filler until my next "true" post... a totally original recipe...

Okay... I just made a kick-assed pizza.... In keeping with last years post of “how to make Wiener Schnitzel, I will now post my never-fail, awesome-filled goodness that is my scratch-made Pizza crust recipe.... (I've actually been perfecting this for a good 7 years, and for the first time, am sharing it...)If you try it, please let me know how it turns out....

&clubs&clubs&clubs “Matt’s Pizza Crust” &clubs&clubs&clubs

Ingredients:

• -2 packets “quick rise” yeast (use regular yeast, if you want, but add a good 10 minutes to rise times, minimum...)
  
• 3-4.5 cups bread flour (or general purpose... it’s lighter w/ bread flour, though...)
  
• 1 teaspoon sugar
  
• 1.5 tsp. salt (I use Kosher)
  
• 1 Tablespoon (T) basil (fresh & chopped [best], ... dry, if not [good])
  
• 1.5 tsp. oregano (fresh or dried)
  
• 1 T chopped parsley
  
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil (I've used butter too...)
  
• approx 2 cups water... hot tap...
  
• Any other herbs or flavouring that you might want to incorporate.....
  

Empty the two packets of yeast into a coffee mug or small bowl along with the sugar. Add about a 1/2 cup of hot water and stir briskly (make sure water is about 100 degrees... a tap running for about 30 seconds should be cool... just make it nice and hot)... set aside and cover w/ a towel for about 5 minutes

Mix flour, salt, oregano, basil and parsley around with a fork in a large bowl. In a small pan, saute onion in the olive oil until cooked (about 5 min. on med high heat, stirring every minute or so...)Once done, set aside to cool a little bit (about 5 minutes or so..)...

Check yeast. It should be kind of foamy and fragrant., and about doubled in size (if not, dump it and try again).

if yeast is done dump it into the flour mixture, along with the remaining water (1 1/2 cups...remember... hot!) and stir until it makes a sticky, stringy paste.. . dump the cooled onion/olive oil mixture in.. stir that in too...

Now, at this point, you should have a glutinous, oily mass of dough/paste. Grab a handful of flour and stir it in well... keep doing that(adding handfuls of flour and stirring well) until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl. At that point, coat your hands in flour and start working the dough with your hands... keep adding flour and flipping the dough as needed (it’s really sticky and messy at first, but it soon gets better)... once the dough becomes workable (i.e stops clinging to your hands too much) knead it about forty times (this is a really good stress reliever!!!)... Be sure to get all the little bits of flour/etc. off of the sides of the bowl... Don’t hesitate to dip your hands in flour if things get to sticky...this is really more a matter of feel than science... adapt to the moment!

After you’ve kneaded everything into a workable, comfortable ball, , sprinkle a little olive oil over the top of it and spread it all around it (coat it). Plop the ball back in the bowl, cover it with a clean towel and let it mellow for a half hour (or until it‘s doubled in size)...

Okay... now pre-heat your oven to about 375 degrees F.

After a half hour, give it a few punches right in the middle, knead it a few more times, re-coat it with olive oil, and let it rest for another 20 minutes or so....

After the 20 minutes, punch it down again, knead it a couple more times, plop it down on a pizza pan (I swear by my pizza stone, but you can use a metal pizza pan, too... [just make sure that it’s greased and floured {or dusted w/ corn meal}]). Press it down to about 1/4” to 1/2”, trim off the excess, and roll the edges so that they’re about 1/2 from the edge (save the trimmings and roll into bread sticks, if you want... they’ll be plenty left over!) .” Cover w/ you favourite toppings , pop it in your already preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes, and enjoy!