caffeine | Christy Drake Diva of Delicious

Some Days Call For Less Caffeine…

Wow, I’ve been running all over the planet it seems these days. The weather is warmer and there are more and more things to do. I’ve been overdoing the caffeine a bit though just to keep up with the pace. I looked in the sink after making the pizza I am about to show you, and saw to my horror that I’ve become a java junkie! I do so love coffee in the morning but lately I’ve been going everywhere accompanied by a full travel mug.

I know I can’t detox all at once or that caffeine-free headache-behind-the-eye thing happens. So I’ll have to take it in stages. It’s really the warm yumminess that I like about coffee. Going to herbal tea a little more often might help that along. I’m in good health but I don’t think so much caffeine is good.

I do know what IS good though. The pizza I mentioned earlier sure was. It was a rustic style pizza made with freshly ground whole wheat, grape tomatoes, onion, fresh from the garden basil, garlic powder, and freshly shredded Monterey jack cheese.

First I ground one cup of wheat which made approximately 2 cups flour. With 3/4 cup of warm water and a tablespoon of honey in a mixing bowl, I disolved two teaspoons of active dry yeast (1 packet). I waited for it to get foamy on top and added the flour, a teaspoon of salt, plus another 1/2 cup of all purpose flour …more or less to make the dough less sticky. I let it rise to double and punched it down, this time letting it rest for just another ten minutes. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and started to shape the dough to fit the baking stone. I used some of the all purpose flour to help the dough slide off later.

The topping is simple, I coat the dough with extra virgin olive oil, and garlic powder, then spread the cheese, onions, diced tomatoes, and basil roughly chopped all around. This is baked for 15 minutes or until the crust has a slight golden brown edge. Slice it right away because you will want to eat it as soon as it has cooled slightly.

The wheat took 15 minutes to grind, dough took 30 minutes total to rise and the pizza another 15 minutes to bake. Inside of this hour I did a load of laundry, mailed a birthday card, straightened the living room, answered the phone about four times, and swept the back patio and the front porch (I think the coffee should be worn off by now).