Homemade Pizza

The Equuschick and The Head Girl know how to bake homemade bread several variations with yeast dough. When Pip and Jenny were the age where I planned to teach them how to bake bread we were living at an altitude of some 6,000 feet above sea level. I had to relearn everything I knew about bread making and baking. It required adjustments in flour and liquid amounts, most of them by feel. I just had to fiddle with the dough until it felt right to me, and 'felt right' was about as specific as I could make myself. I learned not to bother with letting my bread rise at all; I just whipped up a batch of yeast bread, put it in the oven and had a nice supply of bread for the week in just an hour or so. It was hard enough for me, it was nearly impossible for HG and the Equuschick. They always had to call me in to feel the dough to see if it 'felt right,' and then I would tell them if it needed more flour, or more liquid, or knead it a few more times, or try a bit more oil...

We knew we were only going to be living there for a maximum of three years, so when Pip asked me to teach her to make yeast bread, the HeadGirl pointed out that if Pip learned to bake yeast bread there, she'd just have to unlearn everything she knew and start all over again once we returned to sea level living. I agreed. But once we returned to sea level living, for various reasons our lives were sort of on hold, and I didn't do it then, either (this living on hold was a mistake, in retrospect. Had I know the future I would have known better, but it is my inefficient way to be always learning by hindsight). They have seen us bake bread. They always grind the wheat for us, and I think I've explained a step or two on occasion. But I've never actually taught them from start to finish in a step by step fashion. Which brings us to yesterday.

Yesterday we needed to make pizza for supper, and we needed to make it at Granny Tea's. We were having a family feast and celebration there. This is our preference for certain family feasts and celebrations because her kitchen is more functional and she has a dining room table where we all can sit. However, using her more functional kitchen required all kinds of things to be loaded into boxes, other things to be started here and finished there, and various other complications in our day. We also had other obligations in the day, so I took JennyAnyDots and the FYG into town to run errands and meet those obligations.

The FYG has had too many late nights the last two weeks, and by the time she returned home she was tired and pale, and a little too inclined to tears. She needed a nap, and I wasn't averse to a little heart to heart girl talk with our youngest daughter, a snuggle, and a nap myself, so we curled up under my blankets. Before burrowing under the covers I handed Pip and Jenny the recipe for pizza dough, asked them to get together all the ingredients, and get the dough started. I said I'd be up soon and would finish it up for them.

Several hours later....

They made the entire recipe from start to finish, and I showed up in time to see the hot pizza pulled out of the oven and sliced. It was delicious, too. They did an outstanding job. They made three HUGE pizzas, a delicious fruit salad, a green salad, and they had the table set for eleven.

Here's the recipe for pizza dough they used:

Dissolve 3 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 1/4 cups of warm water. While the yeast is slowly and gently doing its stuff, combine:

2 1/4 cups of milk, 6 Tablespoons of oil, 3/4 cup of sugar or other sweetener, and one Tablespoon of salt. Mix in the yeast and water. Add about:

12 cups of whole wheat flour (more or less- the dough has to feel just right, not too sticky, not too stiff). Mix well.

Flour your counter (I prefer oil for whole wheat breads). Divide this batch of dough into three parts for three very large, slightly thick crusted pizzas. Divide it into four pieces for four pizzas with a thinner crust.

Oil your pizza pans. Put a dough portion in the center of your pan and use your well-oiled hands to push down the dough and spread it all the way out to the edges of your pan. Form a crust by pinching the edges up with your fingers.

*spread your pizza sauce over the top, and then top with mozzarella cheese and other pizza toppings of choice.

Put your pizza on the lowest oven rack and bake at high heat (500 degrees) for about fifteen minutes. The cheese should be bubbly, and if you slip a spatula under the crust, lift it up and peek under the crust it should be golden brown.

*I usually like to bake the crust for a few minutes first, and then top with toppings because I like a toasty crust rather than a soggy one. Their crust wasn't soggy though, because they were sparing with the sauce, and that worked out well.

You can also make this ahead and freeze it. Spread your dough on the pizza pans and freeze it on the pans. As soon as it's frozen you take it off the pan and wrap it well (foil and saran wrap). To bake it, take it out of the freezer on baking day, put it on your pizza pans to thaw, and then cook it the usual way.