New Year, New Pizza!

First of all...like all other 'bloggers' say when they're not satisfied with a picture but LOVE what's in it...please, forgive the photography here.  This is the only picture I snapped ( to send to my Mom and Dad who sent my husband and me this pizza stone) before we dug in.

I called this our New Year's Pizza...because we've made it on New Year's Day, clever, I know.  It's not the best pizza we've made and it doesn't take much for us to demolish a pizza of any quality, but it was an overall GOOD pizza.  The crust is pseudo-deep dish, crisp on the bottom, thick and bready on the edge...I could go on, but I'm salivating and might short out my laptop.

Here's my crust recipe (I adapted this from another recipe, but I can't seem to find the original...it didn't include wheat or semolina flour):

1. Combine in measuring cup: 2.75 tsp yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 cup warm milk and let sit for 5 min.

2. Combine in bowl: 2.5 cups white flour, .5 cup semolina flour, 1 cup wheat flour, 1 tsp salt.

3. Combine in small measuring cup: 6 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp veg. oil.

4.  Combine all concoctions and knead briefly in bowl.  Cover for an hour.

5. Knead dough (about 5 minutes) and cover until ready to use.  Punch down.  Roll out dough.

EASY!  Admittedly, my husband rolled out the dough and placed it on the pizza stone while I prepared our toppings.  We baked the crust for about 3-4 minutes (at around 375*) with foil over the edges before putting the toppings on.

Sauce and Toppings:

Since we had an opened jar of Prego mushroom pasta sauce in the fridge, I decided to be a good steward and use it up.  If you're wondering, it's pretty decent dumped on a pizza crust.  Atop the sauce, I put:

1/2 pound of browned ground beef

Sauteed garlic (2-3 cloves) and onion (1/2 small onion)

Mushrooms....lots of mushrooms...these ones were button.

1.5 cups cheese (Kroger brand pizza blend and a little Mexican blend because we were short)

Oh, yeah.  Don't forget to bake the pizza!  A good 8-12 minutes should do, or until the cheese gets a delicious golden, bubbly, artery-clogging look.

Things I'd do differently next time I make this pizza:

1. Add some oregano to the crust

2. Brush crust with oil/butter and garlic

3. Try it in a cake pan, sauce on top of cheese.  Like a good Chicago-style deep dish.