7 Minute Shopping and Slow Rise Pizza Dough

I am happy to say that the grilled pizza party at my office yesterday was a success!  Just a couple of problems.

First, the Weber grill that’s at our office has three burners, they run top to bottom.  I am used to having four burners on our gas grill, so I can have a hot side and a cool side.  I thought I had it dialed in, and while my tiles were coming to temperature, I put onions (yes, I am that nice!) to caramelize in a small cast iron skillet I brought on what I thought was the cooler side of the grill.

I was prepping the ingredients inside our office kitchen, when I saw smoke and ran outside and I burned the shit out of the onions!  So my intentions were good!  I still had enough that I had some raw diced ones, so all was not lost.

Then when it was time to roll out my dough?  I forgot the flour.  I put some in a ziploc bag on my counter at home.  And without it, it was impossible to roll out the dough.  So I had to jump in my car and run to Walgreen’s so that set me behind a bit.  Then when I got back I was so flustered, I hardly took any pictures!

But this will be my new pizza dough.  It was in my latest issue of La Cantina Magazine.  It’s a slow rise pizza dough.

Slow Rise Pizza Dough

This makes enough dough for four, 10 inch pizzas.

• 1.5 cups warm water
• 1/4 teaspoon yeast
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Put the water and the yeast in your stand mixer with the dough hook.  Let sit for 5 minutes.  Add flour and salt.  Mix until the dough no longer sticks to the side, about 5 minutes.  If it’s two sticky, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time.  If it’s too dry, add 1 tablespoon water at a time.

Put olive oil in a bowl and transfer dough to the bowl.  Let sit on the counter for 30 minutes.  Put in a ziploc bag, and let the dough rise in the fridge overnight.

Three hours before using, let the dough come to room temperature on the counter.

Now I wish I had pictures of how the dough looked because it so many air pockets in it, which is so weird because of the small amount of yeast that it!

I ended up making everyone their own individual pizza, so everything was cooked in about 20 minutes – thankfully everyone was patient and it was a nice day to sit outside on our office patio.  Rave reviews, and everyone ate every single thing on their plate – winning!

Last night Tony and I went out for sushi.  I am a bit intimidated by sushi, because a: I don’t like raw shit, and b: I always order safe stuff (think tempura) because I am afraid if I order something different and don’t like it, it’s a waste of money.

Well, I went with my gut last night and ordered the fire roll, which was tuna (the only raw thing I’ll eat!), jalapeno, a touch of cream cheese then put in a tempura batter.  It had this slightly sweet spicy sauce on top – and guess what?  I loved it!  It even came to the table with fire!

We totally slept in this morning – I think it was nearly 10:00 by the time we got our act together.  I had to go pick up my contacts at the eye doctor.  I left the house about 10:30 planning on picking up some breakfast sammies at McDonald’s and some large ice teas ($1 each!) only to find out that they don’t serve breakfast after 10:30.

I came home and Tony suggested we just hit the road and find a place to eat.  We were already planning to head up north to buy Tony some new work clothes and summer shorts.   Since his colon cancer surgery last year he’s lost 70+ pounds, so all of his summer clothes are way too big.

Um, turns out Tony doesn’t like when I bring him home thrift store and garage sale clothes.  He’s convinced that people pee, then die in these clothes I bring home to him!

I got on my phone and found a place called Gale Street Inn that was known for the bbq ribs.  It was right across from a lake and it was a nice setting.  Weird though because we were literally the only table there, and I am pretty sure our servers have been working at this place since it opened in 1963!

They had an old fashioned salad bar – liver pate, beets and some unknown pasta salads.  They even had those imitation bacon bits I love so much.

And I had to get the ribs.  Half slab, including the salad bar, fries and some veggies, for $11.99 – not too shabby!

They were delicious!  Fall off the bone, the bbq sauce was really nice.  The broccoli and cauliflower were a bit overdone, but we’d definitely go back.  Tony got a 5 oz. burger with swiss cheese and mushrooms which was good too.

So we head to the clothes store.  Now Tony really isn’t sure what size his waist is anymore.  So I hand him a couple pairs of shorts in two different sizes.  He takes one pair, takes off his shoes and tries the shorts on right in the middle of the store . . . over the shorts he’s wearing!  He declares that size fits, and that dictates what else we pick up. 

I am not kidding when I tell you from the time we got out of the car and back into the car. . . 7 minutes.  Which included 2 minutes of waiting in line to pay for the clothes!

Maybe now I can retire some of his t-shirts that are literally being held together by threads.  We’ll see though!

I won’t blog again until Monday because I am getting up early to go to my Mom’s house.  Guess who’s going to be there?  My brother Charlie!!  Sadly, my SIL’s Mom died the weekend I was in Virginia.  Her memorial service was today in Iowa.  They are driving back through Chicago before heading back to Austin.  My Mom is selling her house this week so it will be the last time I see this house (which she’s had since 1989!) and down sizing to a small house about 15 minutes away.

I am bringing a fruit salad, breakfast casserole and skinny cinnamon rolls – I’ll post the recipes on Monday.  

Question of the Day:  What is the longest you’ve lived in a house?  For me, obviously my childhood house – since I lived there for 19 years.  As an adult – it’s the one Tony and I have now – 11 years!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!