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Pizza

rprovanc@osf1.gmu.edu
Sun, 18 Jan 1998 21:15:35 -0800
v098.n007.5
Hello, all!

I have had Internet problems, but am now catching up with my e-mail,
including lots of back BBD's!

Two people wrote in to ask about making pizza at home.  I do that every
week for the family, and it is my favorite way to entertain.  The dough
and sauce recipes I use came from a Fleishman's yeast ad I cut out of a
magazine years ago.  They are available from their web site at:

http://www.breadworld.com/recipes/traditional/pizza.phtml?id=149

I usually make the whole wheat pizza dough variation.  I find that I use
more dough than they suggest, that is, what they say makes 2 pizzas, I
use to make a little one for my son and a big one for the big people. 
It makes one pizza just fine.  

The ad I read also had a simple pizza sauce recipe:

1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tsp herbs such as basil, oregano, or Italian herb blend

Mix thoroughly.  This is enough for two large pizzas.  I freeze what I
don't use one week to use the next week.  I add lots of herbs, and fresh
herbs are great!

About using the peel and the pizza stone:

I make my pizzas right on the peel.  Before you put the dough on the
peel, "lubricate" it with a generous amount of cornmeal or
Cream-of-Wheat.  This acts like little ball-bearings and helps the pizza
slide off onto the hot stone.  Which brings up an important point:  the
stone must be pre-heated.  According to the directions I got with my
baking stone, turn the oven to the hottest setting for at least 20
minutes.  Slide the pizza directly onto the hot stone, and turn the oven
down to about 450 degrees F.  Bake about 15 minutes, but take out when
it is done to your liking, no matter what the timer says!  The
Fleishman's recipe calls for using oiled pizza pans.  That's ok if you
don't have a stone, but not necessary if you do have one.  Another tip I
can share:  If you are baking a bunch of pizzas, turn off your smoke
detector.  The cornmeal left on the stone and in the oven will smoke.  I
shocked some guests one time when I asked my husband to remove the
battery from the smoke detector before I started cooking!  Just be sure
to put it back  when you are done!

Cleaning the stone:  You are right, Gael, don't use soap.  Actually, all
I do is scrape it off with my dough blade.  I don't wash it or anything,
and it has lots of little black marks on it, some are cheese-shaped! 
The instructions that came with my stone say to run it through your
oven's self-cleaning cycle to burn that stuff off.  Check your
instructions.  I have quit worrying about it!

Enjoy your pizza!

Keep Baking!

Ruth