Rosie Makes Pizza.

My next door neighbor brought me some leftover spaghetti sauce from the local Volunteer Fire Department's spaghetti dinner. I decided to doctor it up and use it for pizza sauce.

First, I made the dough. I proofed one package of yeast in about 3/4 cup of water with sugar sprinkled in. Then I added an egg, some olive oil and bread flour and wheat flour. Kneaded the dough and set it aside to rise.



While the dough was rising, I sauteed some onions, garlic, and fennel seeds in a bit of olive oil along with some of the chopped up meatballs from the spaghetti dinner. (Mr. H. had stopped by the fire department the night before and picked up a couple of the dinners.) Then I added my neighbor's spaghetti sauce, some thyme, some oregano, and some salt and let it simmer happily away.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I sliced and sauteed portabella mushrooms. I nuked some sliced pepperonis to get a lot of the oil out of them, instead of letting all that grease seep INto my pizza.

Oh lookey, lookey. My dough has risen.

Here's a tip for fast-rising dough: First wrap plastic wrap over your dough. Then take a wet dishtowel, nuke it for about 60 seconds, then wrap around your dough bowl and leave it in the microwave.








I only used about 1/2 of the dough for the pizza crust. The rest I put in a small Corning Ware bowl for a boule.

Take your time spreading out the dough for the crust. It needs time to relax. Spread a bit from the center out, stop and let dough rest, then come back and spread some more.








I decided to put a little surprise in my crust: CHEESE!














Roll dough over the cheese and leave it to rise.













Wallah! It's ready to slightly brown.

Brown the dough, just a tad, then add your toppings. I had the sauce, pepperonis, shrooms, sliced black olives, and green peppers from my garden. Top with plenty of cheeses. I used Swiss, Mozzarella, Monteray Jack, and Parmesan.

Pop INto a 450-500 degree oven until nice and bubbly.

And here's the finished product.










Bon appetit!