Friday, October 19, 2012

HOME EC PIZZA

by Sheila Connolly


Ah, Home Ec.  Remember that?  I took it (I had no choice) in eighth grade, resenting the fact that the guys got to take Shop instead and learn about cars.  I was already a pretty fair plain cook in eighth grade, but I never learned a lot of the essential stuff about cars.

Funny thing—my daughter also took Home Ec in eighth grade, but she got to take Shop too, and learned how to run a table saw and to spot weld. And there were some significant changes in her cooking segment since my day.  For a start, the teacher had a Ph.D. and insisted that everyone call her "Doctor".  But I'll admit that what she taught included a lot more about food science and how cooking actually works than my long-ago class did.
 
My daughter kept and used many of the recipes they made in that class, although I am currently their custodian.  I thought I'd share her recipe for pizza dough, not because it's unusual, but because the comments she added crack me up (I'll add those in red).
 
The original version, complete with grease stains
 

Here's the basic recipe:

1 package active dry yeast = fungus


2/3 cup warm water

1 cup flour

½ tsp salt

1 Tblsp oil

 
More flour if needed [my note:  it may take a lot]


At this point my daughter added "medical examination"


2/3 cup pizza sauce (of your choice)

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

 
Dissolve the years in the warm water.  In a large bowl, beat in the dissolved yeast into the flour, salt and oil until smooth.  Elbow grease


kneaded dough
Turn out the dough and knead until smooth and elastic, about five minutes. [Keep adding flour until it's no longer sticky.]

 

Form the kneaded dough into a ball and oil the surface lightly.  Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. [In the class, this was accomplished in one session; then the dough was bagged and stored until the next day.]

dough after rising
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Roll and stretch the dough into a 14-inch circle.  Place on a lightly greased pan [some people add a sprinkling of cornmeal as well].  Bake for ten minutes. (After cooling, this can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.)

When you're ready to make your pizza, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Lightly oil the pizza crust.  Spread 2/3 cup of pizza sauce over the top, [assuming you want a red pizza; if not, go straight to the cheese].  Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce.

Dough rolled out
 
At this point you can add seasonings of your choice, such as garlic, pepper and herbs like basil yum yum.  Note that so far this is vegetarian, but you're free to add sausage, bacon, pepperoni…whatever you like. And you can vary the cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes and serve hot.

Eighth grade Home Ec pizza!
 
Side note from my daughter:  fungus + people need these:  water, oxygen, heat, food

One more comment on the flip side:  In response to the question, Why is the dough needed?, my daughter answered, "the other stuff would burn without it."
 
Smart kid, right?  And she's a pretty good cook now.
 
 
 

5 comments:

  1. I wondered: do we need to cool the crust before adding toppings, if we want to make it and eat it right then?

    Thanks for this recipe; I've been looking for a good and easy pizza crust! Have tried several, but everyone complains they taste "too much like bread."

    LynneW

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is so cute! Does Julia know that you posted this? Love the note about medical examination -- what was that about? Eating fungus? LOL! My best to the very beautiful all grown up Julia.

    ~ Krista

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this! This looks delicious!

    I work with AllFreeCasseroleRecipes and I have been trying to contact someone from Mystery Lovers Kitchen to get permission to link to your site. If someone could please shoot me an email I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

    Adam Kaplan
    akaplan@primecp.com

    ReplyDelete