Breakfast Two-fer

It’s always tempting to eat an entire five-inch pizza in one sitting, but today, I restrained myself and saved half of it for my lunch. When my husband Chuck is working, I come home to walk my corgi Grace and eat lunch quietly, finishing the newspaper or reading a book, under the hungry gaze of the mistress of the house.

You don’t stay this trim by eating whole pizzas in the morning!

It sure beats eating over-priced fast food in the din of canned music and other people’s work complaints.

For breakfast pizza, make this dough ahead of time and freeze it in small batches for up to 3 months.

Pizza Dough

One packet active dry yeast

1 cup hot water, separated (approximately 100º, pretty much what comes out of your hot tap)

3 cups flour, and more for dusting

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Mix all the yeast in ¼ cup of hot water. Set it aside for ten minutes. Savor that yeasty smell and watch it bubble.

2. Combine flour and salt into a bowl. Make a well in the middle and pour the yeast mixture in, another 3/4 cup of hot water, and the olive oil. Mix until it holds together.

3. Turn onto a flour-dusted board, and knead for six to eight minutes. You’ve got to put your back into it; push the dough away from you with the heels of your hands, fold it over, give it a quarter turn…same again until it’s smooth and elastic.

4. Oil a big bowl and put the dough in, turn it over so the top is greased, and let it sit in a warm, quiet place for an hour and a half, until it’s twice its size. Punch it down and divide into eight pieces. Shape them into disks and wrap them individually in plastic wrap. Put these into a freezer bag and defrost overnight, when wanted.

On my defrosted pizza dough this morning (rolled to a 5-6″ round), I spread whole-milk ricotta and lay fresh tomato slices over it, sprinkled that with dried oregano, and topped it all with thinly sliced smoked mozzarella. Baked it at 500°F for 8 minutes on a cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal. Wow! Sinfully rich.

Pop the second half in the toaster oven until the crust is crisp again and the cheeses melt and you’ll be good to go for the rest of the day. That meeting with the boss? Piece of….

Add half an apple morning and afternoon, and you’ve got two whole nutritious meals.

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