Pizza and Brownies

Tonight is movie and pizza night, and so I am making pizza, from scratch. I am doing this both to save money (to get out from under the evil debt monster!) and because I figure the more things I learn, the more I will know. And the more I know, the more options I will have.

So I am using Alton Brown's Pizza Pizza recipe, found here:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_13823,00.html

I have tried this one before unsuccessfully, but discovered shortly after that that my yeast was dead. I always like Alton's recipes and decided to give it another go. I actually started it last night, per the recipe, and left it in the fridge. I was dismayed, after 18 hours in the fridge, it hadn't risen at all, and I thought it would at least rise a little. This is where the 27 DVD set of Alton's shows would come in really handy (that's a hint to Dan). Then I could look at the show that the recipe came from and see what it's supposed to look like.

Anyway, I took it out of the fridge in hopes it would rise, but it didn't, or at least not much in the two hours it sat on the counter. Undaunted, I formed it into balls and let it sit, per the recipe. After 30 minutes, I rolled it out. I used to work at a pizza place (actually 2), and I have tossed the pizza dough, but I couldn't bring myself to do it this time. I guess I was too afraid I'd punch my hand through the dough. As it was, I kept getting holes in the pizza. And the pizza didn't seem to roll out as big as I thought it should be (here again, the DVD would have been helpful, as well as the tossing skill). I laughed when I read that I was supposed to make a "rim" on the pizza; I used to work at a "make your own" pizza place and people used to do that--and then the crust would get stuck to the mesh plate that that pizza was on and we'd totally destroy it when we tried to take it off. So I didn't do that.

I used a supposed Pizza Hut "clone" recipe for the sauce:

http://www.budget101.com/recipes/id501.htm

I topped one right away with pepperoni and put it in the oven, and let the other sit for half an hour, to see which way I prefer the crust. Here, a peel would have been handy, as I made a little mess getting it onto the baking sheet. As soon as the spring gardening merchandise is available, I'm getting a bottom for a large clay pot to use as a pizza stone. As well as a medium pot, to use for baking bread in (unglazed terra cotta).

So here are the results: Well, pizza #1 was a little underdone. About two more minutes would have done it. Son #1 agrees. And the sauce could use some tweaking. Pizza #2 (the one that rested) got the extra two minutes and was better, but the crust in the center could have used just a little more time. Still, the boys didn't hate it, so I say it was a success.

After all that, the winner of the day were the brownies I made from this recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/fudgy-chocolate-brownies?lnc=5a79cf380e1dd010VgnVCM1000005b09a00aRCRD&rsc=cf_link

Very easy and very very delicious.

Oh, and we're watching "The Emperor's New Groove."