Pizza Toppings for Pan Fried Pizza a la James Barber

Pancetta, Hazelnuts, and Garlic Pizza: In a small skillet over low heat, cook 1 cup diced pancetta (Canadian Superstore has nice perfectly salted pancetta) in one tbsp. of olive oil for 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup skinned, chopped hazelnuts and 2 cloves of thinly sliced and chopped garlic. Heat gently until nuts toast lightly. Then add 1 clove minced garlic, 1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley, salt, and pepper. Brush dough with 2 tbsp. of fat from the pan, and top with 6 ounces grated mozzarella and the pancetta mixture.

Smoked Turkey and Fontina Pizza: In a skillet, saute 3 large thinly sliced yellow onions in 1 tbsp. each butter and walnut oil until lightly browned. Spread over dough and top with 1/3 pound each julienned smoked turkey breast and diced Italian Fontina cheese, salt, pepper, 1 tbsp. of additional walnut oil.

Poor Man's Pan Fried Pizza

This pizza is so cool and I got the recipe from the renowned Urban Peasant the late James Barber. Years ago I was putting together a cookbook to raise money for charity and thought a recipe from my favorite on TV cook would be amazing. If you can believe it I took a chance and looked up his phone number in the phone book and there it was! I called him and he answered. "Can you wait for one moment dear, I've got some soup on the stove and I've got to turn it down." He was so nice and gracious and had one of his assistant's to fax over to my office a variety of recipes I could use. I love this pan fried pizza and it's so easy!

Dough: one cup of flour, 1 tsp. of baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tbsp. of vegetable oil, 4-6 tbsp. of water, a handful of grated cheese, 1/2 tsp. of oregano.
Topping Suggestions: sliced tomatoes, fried bacon, sliced mushrooms (they're maaarvelous), canned shrimp or salmon, avocado, salami, basil leaves, Alfredo sauce (goes nice with shrimp/mushrooms) - it's up to you.

In a bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, oil, and water and knead until you get a stiffish dough. Add the cheese and oregano and knead for another minute then flatten with a rolling pin until it's the thickness of your little finger. Heat the oil in a fry pan, lay in the dough and cook over medium/low heat for 5 minutes. Turn it over, top with whatever you want, sprinkle on the cheese and cook another 5 minutes. For a softer bread cook with the lid on, for a crisper, dryer bread cook without the lid.

I've Missed Me

Could that have been a more accurate description of our current culture. Self absorbed, self centred and of course self-involved. Not that there is anything wrong with this....but then again, it is probably the attitude that has influenced our culture lately. For instance: I've never taken more pictures of myself! When I'm bored, sitting at a stop light, or waiting for my kids to get out of school, what else is there to do...but take a picture of yourself with your cell phone. And then of course there is FACE BOOK; Everybody's way to get noticed. We all need a little acknowledgment don't we? Even at the expense of having several odd societal misfits contact you to be their friend. Then of course there is the hideous pop culture icon Paris Hilton, who CNN bumped "maverick" Micheal Moore for...have we lost our minds? How about some pizza instead:

I have found a delicious, bread machine pizza dough recipe and have on the same day, discovered the best cheese for pizza: a la farmer! I asked a deli artist at my grocery store the other day for Farmer's cheese and I think she thought I was impaired, because she kept correcting the way I was saying it. "Perhaps you mean, Foremost, it's an actual brand." "No, I said, I mean Farmer's." "No, she continued, there is an actual company, like Dairyland, that supplies, milk, cheese, and eggs, I think that is what you meant. " I think you are right I conceded; then I walked through the cheddar, brie, and mozzarella and found a nice white brick of Farmer's on my own. I believe in letting people figure things out for themselves. I'm sure one day when she is stacking blocks of cheese she will come across a cheese called Farmer and perhaps re-label the cheese herself as according to her, there is no such thing as Farmer's cheese. I have a mother-in-law like this. She told the mother for whom a baby shower was being thrown, that she'd spelled her own child's name wrong...These are people put in our pathway to teach us patience, tolerance, and extreme flexibility. Here is the recipe:

In your bread machine add, 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of oil, 2 cups of white flour, 1 cup of whole wheat (or just 3 cups of white) 1 tsp. of salt, 1 tbsp. of sugar, and 2 tsp. of yeast. Put on the dough setting. Once it's done, throw the dough onto a floured surface, stretch a bit and begin channelling someone's Italian Grandmother. Roll the dough out into a nice circle with your floured rolling pin, curl the outside edges once or twice to make a nice crust. Children don't generally even eat the crust so who cares if it isn't perfect, you can eat it with some balsalmic and olive oil later or feed it to the already cat sized squirrels in your neighborhood.

Put onto a pizza stone or a pizza pan.

Top with some tomato sauce, and any of your favorite toppings, then top with shredded Farmer's Cheese, and mix it up if you like with some mozzerella. Farmer's is delicious however. Bake at 400 degrees until the crust is toasted and the cheese pleasantly melted.