Game Night

I love Friday nights. Friday night is the beginning of what could be a wonderful weekend. Friday nights are made for something fun! Our new Friday night tradition was started when my husband (the fun parent) started working nights and weekends. How were the kids (my eight-year-old son and my fourteen-year-old daughter) and I going to celebrate my favorite night of the week? Game night, we decided, was the way we were going to celebrate Friday nights.

And, pizza was the perfect food for our new tradition. Pepperoni pizza works for my son and daughter, but I wanted something different. White Pizza from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten was exactly what I wanted. I made pizza dough in my bread machine on Thursday night. The pizza dough was more pliable and easier to shape when I made it the night before and put it in the refrigerator overnight. My daughter helped me stretch and shape the pizza dough. While I was making the toppings for my pizza, my daughter decided she would like to try the White Pizza. I wasn't sure she would enjoy a bunch of arugula on her pizza, but I was happy she wanted to try. We sat down to eat our pizza and my daughter proclaimed the White Pizza amazing. Wow, she liked a pizza with feta cheese and arugula. In that moment, I realized my daughter was a foodie.

Bread Machine Pizza Dough
This recipe came in the instructions for my bread machine, and it makes a 2lb. loaf.
1 3/8 Cups Water
4 Cups Bread Flour
2 Tbsp. Dry Milk
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1 ¾ tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 ¾ tsp. Active Dry Yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine in the order they appear, making a well in the flour and place the yeast in the well. Follow the directions for your bread machine for dough. When the dough had finished its cycle in the bread machine, remove the dough and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 30 minutes. Once it has risen, take it out and cut into equal portions. Form the portions into balls, and let rest for 15 minutes. At this point I put the dough into the refrigerator overnight. Shape pizza dough, top and cook at 400° for 15 to 20 minutes.

White Pizza with Arugula
This recipe came from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics by Ina Garten with a few changes.

Pizza Dough (see my recipe above)
½ cup olive oil
4 Garlic Cloves, sliced
5 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
3 cups grated Fontina cheese
1 ½ cups grated mozzarella
11 oz. Feta cheese

For the Arugula Salad
½ cup good olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
8oz. baby arugula

To make the garlic oil, place ½ cup of olive oil, garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and let steep for 10 minutes making sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Let cool slightly.

Brush pizza dough with the garlic oil and top with the cheeses. Bake the pizzas in a 400° for 10 to 15 minutes until the crust is crisp and the cheese begins to brown.

In the meantime, whisk together ½ cup of the olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Once the pizza is out of the oven, top with the arugula, and serve immediately.