2 Pizzas

I can't believe I haven't mentioned pizzas on here yet! I have my go-to favorite pizza, and now what may become my new favorite pizza. Pizzas are great because, like crepes, you have so many options and so much variety with them. You can have the standard pizzas with cheese, tomato sauce, and pepperoni or olives, etc, or you can add on more veggies, you can top it with a fried egg, you can ditch the red sauce, and you can make it completely your own. For someone who is not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes (don't get me wrong, I definitely like traditional pizza), this is an awesome option.

When I was little I was given a book called Fanny at Chez Panisse by Alice Waters. It's both a kids book and a cook book, and I still completely love it. I've used this pizza dough recipe from the beginning and it's the easiest, most fool-proof recipe I've found.

Dough (from Fanny at Chez Panisse)
-3/4 c warm water
-1 tblspn milk
-2 tsps dry active yeast
-2 c all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-extra flour and olive oil

-Measure the water and the milk into a big bowl. Add the yeast and stir with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour, salt, and olive oil. Mix until it's too thick and sticky to stir.
-Spread your workspace with a little of the extra flour and turn dough onto the table. Kneed until it's smooth and elastic (it usually only takes a few minutes).
-Clean and dry the bowl (or if you're lazy like me, get another large bowl), rub it with olive oil, place the dough inside and cover it with a towel.
-Let the dough rise about 1 1/2 hours and then punch it down. Let it rise again about another hour.
Heat the oven to 450 and bake for 15-20 min with whatever toppings you like.

Favorite Pizza #1 (more basic and cheaper)
-Caramelized onions: slice 2-3 yellow or white onions into thin slices, cook them in a little less than 1 tablspn of olive oil and a spoonful of sugar until they are a rich caramel color)
-Fresh sliced tomatoes (Roma are nice since they are fairly sturdy): I generally use about 2 1/2 Roma tomatoes but it just depends on the size of your crust, etc.
-Whatever cheese you like--I like a mix of mozzarella, some feta, and Monterey jack: it's really to taste, 1-2 c grated should do the trick. I generally slice or grate as I go so I don't waste any.
-Fresh basil and any other herbs you want: totally to taste.
-About a tblspn olive oil, salt, pepper, 2 cloves or garlic, crushed.

-Make pizza dough ahead of time and once it is done, flatten it out on a greased baking sheet (just spraying a baking sheet with Pam will do the trick)
-Preheat the oven to 450
-In a little bowl mix the tblspn olive oil, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and the crushed garlic and mix or whisk together. Spread this evenly on the crust, adding more olive oil as needed, leaving a border around the edges of about an inch.
-Spoon the caramelized onions on top of the olive oil mixture and spread around evenly--they should pretty completely cover the crust up to the border.
-Top with thinly sliced tomatoes--enough to cover the onions without overlapping.
-Add the cheese on top to mostly cover the tomatoes (gaps are OK).
-Finish with any herbs you like!
-Bake for 15-20 min, let cool, and devour.

Favorite Pizza # 2:
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/06/fresh-ricotta-and-red-onion-pizza/ )
-Basic dough recipe listed above
-2 red onions (thinly sliced and caramelized with 1 tblspn olive oil, 1 spoonful of brown sugar, and once cooked, finished up with 2 tblspns balsamic vinegar and 1 large pinch of crushed red pepper--also see recipe above)
-about 1 c ricotta (homemade if you're feeling fancy...I wasn't)
-2 1/2 thinly sliced Roma tomatoes
-Maybe 1 c fresh baby spinach, torn in half or so
-5 or so slices of prosciutto, chopped in quarters or so
-A sprinkling or dried (but ideally fresh) basil and oregano
-The olive oil/salt/pepper/garlic mixture mentioned above.

-Preheat the oven to 450.
-Make the dough ahead of time and once ready spread with the olive oil/garlic/etc mixture explained above.
-Cover the dough with the red onion marmalade.
-Top with the tomatoes.
-Spoon the cheese on top and do whatever you can think of to get it to spread out--I just used my (clean) fingers...also you can add some feta if you feel so inclined.
-Add the baby spinach on top of the cheese.
-Finish it off with the prosciutto.
-Sprinkle on the herbs.
-Cook for 15-20 min
-Let cool and enjoy.