Monday's Menu

 If you've been around us for any length of time, particularly when Chick and Dude were younger, then you know that Friday night is pizza night. In the last few years, we've let up on that some but we still usually have pizza on the weekend. Weekend pizzas almost always involve my quick pizza crust recipe. 

When I was in college, a Pizza Hut across the street from campus had a unique buffet lunch. They would make personal pan pizzas by the dozens in pepperoni and supreme. You would go in and pay for your lunch, then you could eat as many of the personal pans as you wanted.

I know, I know. How ever did we fit into our desk chairs after that? I don't know. I figure all the walking across campus probably helped and, too, we were all too poor to have it very often. But I don't think I had ever eaten pan pizza before that. And I was in love. You know how I love my bread.

So it shouldn't be a surprise that I have often been sad that I didn't have a good pan pizza recipe. 

Until about a year ago. That's when I first tried this recipe. It is intended to make 3 smaller pizzas but I make it into 2 using 10-inch pans.

You have to give yourself some lead time but it's pretty easy to make and tastes great. After mixing up the dough and kneading it,

you cut it into two crusts (or three if you have smaller pans).

Roll each one out to about the size of the pan. I got this one a little big, but that's okay.

Then put it into your pan (that already has a few ounces of oil in it). 

Then you let the yeast and the warmth do it's thing. Pretty soon (well, relatively) it's nice and puffy.

Sometimes I like to brush melted butter around the edges before I start adding everything to it. Then sauce 'er up, put on some cheese, some toppings, and a little more cheese. And bake.

Take a look at the deep dish crust on that baby.

When you cut into it, you can hear the little crunch it makes. The second one got a little brown on top but you can see the crust in this picture of a slice.

It's really good stuff. And it's all pretty basic ingredients. I usually keep pepperoni at the very least in the freezer for making pizza but I had run out and all I had was hamburger on this day. Beef pizzas it was. Nobody complained.

Plus there was snow on the ground. Nope, not going out for pepperoni in that.

So here's the recipe. The original recipe came from here. I adapted it slightly to use liquid milk. And since we don't do nasty vegetable oil, I used olive oil when oil was called for. Other than that, it is pretty much the same as the original.

Enjoy.

Copycat Pizza Hut Pan Pizza Crust

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 pkg.) dry active yeast

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk, warmed

1/3 cup water, warmed

2 Tablespoons oil

4 cups all-purpose flour

Combine yeast, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add water and milk, stirring to mix. Remember, it should be warm like a bath, not super hot. Allow to sit for about 2 minutes or until yeast starts to foam.

Mix in the oil. Working a cup at a time, mix in the flour. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead dough for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into two balls.

Roll each out to approximate size of pan. Add about 3 ounces of oil to each pan. Place a dough circle into each pan. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

When rising time is over, preheat oven to 475 degrees. Spread sauce on each crust. Sprinkle with cheese. Add desired toppings and a small amount more of cheese if desired. Bake about 11-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly with golden edges.