Saturday, July 17, 2010

Pizza and a New Book


I like pizza, I always have.  There is something about a nice thick crust, gooey cheese and spicy pepperoni that goes so well together.  We used to frequently order out for pizza.  Here in Cincinnati, I'd say LaRosa's is the best.  But, when you cut your family income in half, you start looking for ways to save money.  Making my own pizza was one of those ways. 

My pizza has evolved over the past 4 years.  I'd like to hope for the better.  I used to purchase the refrigerator dough for my crust.  The kind you just plop on a cookie sheet and throw on some toppings.  It was ok, it just wasn't good.  I started experimenting with different dough recipes for my crust.  My Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook has a good recipe in it and I've been using that.  But this past weekend, my sister-in-law made a wonderful pizza for us, and her crust was just like what you'd get at a restaurant.  She told me it was the one on the Fleischmann's Yeast jar.  So I looked it up online and made it tonight; it was very good.  It wasn't as good as hers, my crust was a bit heavier, but it was still good.  I may need to get a different pan.  She prepared hers in a deep dish pan.  Not sure if that has any bearing on the texture of the crust, but it is certainly worth a try. 


NEW BOOK

I was gifted with a new book today.

Written by and illustrated by my dear son.  He "wrote" it for me while I was preparing the pizza.  It's a story about our family taking a trip to China.  As he would say, "I'm using my imagination".  He "read" it to me while the pizza was in the oven.  The story takes our family on a trip to China where we walk on rocks and grass, go swimming in a pool that has colorful lights, and then we walk some more under the sun.  Best book I've read in a long time. 

Happy weekend!

HDP