We <3 Our New Pizza Stone

Doesn't this picture look amazing? That's caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, salami, and fresh mozzarella. The crust is thin, the toppings were hot and gooey, and the whole thing just about satisfied the intense greasy pizza craving I'd had a few days before without the grease.

We've made pizza twice on this stone and what we've discovered so far is that unfortunately, Emmer flour, doesn't make a great pizza crust. We like a thin crust and the Emmer flour is too gummy to be rolled thin.

We will, however, keep experimenting with dough recipes.

First, the dough.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 package yeast
• 1 cup warm ater
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Olive oil

Directions

There's really not much to say about dough. Yet somehow, I'll manage three or four paragraphs. Start with about 1.5 cups warm water. Ideally the water should be about 100-115 degrees. If you have a milk thermometer, test the temperature. If the water is too cold, your yeast will have problems activating. If it's too hot, you'll kill the yeast before it has a chance to do it's job.

Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and some salt. Add the water/yeast mixture and mix until the dough forms a ball around the dough hook. Add a bit more flour if the dough is very sticky to the touch.

Oil a glass bowl and add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and place it in a warm spot and let rise until doubled in size. What works best for us is to put it on the stove while we caramelize the onions on low heat on another burner.  More on that in a minute.

When the dough has risen, divide in half. On a pizza peel, sprinkle some cornmeal and salt. This will help your dough flow easily from the peel to the stone.

Roll out the dough and place it on the peel.

Now onto the toppings.

There are as many ways to top a pizza as there are rain drops in Seattle. Fresh mozzarella is always good, as is any sort of meat. I'm partial to salami or pepperoni when I want a meat pizza, but cubed chicken breast or sausage will be great too.

What makes a pizza though, at least for me these days, are caramelized onions. Honestly, caramelized onions make most things better (including our frittatas, yum).

For perfect caramelized onions, you need three things. 1. A mandolin, 2. onions, 3. fat.

Use the mandolin and slice the onions super thin. Be careful of your fingers.

In a skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and a couple glugs of olive oil. You can also use lard.

Cook the onions on low for up to an hour. Stir often, about every 5-10 minutes so that the onions cook evenly. Don't be tempted to cook the onions on medium or high. The onions will simply burn or melt.

Now onto the final step.

Top the pizza and throw in a 450 oven for anywhere from 10-12 minutes.