!8: Cuisinart Rice Cooker Buy Now: January 2012

!±8± Pizza Making Essentials For the Home Pizza Chef

Frozen pizza is all right, takeout pizza does the job, but homemade pizza is simply out of this world. Creating pizza is a very personal thing and when you make your own pizza recipe, you can create your perfect crust, add your favorite sauce and toppings, and cook it just how you like it.

If you are a keen home cook, you have probably seen all kinds of "must haves" in the kitchen store and wondered which are essential to pizza making, which are worth having and which are a waste of time.

Pizza Paraphernalia

Do you need a pizza stone? Do you need three different pizza cutters? What about a bread machine for making your dough or a pizza oven for baking your creations?

The truth about pizza making equipment and cooking equipment is that none of it is essential and you can make great recipes without any of these utensils at all. The real essentials are your ingredients, an oven, a good recipe, and a healthy appetite.

You might want to invest in a pizza oven, pizza stones, and other equipment if you make a lot of pizzas but, for the casual home cook, you can make great pizza recipes without it, right from the delicious toppings down to the tasty, homemade crust.

Herby Pizza Crust Recipe

The following recipe makes enough dough for a twelve inch crust. The dough is flavored with fresh Italian herbs and you can vary the kind of herbs you use. Any fresh herbs are nice in this dough recipe.

You will need:
2 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour 1 teaspoon sugar 1 package active dry yeast 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup fresh herbs (basil, parsley and oregano are good) 7/8 cup warm water 1 tablespoon garlic flavored olive oil Oil and cornmeal for the pan
How to make it:

Combine the sugar, yeast, and warm water and let it stand for ten minutes until it goes frothy. Chop the herbs in a food processor with a steel blade. Add the flour, salt, and pulse briefly. Add the yeast mixture and process until you have a dough ball.

Add the garlic infused oil and process for another thirty seconds. Alternatively, you can chop the herbs with your hands and knead the dough by hand for ten minutes. Put the dough in an olive oil greased bowl, rotating it until it is oily all over.

Use a damp towel to cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise somewhere warm for about an hour. When it has doubled in size, roll it out on a lightly floured board. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Lightly grease a pan with some oil and sprinkle cornmeal over it. Put the dough on the pizza pan, trimming the edges and bake it for ten minutes. Take the pizza crust out of the oven and brush a little more oil over the top. Add your favorite toppings and bake until it is done.