I have returned.... and made pizza

I have returned from my journey to Ohio and back. Overall it was a very nice trip. Rather exhausting work, but we really enjoyed seeing family and friends - and being back in the lush mid-west. Good news, the van's air conditioning didn't stop working until we go back to Colorado, thankfully.

I left my flash drive at home so I can't share any knitting updates so instead I'll share with you the amazing pizza I made last night. My usual pizza making involves honey wheat crust with pesto sauce. This is all well and good, but sometimes you just need some tomato saucy white crust pizza.

Start by getting the dough rising. I used Smitten Kitchen's Stand-by Crust. I'll admit I was afraid it wasn't going to rise for me, but it was just testing my patience. I had to wait the full hour as instructed.

Once you have the crust rising then get started on the homemade sauce. I have shared that recipe before, but now I can personally recommend it. I barely even tweeked it. I just added a little extra garlic. So easy and so good. If a bit spicy isn't your thing then you might want to reduce the red pepper flakes. Also, I had a pint of sauce left over from making one pizza.

While the sauce simmers and the dough rises you can prep your toppings. I used a poblano pepper, hard salami, kalmata olives, and fresh mozzarella.

Seriously, wonderful. It definately hit the spot for me, and David kept cutting one piece after another so... give it a try.

Side note: while I was picking up my pizza toppings at the store I came across lychees!!!! This was my absolute favorite fruit when I spent time in Mozambique and I have never been able to find fresh ones in States, until now. The ones I found were at Safeway and are a product of Mexico, but I bet Meijer would have them as well. If you've never tried them go get a few - enjoy!