eclaire (what’s in a) name?

i turned a year older last week, received some amazing presents from my family and friends (many of which will make it into another blog post because i want to share them with you), and had several fun celebrations.

a looong time ago, when i turned 10 years old, my parents threw me a party at natural bridges and had pizza delivered to the beach. i was SO excited by the prospect of having a delivery person show up at the beach, asking for “emilie’s party” that the pizza tasted even better than usual when it finally arrived. so this year, when i debated where and what to do for a small gathering, i realized – hey! i live on the westside now! why not go back to natural bridges and have another pizza party? – but since i’m double the age i was at my last beach pizza party (plus seven years), i decided to make it a little more grown up and make the pizza at home (and ask the numerous fantastic chefs in attendance to bring something delicious to share).

when i tell people that i make pizza dough from scratch, many people try to tell me how much time i could save by buying prepared crusts. but my parents raised me to expect that the default pizza dough would be handmade, so no use in trying to change that now! (that delivery pizza experience for my 10th bday was one of the few times i can recall eating non-homemade pizza.)

for this beach party, i made three different pizzas to appease the variety of eaters in attendance: one with mozzarella, homemade tomato sauce, pineapple, and fake canadian bacon; one with soy cheese, the same homemade tomato sauce, olives, and mushrooms; and the third with a vegan spread (annie’s spread is amazing, if you have never tried it before), plus zucchini and red bell peppers. i was so focused on making it to the beach on time that i didn’t take many pics (with my BEAUTIFUL new camera!!) of the finished products, so you’ll just have to ogle the dough instead.

powell people’s pizza

this recipe creates one big, thick crusted pizza pie or two thin crust pizzas. i doubled the recipe for my beach event and made three pizzas out of them, which created the perfect compromise between mike’s desire for thin crust pizzas and my desire for the thicker variety.

• 1¼c lukewarm water
• 2 pkgs dry yeast
• 1t sugar (i use brown, but white would work well too)
• 1t salt
• 1½c whole wheat flour (all purpose is ok, too)
• 3T flax seed meal (optional; i’m the only powell who does this)
• 1/4c olive oil
• 2c flour (i tend to use all purpose here, but feel free to experiment)
  ___________________________

1. combine water, yeast, and sugar in large mixing bowl (i use my kitchen aid) and let sit 10 minutes
2. add salt, flour, and flax seed meal (if using) and combine well
3. add olive oil, and combine thoroughly
4. add remaining two cups of flour, and knead until dough is no longer sticky
5. let the dough rise while you prep any toppings your heart desires (we love pesto with ricotta and zucchini on top or traditional tomato sauce with olives, zucchini, and pineapple the best)
6. now, you have some decisions – you can bake this dough in a circle on a cookie sheet or pizza stone (thank you, k&b, for introducing the pizza stone to me!), or you can press into a well greased rectangular pan. regardless of method, the easiest way to make the pizza turn out great is to put the crust only into a 400° oven for 5-10 minutes, then pull out and add sauce, cheese, and toppings (as i’m doing in the picture below). place the whole thing back in the oven for another 10-20 minutes, depending upon crust size and shape, remove when the crust is golden and firm to the touch, and enjoy!