Another successful cooking class

 

Conditions at 6:00 am: 2' and a clear, bright full moon in the sky
Expected later: 13' and a mix of sun and cloud

Well, another great class was held last night. We made pizza, with two types of dough from scratch, and they turned out great. We also tried some onion rings in the oven but they were pretty bland. I'll have to work on that one some more. But the pizza's turned out beautiful. We tried two types of crust - one with yeast and one without. They were both pretty easy to make and yielded a very good crust but the one with the yeast was by far the favorite. Being a recipe with yeast, it was surprisingly quick to make - no major rising time required.

We topped our pizza's with tomato based pizza sauce, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, cooked italian sausage meat and mozzarella cheese. We did a second one with basil pesto for the sauce and then topped it with marinated artichoke hearts, feta cheese, a little mozzarella and a sprinkle of parmesan. I really enjoyed that one but only because I eat pesto frequently and I'm not a bit fan of tomato based sauces. Some were a little reluctant to try it but in the end they decided it was okay as well.

All in all it was a great night and we were actually done a little earlier than usual. We were cleaned up, the stuff loaded in the car and driving out of the parking lot by 8:48.

Here's our favorite crust recipe:

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

INGREDIENTS:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast 1 teaspoon white sugar 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

2 1/2 cups bread flour 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2.	Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3.	Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.