The perfect lover is one who turns into a pizza at 4:00 a.m.

Last night, Jesse's sister & bro-in-law came over for dinner. The kitchen has been dealing with a number of messy explosions from my culinary adventures (!!), so I decided to go with a good, easy, somewhat mess-free meal.
Pizza made by yours truly (and its the best I've made yet!!): mozzarella from Humboldt Creamery, organic Californian red and green bell peppers (one each) roasted in the broiler, garlic paste, and bacon from the co-op.
Man, bacon's been my favorite food-item as of late. The fat is the best part, man! I used to cringe at Emeril's pork fat rocks 'philosophy' but there ain't anything bout it to cringe at! Except Emeril himself.. Bam! But yeah, the best thing is cooking bacon and then cook veggies in the drippings. Oh good lord!
I used this recipe for the pizza dough. It reminded me a lot of foccacia bread, I would say..except thinner and more....pizza-y!!! I used a pizza stone, which was pre-heated in an 450-475 degrees oven. The stone greatly contributed to the brickoven style (my favorite!) of my pies. Ace also taught me a great technique that worked super well : ) Onto the recipe!

3/4 cup warm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
2+ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
Combine water and yeast in small bowl (remember my emphasis on yeast & temperature). Let stand until foams, about five minutes.
Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor (by hand [slowly add yeast water as to avoid a mess!], or in a stand mixer). Add yeast mixture and 3 tbsp oil, process until dough forms a sticky ball. Transfer to lightly floured work surface. Knead dough until smooth and no longer sticks to your hands, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if still very sticky.
Transfer to large bowl lightly coated with olive oil and turn dough to coat with oil. Cover bowl with kitchen towel (not terrycloth) and let dough rise in a warm area (I turned the oven to 200 degrees and sat the bowl on/besides it) until doubled in volume, about an hour. Punch down dough.
Roll out dough, starting in center, working outward toward edges but not over them.
Bake at 450 degrees, 475 degrees with toppings.




450 degrees, 475 with toppings huh?? Now here's where I'll tell you the wonderful technique Ace taught me for home bakers :)
Parbaking. He claims it's a must for pizza at home!
So I used a pizza stone. It was preheated for a good while in the oven after using the broiler to roast the bell peppers. Got all nice and hot! I sprinkled polenta (coarse ground cornmeal) on the stone before transferring the dough. On went the dough, and it was baked 'naked' without any toppings until it was about 3/4th way done. Ideally, the bottom should be golden and the top should not be 'streched' or cracked. At this point, put the toppings on and finish it off for another couple minutes!
Funny, while I was doing my thing in the kitchen, I was getting skeptical looks and asked like, twice-- are you sure you know what you're doing??? G'dang it, people. Y'all better learn to shut it or stay out of the kitchen ;) Things like that said to me makes me maaddd. So I didn't do the second pie, which wasn't parbaked.
But that was great though because then I could taste both ways and compare. The latter pie was great too-only two differences.. it had tomato sauce while I used garlic paste (most awesome spicy-ness, I'm telling ya!) and it wasn't parbaked, while mine was. Parbaking did make a difference! My pie had the loveliest golden bottom, the interior was cooked through, and it was strong enough to hold the cheese &toppings without sagging. Whereas the one that wasn't parbaked was baked well around the edges, but a few inches in the center sagged. Imagine two circles, big with smaller one in the center. The whole center- sag while the outer part- crisp. Thaat ; ) Wasn't bad, though! Can't go wrong with the dough..but it's a matter of preference, and I like brickoven style!
Topping I did: Prepare everything while the dough is rising. These are mentioned in the order they go on the pizza (bacon&peppers interchangeable). I used almost a whole monster-sized head of garlic (paper skin removed, of course) with a large pinch of salt. Combine the two in a food processor and let it sit for a few minutes to soften. Blend until it's paste-like (please tell me if you got another way to do this! I'd like to know :) ). Use the potato/veggie slicer on the side of a box grater (this is a quick way Jesse sliced the moz into uniform cheese slices. Grate or use a knife as you wish.) and slice a pound of mozzarella (Jesse wants to make sure I tell y'all a pound wasn't enough for us!). Store it, covered, in the refrigerator until ready for use (everything else can be left out). Roast one of each-- red and green bell peppers-- in a broiler, and flip the peppers every time the skin is blackened all the way until the entire pepper is blackened. Remove from broiler; turn the oven to the appropriate heat. Once cooled enough to touch, peel the blackened skin. This is really easy and can be done with the hands. Slice in half (might be liquid waiting to pour out!); remove the stem and scrape out the seeds and ribs with a knife. Slice into slightly thicker-than-matchsticks and put aside. Add chopped bacon to a warm nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until desired crispiness. Remove and drain on paper towels.