Dad & the Wookie makin’ pizza

Tonight was pizza night in our kitchen.  It goes like this: First I put the pizza stone in the oven and start heating it to 425° F.  Next I mix the dough:

Pizza Dough

proof 1 pkg active dry yeast in
2/3 cup warm water, with
2 teaspoons raw sugar

Mix together:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Slowly add the liquid to the dry ingredients.  Turn the mixer, with dough hook attached, on low and walk away from it for five minutes.  Turn off the mixer.  Drizzle about a tablespoon of good olive oil over the dough. Turn it over and over in the bowl. Cover and let it rise for 20 minutes.

While the dough raises D chops and dices and fries.  Pick your toppings.  We like fresh mushrooms, black olives, italian sausage and sometimes, like tonight,  chopped deli ham.

After the dough doubles in size, I roll it out, put it on a pizza peel lightly dusted with cornmeal. Then it pre-bakes for about ten minutes or until it holds its shape and won’t absorb too much liquid.

At that point D takes it out of the oven and starts piling on the goodies.

Right up to this point it’s pretty much an ordinary pizza making night.

But Kai Li LOVES pizza.  She races to the kitchen the moment the black olives are opened and hangs out below the process until it’s finished.  But that’s just when it’s happening on the cabinet.  Tonight the cabinet was otherwise occupied, so the pizza was put together on the kitchen table.

Enter the Wookie!

She helped throughout the process.

After all the toppings are in place, the pizza gets covered in cheese.

It goes into the oven for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is as browned as you like it and viola!  Pizza!!!

I’d show you the eating process, too.  But yum… too busy eating here.