Day 2: Pizza and The Geek

The kids are with their dad this weekend and so I am having dinner with one of my BFFs tonight, a person I affectionately refer to as "The Geek" due to his expertise in computer programming and internet security. It's a gastronomic symbiosis - I love to cook and he loves to eat. One of our favorite meals is pizza with anchovies and since I exceeded my daily shopping limit yesterday by $2.77, I decided this was a good meal for today since I had all the ingredients in my pantry.

I recently bought the cookbook, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day and I think the recipes result in some of the best bread I have ever tasted. A little flour, warm water, salt and yeast is all it takes. I always keep some dough in my refrigerator so that I can have homemade pizza (or calzone) in 20 minutes whenever the urge strikes me. The dough is super easy (no kneading required!) and keeps up to two weeks in the fridge, although it never lasts that long in my house. If you want to try it without buying the cookbook, check out the authors' youtube page or blog for videos with complete recipes and instructions.

Two tools that are absolutely essential for making pizza at home are a peel and a baking stone. The peel is the easiest way to transfer the dough into and out of the oven and the stone provides a hot, evenly heated surface to ensure a crispy crust. To learn more about these tools, go to youtube.com and search on "Good Eats" and "Flat is Beautiful." There are lots of clips with tips and demonstrations.

The Geek LOVES anchovies and so I brushed the dough with the oil that the anchovies were packed in. WOW! Talk about INTENSE flavor. (I do not advise this for the faint of heart.)

To finish, I layered sauce, toppings (thinly sliced onions and anchovies) and cheese and baked in a pre-heated 450F oven for 20 minutes (until the cheese was bubbly and the crust had browned).

Busy Mom Modifications

• The "5 Minute" crust does not brown very well on its own. I brush olive oil on the outer part of the crust (the part not covered by sauce and toppings) before baking so that it will brown.
• For the sauce, I use spaghetti sauce (HORROR OF HORRORS) because I always have a bottle on hand.
• The cheese is whatever I have in the freezer at the moment, which for the kids is usually a combination of shredded mozzarella, monterey jack, and cheddar. But I have made pizza with brie, havarti, even goat cheese. All are yummy.
• And then toppings: thinly sliced or julienned fruit or vegetables, sliced deli meat, canned chicken, etc. all work.
• When it comes to layering toppings, I like to put dry ingredients directly on the sauce (under the cheese) so they will moisten as the sauce heats up. Wetter ingredients such as pineapple or tomato are better on top of the cheese so the dough does not get too wet and the vegetables dry out in the heat.
• You may be tempted to assemble your pizza on the peel in order to save time or to keep from flouring a second surface. Resist the urge. The "5 Minute" dough is very wet and the longer it sits, the more it absorbs the surface flour. It only takes a few seconds before the dough will start sticking to the peel and then you'll have a huge mess when you try to transfer it to the oven. Assemble the pizza on a well-floured surface then transfer to the well-floured peel and transfer immediately to the hot oven. The dough should slide right off the peel with quick jerking movements.

The Results

My favorite part of this pizza is the crust. It is chewy and crusty with fantastic flavor. The Geek loved the way the intense fish flavor was infused throughout the pizza, thanks to the anchovy oil.

Ratings

• The Geek says: This is the best pizza I've ever had!
• Easy to make
• Time to prepare: 30 min. if the "5 Minute" dough has already been prepared
• Prognosis: This one's a keeper!

My Shopping List

Nothing - I used ingredients I already had in my pantry

The day's tally: $0
Total spending this week so far: $7.77

P.S.
The Geek, who jokes that he is not licensed for indoor cooking, supplied dessert: Grown-up Ice Cream Sodas. This cold and sweet treat was the perfect chaser for the salty, fishy pizza.