I feel so lucky this week. Since this recipe is the first in the pizza series, all that was required of me was to make the pizza dough according to the directions and then top with whatever I wanted. My first choice was fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil, but that is one of the next recipes in the book, so that I couldn’t do that. I decided to try a recipe from epicurious.com. It is a gorgonzola, proscuitto, fig, and arugula pizza. Yum.

I have to say that I don’t usually make my own pizza dough, because I have been spoiled by Missouri Bakery. They are an Italian bakery “on the hill” that makes really wonderful baked goods. They also make one of the best pizza doughs that I have ever had. We sell it in our store frozen, and all you have to do is thaw it, roll it out, and then top it. Since my son is addicted to pizza, we make it at least once a week when he is home. I was so excited to finally be able to try my hand at making the dough from scratch. The pizza dough came together really easily. I let it rise for about three hours, divided it into 2 balls and rolled out the dough to make the pizza. I did try the hand tossing method, but I was afraid that I was going to drop it, and I needed both crusts for the night, so I didn’t toss it very high. I finally just used the rolling pin to thin it and then my fingers to form it.

The final products tasted great. I made a pepperoni pizza for Zach and then the gorgonzola pizza for Michael and me. My dough came out much softer than the Missouri Bakery dough which made for a crust that was crisp, yet tender. The Missouri Bakery dough bakes up to be a thicker crust that is chewier. Both of these crusts are very good and I like having the option of each.