Blogging and Beer Crust.........

Ya know, there's literally zillions of food/cooking/recipe sites and blogs out there.

I've got around 40 favorites on my sidebar and a crapload more bookmarked on the old computer.

Mine I do for shits and giggles, it keeps me entertained and hopefully dear readers, it might do the same for you too.

Getting back to the plethora of blogs out there it's surprising how many are of very high quality.  I discovered in a hurry that Tupper Cooks! would be a strictly amateur venture, at least until I retire.

It simply takes a tremendous amount of time to do a great blog, so kudos to those that pull it off.

One of the very cool things about getting into this part of cyberspace is that you meet some very cool and talented people.

One is Donna Curry, whose blog Cookistry is very well done.  She's a great cook and writer, her blog is well written, has great pics and is very entertaining. 

Donna's also very accommodating if you have questions about anything cooking related.

She's a pro.

Another blog that I read is Pavlov's Blog, by Michael Therieau. 

 Now here's a brand new blog, been up less than a month. It doesn't have the bells and whistles of many blogs, but (and this is key), the dude can write.

He's extremely knowledgeable about food and the food industry while at the same time being  piss your pants funny.

So if you get a chance, check 'em out!

So that was the blogging portion of this post, here's the Pizza Beer Crust Portion.
Pizza, Beer, what's not to like?

I was checking the King Arthur site and found this recipe for what looks to be a good crust.

Hopefully I'll get to try it this weekend.....

(Click Here for the Link to KA & The Recipe)

Quick Beer-Crust Pizza

Beer adds just a hint of fragrance and flavor to this quick pizza dough. 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 1/2 cups semolina* 1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor, optional 2 teaspoons instant yeast 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 ½ teaspoons salt 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 ½ cups room-temperature beer *Substitute unbleached all-purpose flour if you don't have semolina. 10 1/2 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 8 1/4 ounces semolina* 1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor, optional 2 teaspoons instant yeast 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 ½ teaspoons salt 7/8 ounce olive oil 12 ounces room-temperature beer *Substitute unbleached all-purpose flour if you don't have semolina. 298g King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 234g semolina* 1 tablespoon Pizza Dough Flavor, optional 2 teaspoons instant yeast 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 ½ teaspoons salt 25g olive oil 340g room-temperature beer *Substitute unbleached all-purpose flour if you don't have semolina. Directions 1) Mix and knead together all of the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer or bread machine — until you've made a smooth, soft dough. 2) Cover the dough, and allow it to rise for 30 minutes, or for up to 2 hours. 3) Preheat the oven to 450°F with the pizza stone (if you're using one) on a lower rack. 4) Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a 10" to 12" round. 5) Place the rounds on parchment paper, if you're going to use a pizza stone. Or place the dough on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. For thin to medium crust, bake the pizzas immediately. For thicker crust, let them rise for 30 to 60 minutes. 6) Transfer the pizzas, parchment and all, to the baking stone. Or place the pans in the oven. 7) Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, top as desired, and bake for an additional 15 minutes, until the bottom crust is crisp and the cheese is bubbly and browned. 8) Remove from the oven, and serve hot. Yield: 2 pizzas.

Recipe summary Hands-on time: 20 mins. to 30 mins. Baking time: 18 mins. to 48 mins. Total time: 1 hrs 8 mins. to 3 hrs 28 mins. Yield: 2 crusts Tips from our bakers We like to top our pizzas with cheese, but prefer it to be gently melted, rather than browned/hard. To that end, we add any meat, veggies, etc. after 5 minutes of baking time; half the cheese after 15 minutes (total) baking time; bake for 3 minutes; add the remainder of the cheese, then bake for an additional 2 minutes, until the second addition of cheese is barely melted.

Happy Baking My Friends!