The Scent of Routine

Since we moved to Budapest, we have seen our home life evolve into some pretty nice routines. If it's Friday, you can always guess what we'll be doing........it's pizza day at our house. Friday morning, after breakfast, I make 2 recipes of dough. I don't have a bread machine, so I've mastered the art of kneading it by hand and letting it rise. Then, about 4 PM I start chopping the veggies and shredding cheese (by hand of course!). I buy a huge block of cheese and shred all of it - enough for 5 pizzas. At 4:30 PM we turn the kitchen table into a pizza factory with our rolling pins, flour, pizza pans, sauce, & toppings. The children take turns rolling dough, spreading the sauce and decorating their pizza, and mostly sampling the toppings. They like to eat more than they put on their pizzas. Stephen discovered he liked mushrooms last week! We can only bake 2 pizzas in the oven at one time, so by 5:30 most of them are done.......and they are sooooo delicious! Our favorite topping (the adults) are the spicy Hungarian peppers. The kids' favorite - cheese. (No surprise there.) The whole house seems to be exhaling the scent of Italy. We haven't yet made our homemade pizzas like the Hungarians do - baked with corn on top, and smothered in ketchup and mayo. This surprisingly simple routine has given us that something to look forward to at the end of the week, and has meshed us together with some fun together time. After dinner, we pile pillows and blankets on the floor, and chose a kids movie to watch - a movie that is in ENGLISH.

Here's our recipe, enough for 2-3 pizzas, depending on the thickness.
mix together:
3 1/3 cup flour (half whole wheat, half white flour)
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp yeast
Then add some olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water.
Knead together until smooth and ball shaped. Let rise!


"Mom, is it Friday yet?"