Pizza

For those who don't venture into pizza making the argument goes something like this:
If I pick up my phone and order pizza it will be here and ready to eat in about half an hour. If I make it myself, its closer to an hour and a half. (the dough takes 15 minutes to prepare, 1 hour to rise, and 15 minutes to bake) Who has the time?

Here's how I look at it. If you make it yourself from fresh ingredients it will be significantly better than anything that can be delivered. So the decision is, do you have something better later, or something worse now? Now about the time. Pizza dough keeps very well if it is covered in the refrigerator. If you have 15 minutes to spare one evening, or sometime over the weekend, that's all it takes to have the dough ready to use anytime you have a craving for pizza. Then it's a matter of pre-heating your oven, putting some ingredients on the rolled dough, and before you can set the table it will be ready to eat. Not bad, eh? Fresher, faster, and tastier than anything available in your neighborhood. Checkmate.

Simple dough recipe (from Joy of Cooking):
Combine in a large mixing bowl and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes:
1 package (2-1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1-1/3 cups warm water
Add:
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar (optional)

Mix by hand or on low speed for one minute, knead for about 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a bowl slightly coated with olive oil, cover, and let raise in a warm place for about an hour, or until its doubled in volume. Punch the dough down when it is done rising, divide into two, wrap it loosely in plastic and put it in the fridge. (the yeast will continue to do what yeast does, so if you do not let the dough rise completely, or wrap it too tightly, it will expand in the fridge and you will have a miniature version of the blob in there).

That's it for dough. When you're ready to make your pizza, preheat your oven to 450(F), roll out the dough, put on sauce, toppings, cheese, and whatever else in any order you like, and put it on a tray, and into the oven. Remember to sprinkle the tray with a bit of corn meal to prevent the dough from sticking and burning. In 10 to 15 minutes depending on your oven, and you're ready to eat. Enjoy.

Your gardening will come in handy here if you manage to get enough tomatoes to make and jar some pizza sauce. There are a million recipes online, they're all really simple, and if you want you can refer to the previous post for instructions on how to jar it and use it later.

When you fall in love with pizza making and get really serious about it, click here, or here, they will build you your own pizza oven.