Yet another (delicious) pizza recipe!

 Pizza is an all-time and everybody favorite in our house! I'm sure that must be true for most houses. DH and I are always looking for new pizza recipes to try. So when I saw this recipe for Crispy Cheese Pan Pizza I knew what we were going to make that weekend! This recipe does require you to plan-ahead; at least 24 hours in advance. The more the merrier!

We made two different pizzas from this recipe. I made 1.5 times the dough per the recipe and then used 1 part to make the pan pizza and the rest to make a regular pizza. While both were delicious, I liked the regular pizza more - look at that crust! Crispy on the outside and light and airy on the inside! The pan pizza was yummy too although I liked it as a bread.

The below recipe (quantity) is for making one pan pizza. Half of that quantity will give you one regular pizza.

Crust 

• 2 cups (240g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast or active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup (170g) lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon (13g) olive oil + 1 1/2 tablespoons (18g) olive oil for the pan

Topping

• 6 ounces (170g) mozzarella, grated (about 1 1/4 cups, loosely packed)*
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup (74g to 113g) tomato sauce or pizza sauce, (we use tomato puree of san Marzano tomatoes and add a little bit of Italian seasoning to it)
• freshly grated hard cheese and fresh herbs for sprinkling on top after baking, optional*

Method

1. Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess.  
2. Place the flour, salt, yeast, water, and 1 tablespoon (13g) of the olive oil in the bowl of a stand mixer or other medium-large mixing bowl.
   
3. Stir everything together to make a shaggy, sticky mass of dough with no dry patches of flour. This should take 30 to 45 seconds in a mixer using the beater paddle; or about 1 minute by hand, using a spoon or spatula. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to gather the dough into a rough ball; cover the bowl.
   
4. After 5 minutes, uncover the bowl and reach a bowl scraper or your wet hand down between the side of the bowl and the dough, as though you were going to lift the dough out. Instead of lifting, stretch the bottom of the dough up and over its top. Repeat three more times, turning the bowl 90° each time. This process of four stretches, which takes the place of kneading, is called a fold. 
   
5. Re-cover the bowl, and after 5 minutes do another fold. Wait 5 minutes and repeat; then another 5 minutes, and do a fourth and final fold. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest, undisturbed, for 40 minutes. Then refrigerate it for a minimum of 12 hours, or up to 72 hours. It'll rise slowly as it chills, developing flavor; this long rise will also add flexibility to your schedule.
6. About 3 hours before you want to serve your pizza, prepare your pan. 

For Pan Pizza

1. Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons (18g) olive oil into a well-seasoned cast iron skillet that’s 10” to 11” diameter across the top, and about 9” across the bottom. Heavy, dark cast iron will give you a superb crust; but if you don’t have it, use another oven-safe heavy-bottomed skillet of similar size, or a 10” round cake pan or 9” square pan. Tilt the pan to spread the oil across the bottom, and use your fingers or a paper towel to spread some oil up the edges, as well.  
2. Transfer the dough to the pan and turn it once to coat both sides with the oil. After coating the dough in oil, press the dough to the edges of the pan, dimpling it using the tips of your fingers in the process. The dough may start to resist and shrink back; that’s OK, just cover it and let it rest for about 15 minutes, then repeat the dimpling/pressing. At this point the dough should reach the edges of the pan; if it doesn’t, give it one more 15-minute rest before dimpling/pressing a third and final time. 
   
3. Cover the crust and let it rise for 2 hours at room temperature. The fully risen dough will look soft and pillowy and will jiggle when you gently shake the pan.
4. About 30 minutes before baking, place one rack at the bottom of the oven and one toward the top (about 4" to 5" from the top heating element). Preheat the oven to 450°F.
5. When you’re ready to bake the pizza, sprinkle about three-quarters of the mozzarella (a scant 1 cup) evenly over the crust. Cover the entire crust, no bare dough showing; this will yield caramelized edges. Dollop small spoonfuls of the sauce over the cheese; laying the cheese down first like this will prevent the sauce from seeping into the crust and making it soggy. Sprinkle on the remaining mozzarella.
   
6. Bake the pizza on the bottom rack of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and the bottom and edges of the crust are a rich golden brown (use a spatula to check the bottom). If the bottom is brown but the top still seems pale, transfer the pizza to the top rack and bake for 2 to 4 minutes longer. On the other hand, if the top seems fine but the bottom's not browned to your liking, leave the pizza on the bottom rack for another 2 to 4 minutes. Home ovens can vary a lot, so use the visual cues and your own preferences to gauge when you’ve achieved the perfect bake.
7. Remove the pizza from the oven and place the pan on a heatproof surface. Carefully run a table knife or spatula between the edge of the pizza and side of the pan to prevent the cheese from sticking as it cools. Let the pizza cool very briefly; as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, carefully transfer it from the pan to a cooling rack or cutting surface. This will prevent the crust from becoming soggy.
   
8. Serve the pizza anywhere from medium-hot to warm. Kitchen shears or a large pair of household scissors are both good tools for cutting this thick pizza into wedges.  

For Regular pizza

1. Oil a cast iron skillet. Using your hands press the dough to cover the skillet. Cover and let rise for 3 hours.
2. After the rise let's get the pizza ready for baking. For the regular pizza we did the opposite of what is suggested for the pan pizza. We spread the sauce first and then the cheese.
3. We didn't add too many veggies as the original recipe warned against using raw veggies as it might make the pizza soggy.
4. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
5. Once done, we did spread it generously with basil. It was just so yummy!

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine

 Author: Gail Honeyman

Loved reading this book! 

Eleanor will strike most as an odd woman. Everything in her life is calculated, scheduled and organized. She has never taken a day off from her work. She does not talk to anybody unless she needs to - which doesn't happen often. That means after she goes home from work on Fridays she spends close to 72 hours without having spoken to anybody. She has never eaten a pizza except from the supermarket. There is good reason behind all of this.

All that is about to change as she bumps across Raymond, the IT guy at work and at the same time has a crush on a local singer. The latter, while not very productive in itself, motivates her to go out of her comfort zone and also talk to Raymond on things not related to work. As she ventures into areas which she hasn't explored before - like getting a new hairstyle or using a personal shopping assistant to select an outfit that suits her the most - she discovers new things. She finds out that she too can get compliments. That it feels good to get compliments. That she too can be a source of information and people are coming to her to ask where she got her hair done. 

On the other hand without realizing she's fostering a friendship with Raymond. It all starts when they both save Sammy, an elderly gentleman. As their relationship develops, there are so many emotions that she experiences for the first time and it makes her realize what she was missing in her life.

Everything was going well when suddenly her world falls apart. But there is much to learn there as well.

At every step Eleanor's willingness to change and learn is so inspiring! The book is full of good humor. After the first few pages itself, you can figure out that the book is written by a British author. The language is so beautiful and expressive. A good break from the conversational English that abounds in books these days.