Pizza Night

Last weekend, little miss requested that we have a pizza party. When I asked her which night she would like to have this party, she said Friday. Well okay then! Today was pizza day! Homemade pizza is a party, even if the guest list is limited to... well... immediate family.

I have a standard, go-to pizza crust recipe, but decided to try a new one tonight. The ingredient list was identical, but the proportions and method of preparation were slightly different. I figured it was worth a shot.

My little helper's favorite part of any yeast-dough recipe is always the "punching down the dough" step. Any dough I make, I am asked if it is a "punching down the dough" dough. Lucky for her, this one was! Hands washed, sleeves rolled up, she was all ready for that part. Made the hour and a half wait for the dough to rise much more bearable.

This dough really did behave differently from my normal pizza dough, and I began to wonder whether I had made a mistake in my recipe selection. It was a little tougher to roll/shape, and I got a little confused at the way a couple of things in the recipe were written... But when the pizza came out of the oven, I was a little more confident - it looked and smelled great. The clincher was the taste. I don't know how the same ingredients can come together in a similar way and yet have a different taste, but that is what happened, and this crust definitely tasted good. Better than my usual one. In some intangible way. So if you are looking for a relatively simple, yet tasty, pizza dough recipe, take a peek here*.

*Note: the recipe calls for a food processor. I don't have one, therefore didn't use one. I mixed the flour, yeast and salt with a wooden spoon in the bowl of my mixer, than used the mixer with the dough hook attachment to handle the rest of the mixing and the kneading. I was also a bit confused (I guess I confuse easily) when step four of the recipe indicated that the dough could be used for two crusts, even though at the top it stated that this recipe makes dough for one 16" pizza... The top is correct - this was a good amount of dough for one pizza.