I just finished giving a Fall pizza making class and it seems like I get a lot of e-mails from readers who cannot attend the class because they don't live locally and want to know more about what we make in the class.  So I'm going to talk a little bit today about what we discuss during class about the finer points of homemade pizza. We make six pizzas during class and this is one of them and one of my favorites.  If you think bacon, onions and mushrooms go together just about perfectly, you will love this pizza.  I'm also going to give you some parts of the handout that I give my students during class so you can see what we cover.

 

Here is a fun recipe for parties and get togethers because people think it's just a loaf of bread and then you slice into it - surprise!  It's pizza inside!  And these are so easy to make.  If you haven't attempted to make pizza dough yet, please start now with these.  You will love them.  

Pizza dough is not at all hard.  You have all the ingredients on hand right now in your pantry.  For this dough, all the ingredients are just blended together in one big bowl.  You finish the dough by kneading it a bit on the counter. That's it.  Let it rise.  Divide the dough in half and roll the halves out into rectangles.  Spread out your topping ingredients on the doughs, roll them up and bake.  You can totally do that!

I do encourage you, though, to use instant yeast instead of regular active dry yeast.  I wrote a post about that a while back and there is absolutely no reason to use active dry yeast, which requires a proofing step.  Do yourself a favor and only stock your pantry with instant yeast - and just skip the proofing step in any recipe.

I know what you're thinking - what a carb load potato pizza must be!  Well . . . yes.  You certainly wouldn't want to eat it if you were doing Atkins, but if you're vegetarian or even vegan, it's the perfect pizza.  No meat and no cheese (the cheese is optional, but I think the pizza doesn't need it).  If you go to Italy, you will see potato pizza in most of the pizza shops.  The combination of potatoes, rosemary and onion is absolutely delicious and set on top of great pizza dough, it's so good.  Add a green salad and it's a nice dinner.  Cut it into small squares and it's a delicious, unusual appetizer.  

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that every Tuesday night in our household is pizza night.  I love that because I never have to think about what to make that night.  I just get the dough going sometime in the afternoon.  I let it proof and then I punch it down, break it up into individual dough balls and then let those rise.  We all fix our own personal size pizza.  I usually fix a vegetarian pizza and if I have some good quality anchovies, I will pop those on, too.  But sometimes I want a little variety and that is the time to make a "Pizza Quattro Stagioni".  This means "four seasons" in Italian and you simply divide the pizza up into four sections. It's traditionally made with artichokes, mozzarella, tomato sauce, ham and olives, but you can play around with it and make it with any combination you like.