Lazy Intermittent Rainy Sunday

Woke way to early (510am) and tried to go back to sleep with no luck. The sun rose - unexpectely as rain was predicted, no complaints, just surprise. It was warm and sunny, not the rainy, cold and windy as expected. I popped into chat to visit with my Aussie mates and slowly woke up. By about 830, I got hungry and made a brekky of dippy eggs, toast, bacon and a banana, along with some hot tea. Days before, my mates were all describing the dippy eggs and bacon, and I knew that Sunday was gonna be my day for that treat.

As I was cooking, a thunderstorm rolled through. Haven't had one of those in ages, and I really missed those sounds. It only served to make me wish there was someone here to lie in bed with and enjoy the rumblings and snuggle. *sigh* Not much rain with it though, maybe 10 minutes worth, hardly enough to even fully wet the front footpath.

The rains, or mistings rather, came on and off all day, mainly enough to be a nuisance rather than useful, then full sun for short periods as well as an afternoon thunderstorm and downpour.This only lasted about 10 minutes - hardly the amount needed.

Later I decided to try out a Pizza dough recipe and make a Pizza for dinner.

It was an odd recipe, the dough being a bit more moist than I am used to, but then it seemed to have spread out fine - I reckon I should have doubled the recipe, and then used some of it to make a thicker crust - edges especially. The bits of crust that had oil on them browned nicely and even had a bit of a crisp to it. Next time I would baste the exposed edges to ensure this uniformly. I also used cornmeal on the bottom - next time I would use a bit more. It wasn't the best crust I've tasted, but it was good. I prefer a thicker, hand tossed sort of crust, again, doubling would allow for this.

This is a recipe for pizza dough from The Greens cookbook by Deborah Madison.

Yield 4 Servings - Says it makes 1 10inch crust, mine was nearly 12, but thin except for the edges.

3 tablespoons Hot water
3 tablespoons Hot milk
1¼ teaspoon Active dry yeast
1 pinch Sugar
1 tablespoon Olive oil
¼ teaspoonSalt
1 tablespoon Rye flour
2 tablespoons Whole wheat flour
⅝ cupUnbleached white flour (1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. **2Tbsp = 1/8 cup)
*I would just use 3/4 cup as you end up adding nearly another 2 Tbsp to keep it from sticking to the surface.

Combine water and milk and add sugar and yeast. Stir until yeast is dissolved and then mix in the olive oil, salt, rye flour, and whole wheat flour. Stir in flour to make soft dough, but only enough to keep dough from sticking. Dough should be slightly moist. Knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes and allow to rise in a covered oiled bowl for 30 - 45 minutes. Its a good idea to flip the dough over in the oiled bowl once or twice when you firs put it in so the surfce is coated with oil. Roll dough up into a ball and roll out. Stretch it to shape and roll out more to 1/8 in. thick. Add toppings and preheat oven to 500 Degrees. Bake for 8 - 10 Minutes or until dough is nicely browned

Cheers