Pizza In Minutes

Right! Who doesn't love pizza and why spend money on ordering in, when it's so easy, you can do it yourself in minutes and spend less than a loonie on it. Not to mention the wonderful smells wafting throughout the house. I kid you not. I just made one after seeing how to online! What lies ahead is your very own creation on a crust  that will give you a pizza that kids can learn to make without a parental hand in sight. After a little training.  Call it Pizza 101. Use a mixing bowl with a dough hook if you want to be fancy but using your hands like the Italians do is easier and more fun. Into a biggish bowl, put a lukewarm cup of water, a package of or 1 tablespoon of yeast and a teaspoon of sugar. Let it rest and work for about five minutes. Get out the bread flour bag you all have these Covid19 stay in and DIY days, and scoop out two and a half cups of flour to dump into the bowl when your yeasting five minutes are up. Onto your pile of flour, add I teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of olive oil, maybe a  snick more if the dough isn't soft enough. Mix the dough or use your dough hook until you get a nice softish, but held-together dough and then let it rest for another five minutes. Smooth and roll or press out to fit your pie or pizza baking dish. If you are like me, who prefers the Florentine style, a rectangular pizza, shape it your way. Next not too thickly, slather on some tomato sauce herbed the way you like it or take it out of a bottle of spaghetti sauce and add any other of your favorite toppings and seasonings. Put the part sauce bottle into the freezer for next time. Don't forget shredded cheeses. Dried or flaked Parmesan cheese and garlic fresh minced or ground, adds an aroma that is irresistible. If you are very Italian, you might prefer merely to brush on nice olive oil and garlic with herbs and leave it at that. Or if you are a meat eater or a hungry man person, you decide how to load it on with ground meat, fish, sausage rounds or any left over meats. Some like  ham and pineapple or go tofu style with fresh veggies on top - whatever veg and protein is your fave. I love cheeses of various kinds and then my very favorite onto the tomato sauce is spinach and feta cheese but you know what you love on a pizza. It can become a meal in itself. The oven needs to be very hot and for those who go by degrees, make it 400 or a little above. Time? Watch it bake and send out delicious warnings of what's ahead. The old fashioned folks will know what oven temperature they like when they hold their hand in the oven for a short time. It's not for kids but when I was a kid, my grandmother taught me on her big black wood stove, the difference between a medium oven and a hot one this way, but she also taught we grandchildren how not to be burned. If you have a bundle of kids, let each one make their own pizza from scratch and fill it the way they like. What happens? Hey, you are having a stay home pizza party right in your own kitchen!