It happened again

Nothing like a good prediction coming true. This pizza assembly line looks like it may become a weekly staple.

As far as I am concerned, you can put anything on a pizza and it will probably be tasty (just look at the picture and you will know I practice what I preach). The crust is what needs to be stable and consistent.

I know Jim Lahey's pizza dough is supposed to be miraculous, but I haven't tried it yet. This is especially tragic given the fact that I own his book. It's just that the dough recipe I have been using for about two years now has been treating me right, and it gives me great dough in just an hour's rising time. An hour! That means I can decide I want pizza on the drive home from work. This is a priceless luxury when it comes to homemade dough (and long work days).

That being said, I know I will try Jim Lahey's recipe soon, if only for comparison purposes. This recipes is a slow (12 to 18 hour, if memory serves) rise, so it involves advance planning--something I love in life but not in food. But the slow-rise pizza dough must be great because the slow-rise bread dough gives us this

and that is just a beautiful thing.

One-Hour Rise Pizza Dough

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 cup warm water 

First, mix your yeast into your warm water. I do this right in the measuring cup because I don't like to wash extra dishes if I can help it. To this you can add the sugar, since it will feed the yeast, but you can also add the sugar to the flour once it is measured. Either method is fine; it really won't change this forgiving dough. Measure your flour and salt (and sugar, if it's not already in the measuring cup) into a medium-sized bowl. When the yeast is ready you will notice that the top of the water in the measuring cup is a little foamy. Pour this mixture into the dry mixture and mix with your hands. Get messy! It's dough, man! It may take a little while to come together completely, but you can achieve this while kneading the dough. Dump the contents of the bowl out onto a clean surface and knead for about 8 minutes. This dough isn't very sensitive...meaning you can skimp on the time, if necessary, and you won't cause any harm. Place the ball of dough in a clean bowl slicked with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a safe place for an hour. This recipe makes enough dough for one sheet pan's worth of pizza.

A verbose explanation for something that is really very easy. (Easy enough that I am willing to make enough for 8 to 10 people every week!)

Supreme

Now that New Year's Day has come and gone and I'm crawling through the tail end of the painful first full work week of 2014, I am longing more than ever for those few delicious days off that I had during the 2013 holidays. Days that were completely devoid of work, both full-time and freelance varieties, yet were somehow filled to the brim (notably with all things I wanted to do).

I read books, mostly, and visited friends, and cooked food for a full house of people with no consideration other than what was in the fridge. I wore sweaters and yoga pants as a uniform and took more than one nap with a 65-pound dog as a personal heater. Supreme.

And what I want to do this afternoon, instead of sitting in a freezing cold office (and honestly, the draught at the windows is causing the blinds to sway in the breeze), is to be home, crowded around the kitchen island, the ovens hot and ready, making pizzas and devouring black eyed pea dip (a new must on New Year's Day).

This was our New Year's Day 2014 dinner, for want of something hands on and fun to do, avoiding tablecloths and fine china because we've had enough of it at Christmas! Get your hands dirty and your belly full on New Year's Day!!

Just wondering what this pizza kick off to 2014 will bring us (besides more pizza, which, quite honestly, I am okay with). 

To pizza! To wandering minds longing already for the weekend on a Friday afternoon!

And now, reluctantly, back to my desk.