Making Pizza and Making OUT

5 years ago on New Year's Eve 2011, the love of my life made me Pizza. It was one of our first dates. We went "shopping" for ingredients at his parents house. I met his dad, who was over the top excited to meet me. At 34 years old, and never married, Nate never brought girls around.. even in his 20s when it was acceptable to be single... so this was an exciting moment for his dad.

I was a little nervous that he might try to kiss me that night. We were supposed to go to a family party after pizza, but because the pizza took forever, and because there was a blizzard outside, we hung out at my apartment talking. At mid-night as we watched the fireworks from my living room window I thought, "I hope he doesn't try and kiss me, that would be so cliche". Luckily he didn't.

Around 3:00a.m. I finally drove him home. (no car + living at his parents + raiding parents pantry for pizza-date ingredients = SUPER ATTRACTIVE) Anyways... before he got out of the car he politely asked if he could kiss me... Nervously I said, "ok". Not because I was nervous about kissing him, but because I was afraid I would hurt him. I could tell he was good, and gentle, and playing for keeps. (Not like anyone I had EVER dated before.) ... and he kissed me in the way that you would expect from someone good and gentle and playing for keeps. As I drove away I thought, "hmmm. I liked that. I wouldn't mind kissing him again".

And... so I did... and we have been making pizza together, and making out on New Year's Eve ever since.

Here is the pizza dough, followed by the sauce recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast 

1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C) 

2 cups bread flour

2 tablespoons olive oil 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS: 1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. 2. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 3. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Ingredients Required

• 1 cup of warm water (105F) • 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour • 2 tablespoons of olive oil • 2 teaspoons of honey • 1 teaspoon of salt • 1 teaspoon of yeast

Step by Step Procedure

Put warm water (80 to 110°F) into a bowl. Add salt and honey and mix with a spoon. Add yeast, mix and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Gradually add flour and olive oil and start mixing.

When the mixture gets too heavy to mix, start kneading the dough with your hands.

4 Knead the dough until you have a smooth ball. If the dough cracks, it is too dry. Add water bit by bit until it forms a nice coherent ball. If your dough feels more like batter, it is too wet and you need to add flour bit by bit. If you need to add water or flour, do it by small amounts.

5 Coat the dough with olive oil, place it in a large bowl and . cover it with kitchen wrap or a grocery bag. Let the dough rise for about an hour at room temperature, then push it down again so it deflates. Let it sit for about another hour. If you want to use it the next day, put it in a refrigerator.

6 Put the dough on a lightly floured surface, put a bit of . flour on top and make it into the shape of a pie by stretching it out from the center outwards. Use a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/4" thick. 

Punch some holes in the dough with a fork to let the air escape while the pizza is in the oven

Put on your sauce of choice. Put on your favorite toppings.

Bake the pizza in you oven at 400 - 450° F for about 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is light brown.

Additional Information

• You get better results when you use a pizza baking stone. The pizza stone should be preheated to 450F for an hour prior to baking, and should be placed in the middle of the oven.

cheese for the boy

this is pesto w/ parm for me :)

My baby makes sauce - 

Zesty Old School Style Pizza Sauce 

Makes enough sauce to cover three medium, or two large pizzas.

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce (without sugar)

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon ground sweet smoked paprika

1 teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

Fresh cracked pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon white vinegar

Place all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir together.

Makes 1½ cups of pizza sauce.

Notes: Because this recipe is so quick to prepare, I keep extra cans of tomato sauce and tomato paste around for spur of the moment pizza nights.