Start with an onion . . .: Pizza

Warm beer and cold pizza is the breakfast of champions, we used to say when I was in high school. However, hot pizza and cold beer is what us old folks prefer.

Homemade pizza is not that hard to make if you have a breadmaker for the dough. The time consuming part is chopping everything that needs to go on it. I have to admit I do appreciate the sliced black olives in a can. The rest of the chopping can be fun if you turn on loud music during prep and make it a zen moment. Whether it's the music or the food that's the attraction, people usually start popping into the kitchen when it's time to put the sauce and toppings on - so pizza-making frequently turns into a social activity.

I use pasta sauce from a jar as the tomato sauce. Paul likes to use tomato paste - which has the added bonus of having virtually no sodium, if that something you are watching.

When Krista makes pizza she uses a minimal amount of cheese - and as I recall, her asparagus pizza has no cheese at all. You can drizzle olive oil or use pesto sauce.

When Justin and I made it last weekend we used copious amounts of mozzarella (if you've got someone willing to grate it, then why not use more cheese). We also crumbled some feta and shaved some parmesan on top.

We like prosciutto, ham or capicola as the meat. I go to the deli and get it sliced about 1/2 inch thick so I can chop it into little cubes. I find the thinly sliced stuff tends to crisp and burn.

Honestly though, we put so many olives, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes and onions on the pizza, that the meat would not be missed.

We usually have a can of beer that either a) has been sitting in a dusty corner of the cold room and is too old to drink or b) some cruddy beer someone left behind. Adding this to the dough makes it really tasty. A can of beer works with this recipe with a swig left over. Depending on the time of day, I'll drink it or dump it.

I often use half whole wheat and half white flour because I tell myself it's a little bit healthier.

If you've got a pizza stone, then that's definitely the way to go because it cooks the crust to perfection.

Paul, who has never read this blog, suggests that I tell you that you Krista uses naan bread when she needs something quick. She also uses salsa in a pinch. And she bakes it on an ordinary cookie sheet.

Pizza Dough

1 -1/2 cups beer or water
1 -1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 -1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons yeast

Pizza Toppings

700 grams mozzarella - shredded (1 - 1/2 pounds)

handful each of of feta and/or parmesan or asiago

1 bottle tomato sauce plus one small tin tomato paste

oregano (optional)

2 green peppers

8 medium mushrooms

1 can sliced black olives

300 grams meat

some sun-dried tomatoes

1 large tomato sliced and then slices quartered

1 onion sliced (you can microwave it for 2 minutes and it cooks and softens it a bit before putting it on the pizza. This gives it a less harsh oniony flavour.

Pizza Making

For my breadmaker, I put the ingredients in the order listed above, then set it to the "dough" cycle. Mine takes 2 hours.

When it beeps, take it out and knead in enough flour to make dough easy to handle.

Sprinkle pizza stones with cornmeal (optional).

Divide dough into thirds. Roll out one piece of dough and place on pan. Roll from the centre, outwards. Turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat. Press hard.