Dinner Theatre

One Night Only...
Liza Minnelli Inspired Airstream Cabaret Pizza Party

BYOB and Bring your own Sequined Clothing also please...

Okay....... put down the tuxedo jacket and sequined hot pants, I am only kidding. I just listed this 1930's hat in my Etsy shop and the photo was just too much. I nearly peed my pants laughing when I sorted through all the photos (a few of them are beyond ridiculous) to eventually land on this one. Billy was the photographer. I need you to imagine Billy and I out in the Russian Gulch State Park maintenance yard with me in sequins, red lip gloss and this hat. I am also wearing my big old dirty brown Crocs on my feet. It's a real possibility that this is a first for this particular neck of the woods. If I actually knew any Liza Minneli songs I could go downtown and try to make some tips on the street corner this afternoon. Or I could get rotten fruit thrown at my head eventually leading to the ruin of the lovely hat.

In hat reality I am actually wearing this particular one totally wrong. It is meant to be worn on the top-back of your head...like a little skull cap. But the latent Broadway Diva in me forced it to the front of my head at a sassy angle. Go figure.

On to the pizza part of the story. Billy and I made a really fantabulous homemade pizza (crust from scratch) the other night. I just wanted to put the idea out there for you that homemade pizza is sooo much better than delivery and it is not at all hard to make! Billy made the crust which was simple enough task if you can devote the time to it. You have to let the dough rise for at least two hours after you first form it. The ingredients list is simple...

3 cups all purpose or bread flour (plus more for kneading)
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

The easiest way to whip up the dough is in a food processor but Billy just did it by hand. Combine half the flour with the salt and yeast and stir to blend. Add 1 cup water and the 2 tablespoons olive oil; stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add remaining flour a bit at a time; when the mixture becomes too stiff to stir with a spoon, begin kneading, adding as little four as possible - just enough to keep the dough from being a sticky mess. Knead until smooth but still quite moist, about 10 minutes. Grease a bowl with the remaining olive oil, and place the dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let rise in warm, draft-free area until the dough doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours. You can cut this rising time short if you are in a hurry, or you can let the dough rise more slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 6 to 8 hours.

Finally you just pull the dough and punch it down and stretch it, let it rest for about twenty minutes and then roll it out on your pizza stone or baking sheet and form the crust into the desired shape. We kept our toppings simple.... red sauce, caramelized onions, sauteed arugula, portobello mushrooms, garlic, asiago and mozzarella cheese, thin slices of tomato on top and then fresh basil when it came out of the oven. My biggest tip is this (learned from my Mom who makes kick ass pizza) always cook your toppings individually. By this I mean cook the mushrooms and garlic together then take them out of the pan and do the onions alone, then if you are adding peppers cook them separately etc. Doing this helps each veggie maintain it's own unique flavor, everything does not end up tasting the same. Make sure you cook all the water out of the veggies too or you will end up with a soggy pie.

The desired oven temp is about 500 degrees. Our oven does not get that hot so we just turn it all the way up and let it get as hot as it can get before popping the pizza in for about 12 to 14 minutes. Start watching it at around 10 minutes just to make sure you do not burn the living crap out of it.

Here's our finished pizza...




Not too shabby eh? I am tellin' ya kids it was deeeeelish! Go the extra mile and grab fresh herbs to throw on top at the end and you will not be sorry. They really make a huge difference. Bon Appetite!