Celebrate Pizza Month & September's Give-Away Apron Winner...

Who knew that there is a whole month devoted to Pizza?  Well, October is and how great for us who are lovers of this flat bread!

Modern day Pizza comes from Naples, Italy in the 18th or early 19th century.  Typically, it is a flat bread with a tomato sauce, cheese, and various toppings.  Pizza Margherita is considered the first pizza to come from Naples created to honor a visit from Queen Margherita.  I decided on a breakfast pizza, topped with scrambled eggs, veggie sausage, and of course, two kinds of cheese.

Breakfast Pizza
2 cups Perfect Pizza Blend Flour (or Bread Flour)
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Pizza Dough Flavor
2 tsp. Pizza Seasoning

 1 pkg (approx 1T) dry active yeast
1/2 cup very warm water
1 tsp. granulated sugar
2 T olive oil
Additional water

First, in a 1 cup glass measure, measure the yeast and mix into the very warm water.  Add the sugar and stir.  Let sit 7 to 10 minutes until foamy.  This is called proofing.

In a stand mixer, using the dough hook, measure the dry ingredients and mix on low speed.  Add the proofed yeast and olive oil and turn mixer on Speed 2.  Start adding more water, just until the dough comes together and the sides are "clean."  Continue to run the mixture for another 5 minutes to knead.  Turn the dough out onto a dough board and knead until smooth.  Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise to almost double the size...approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour depending how warm your kitchen is.

When dough has almost doubled, divide it into 3 or 4 pieces (depends on the size of your pizza. Preheat oven to 450F-degrees.  Place a baking stone in the oven or you could use a baking sheet. 

Roll out the dough to approximately 12 inches.  It's easy to have a baking peel handy, if you're baking on a stone; lightly covered with finely ground corn meal.  Brush the pizza with additional olive oil and place in the oven on the baking stone. Bake approximately 8 minutes, then remove and add some grated Fontina and Cheddar Cheese, scrambled eggs, and veggie sausage.  Return to the oven and bake another 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly brown.  Remove from the oven and serve hot! Enjoy!

Now, the winner of September's apron is Carol.  Please email your address so I can send the apron to you:-D

One last thing...a little tip.  Next time you're baking muffins, change up the pan.  Here I used a mini angel food muffin pan.  Not my original idea; I had similar muffins at Bruegger Bagels.  I think they were trying to make a muffin with similarities to bagels!