce from Pellicano's, their Roasted Garlic Marinara....

Then cover with shredded mozzarella. Add any toppings you'd like. Italian sausage, pepperoni, peppers, onions, etc... 

Bake at 400 degrees until crust is firm but not browning... Let cool slightly before cutting.

FOR WHITE PIZZA:

Follow the same directions up to baking crust with Parmesan, garlic and salt.... Remove crust after ten minutes of baking, add more Parmesan and cover with Shredded mozzarella. Finish baking until crust edge is dry to touch and cheese is melted.

The pre-baking (with that olive oil coating) is what gives this pizza its distinctive texture and taste, that 'chewability' that comes from great pizza shops.... unless they're silly New York Pizza with that cardboard thin burnt crust.

I WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND HOW ANYONE LIKES THAT....

But we all differ!!!!

And here's some fun with a pup.... a very big pup: Morgan has decided that Jeter is her "spirit animal".... :)

They've become great buddies and how fun is that???? A girl and her dog. And then, check out this sunrise... This is Eastern Woodlands up here. Simply put, if you don't mow it or plant it... you get a forest. Isn't that cool???

The snow just kept coming!!!!!

I love this shot of Christina, helping with the donkeys.... Isn't it beautiful? Just like her!

This week things moderated and we got some melt-off, a real "January thaw"... but this weekend we're going to get hit again, with 1 to 2 feet of snow on Saturday... so I'll be shopping by Friday morning so no one has to venture out on Saturday!

Home. Snug. Football. Kids. Pizza.

Now that's a great family recipe! And crazy affordable!

Multi-published, bestselling author Ruthy Logan Herne is living her dream of writing beautiful stories of faith, hope and love as she burrows into her old farmhouse in Western New York... where the cookie jars are always full and the wood stove burns bright....

But when it's -20 Wind chill, the wood stove isn't quite enough! Then we're mighty glad to layer up, just like those pioneers who settled the American West.

You can find Ruthy on facebook and twitter (Ruth Logan Herne) or stop by her website ruthloganherne.com.

She'd love to see you!