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Pousfam lounml WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2006 The Home Journal’s DINNER TABLE Kitchen tour Don’t forget to get your tickets for the Centerville United Methodist Women’s kitchen tour and lun cheon on Saturday. The tour is $lO. The luncheon is $5. Call 953-3090 or 953-5387 for more information. A mK$ ''rmf Jf •' * Walnut wonders Wouldn’t this Walnut- Crusted Caramel- Bourbon Swirl Cheesecake be a great finale for your next dinner party? While we’re waiting for middle Georgia’s pecan har vest, try some wonder ful ways with walnuts on Page SC. Frozen casseroles It’s time to place your orders for the Christ Episcopal Church Women’s frozen holiday casserole sale. They have homemade chick en, squash and sweet potato casseroles. Call 923-1791 for ordering details. You can pick them up to put them in your freezer on Nov. 11 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Baked Beans This week’s install ment in the “Sea to Shining Sea” series is Massachusetts, which naturally led us to think about Boston, which reminded us that Boston’s most famous dish is also a humble one, invented by thrifty Puritans, and still a favorite today. See Page 2C. fIMMgWBgMMMBr. Muffinmania Cooler weather means it’s time to get out the muffin tins and make breakfast special. We’ve even got a muf fin recipe with ham and cheese built right in. Check it out on Page 6C. making your own pizza saves a bundle By CHARLOTTE PERKINS Journal Lifestyle Editor tarting in the late 19505, pizza became a phenom -1 enon in American 1 food history, going from a food little known except in Italian commu nities to being an all-time family favorite. According to “American Heritage,” 93 percent of Americans eat pizza at least once a month, and on Super Bowl Sunday, 70 percent of viewers are eating pizza while they’re watching the game. With kids, although they may be picky about the toppings, it’s the all-time favorite, coming in ahead of hot dogs and hamburg ers both. All told, pizza is a S3O bil lion per year industry, and a big profit-maker, too. At anywhere from sl2 to $25 per pizza for the kind you get delivered, and $7 to sl2 for the better fro zen products, pizza makes money for those who sell it. After all, it’s just bread, tomato sauce, a scattering of toppings, some cheese. (At today’s prices, the cheese is likely to be the most expen sive ingredient!) So why not follow the example of generations of Italian home cooks and make it yourself? The only part of mak ing pizza that’s a challenge for the beginner is making the crust, which is a basic yeast bread dough. It helps to have some basic pizza making equip ment, like the right pans, or a baking stone or pizza screen (see sidebar), a pizza wheel cutter, but these items will pay for them selves with the savings of doing it yourself So give it a try! National Pizza Month starts on Sunday, so if you plan ahead, you can celebrate with a family pizza-making party. Beginner’s Pizza This is a basic pizza rec ipe to individualize with your own toppings. Makes 2 (12-inch) pizzas 3 to 3 1/2 cups all-pur pose flour i | kB jB, 4 SB m Jmj Hk I^,^. jp . * am “Pizza Splendita” has toppings kneaded right into the crust. Food —— 1 j BBr PHHj 'A**** • -Ip*, H ygs « If ■ FleUchmann’s Making pizza at home means making it your own way. This “pizza mexicali” is topped with ground beef and pep pers. 1 envelope Fleischmann’s Rapidßise Yeast 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup very warm water 2 tablespoons olive oil Commeal Toppings (suggestions follow) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine one cup flour, undissolved yeast, and salt. Gradually add water and oil to flour mixture. Beat two minutes at medi um speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 min utes. Cover; let rest 10 min utes. Divide dough in half; roll each to a 13-inch circle. Place on 2 (12-inch) greased pizza pans that have been sprinkled with cornmeal. Form a standing rim by pinching the edge of the dough. Prick dough with fork randomly. Let rest 10 min utes. Brush dough with olive oil. Pre-bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven. See PIZZA, page 4C Fleiachmann’t Pizza trivia Special to the Journal Well, there’s nothing really trivial about these numbers, but they’ll give you an idea of how a sim ple Neapolitan street food has grown into a huge industry. ■ Americans eat approx imately 100 acres of pizza each day, or about 350 slic es per second, according to the National Restaurant Association. ■ Pizzerias represent 17 percent of all restaurants. (Source: Food Industry News.). ■ Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of 46 slices, (23 pounds), of pizza per year. (Source: Packaged Facts, New York.) ■ According to a recent Gallop Poll, children between the ages of 3 and 11 prefer pizza over all other food groups for lunch and dinner. A study done by a U.S. Department of Agriculture statistician and home Pizza pointers One of the best Websites we found for making pizza is Billyreisinger. com. Reisinger will take you through the process in everyday terms, and offers what he calls a “ridicu- l°usly thor ough guide to making your own pizza - a guide for the pizza amateur.” It’s worth printing out! Reisinger recommends using an inexpensive pizza screen instead of a pizza stone, and points out that you can buy one for under $6 from foodservicedirect. com, which seems to have almost everything you might need. The wooden paddles you’ve seen used in piz zerias are called “peels.” c economist found that in a three-day survey period, 42% of children between the ages of 6 and 11 has eaten pizza. (Source: Smithsonian Magazine.) ■ 94 percent of the pop ulation of the U.S. eats pizza. (Source: Parade Magazine.) The rise in popular ity of pizza has been a boon to cheese makers, but pepperoni is by far America’s favorite topping, (36 percent of all pizza orders). Approximately 251,770,000 pounds of pepperoni are consumed on pizzas annually. Other popular pizza toppings are mushrooms, extra cheese, sausage, green pepper and onions. ■ 62 percent of Americans prefer meat toppings on their pizza, while 38 percent prefer vegetarian toppings, with women twice as likely as men to order vegetarian toppings on their pizza. (Source: Bolla Wines.) These are great for mov ing the pizza into the oven and out again if you’re not using a pan. Pizza stones, or baking stones, which are heated in the oven and then used as a cooking surface, are popular with ra„,, »* r r . many home cooks, ■’A and m a y / also b e *»*** |MW,,-I ordered from food servicedirect.com, from WilliamsSonoma.com, or from your local Pampered Chef representatives. A good variety of pizza pans can be ordered from pizzaware.com, which also has an encyclopedic amount of information about making pizzas, and offers recipes and a cook book. - Charlotte Perkins