I get Bon Appetit every month, savor it, look it over page by page, critique the photos and dog-ear the recipes I intend to make... and then put it in the stack of all the other Bon Appetits and rarely actually pick it up again. This is stupid.

Take this recipe, for example. Had I not started to feel really guilty about my choosing the internet over print I would probably have just forgotten about it and moved on. Luckily May's issue came smack dab in the middle of what seems to be an annual internal debate about the role of internet in our lives.

So long story short, I made this pizza. And it was so so good. I would make it again in a second.

Roman-Style Pizza with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Cheese

Roll or stretch the dough as thin as possible to get a classic thin and crispy crust.

4-6 servings

• PREP TIME: 1 hour
• TOTAL TIME: 2 hours 10 minutes (includes rising time)

Ingredients

2 tsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
7 1/2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tsp. kosher salt plus more
2 1/4 cups (or more) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 lb. cherry or grape tomatoes
Freshly ground black pepper
Semolina (for dusting)
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided
2 cups grated mozzarella (about 8 oz.), or 6 oz. buffalo mozzarella, thinly sliced, divided

Chopped fresh basil

Preparation

Combine 3/4 cup warm water (105°-115°), sugar, and yeast in a large bowl; let sit until spongy, 4-5 minutes. Mix in 1 1/2 Tbsp. oil and 1 tsp. salt. Stir in 2 1/4 cups flour. Turn out onto a work surface; knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if sticking, about 6 minutes. Grease a large bowl with 1 Tbsp. oil. Add dough, cover bowl with plastic; let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, position one rack in top third of oven and another in bottom third; place a pizza stone on top rack and preheat oven to 500°. Scatter tomatoes on a large rimmed baking sheet. Add 1 Tbsp. oil, toss, and season with salt and pepper. Place on lower rack; roast until skins split, 10-12 minutes. Let cool on rack. Continue heating pizza stone for 45 more minutes.

Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet with semolina. Divide dough in half; roll or stretch each into a 13x9" rectangle. Cover with kitchen towels; let stand for 15 minutes. Transfer 1 rectangle to prepared pizza peel. Brush with 2 Tbsp. oil, sprinkle with half of the Parmesan, then mozzarella, and top with half of the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

Set front of peel at far edge of stone; gently jiggle peel side to side, sliding pizza onto stone as you remove peel. Bake until crust is browned and crisp, 9-10 minutes. Using peel, transfer pizza to work surface. Garnish with basil. Slice and serve.

Repeat to make second pizza.

birthday pizza party!

Ok not really. But it was recently my birthday and I got a bunch of really great gifts-all of which were total surprises. Do you see a theme here?

• Johnny sent me a song that sounds like Daft Punk wishing my a happy birthday
  
• Sarah made me an amazing cake that I have now had for breakfast five days in a row, not to mention homemade salsa and jams
  
• Todd made me a sign that says "I (heart) mayo"
  
• Jen gave me pretty white dishes to take food pictures on (you will be seeing a lot of them)
• Heather made me cookies; Sophie made me blondies
  
• Matt gave me a baking stone, a cookbook, and a bread machine!
  

I have no idea how I got so lucky, but I'm really very thankful for it.

So having listened to my song about ten times on repeat, and finally finally wanting something other than sweets for a meal, I decided to make a pizza, dough and all! And it actually turned out really yummy. I used a Cooks Illustrated dough recipe and hijacked a Bon Appetit toppings recipe and I shall call the concoction "28 is Great... for PIZZA". Ok, I'll work on the name, but really the recipe is good.


28 Is Great... for PIZZA
(or caramelized onion & mushroom pizza)

dough (via Cooks Illustrated)

1 3/4	cups water , warm (about 105 degrees)
1	envelope rapid-rise dry yeast
1	tablespoon granulated sugar
2	tablespoons olive oil
4	cups unbleached all-purpose flour , plus extra as needed
1 1/2	teaspoons table salt
	Vegetable oil (or cooking spray) for bowl

Instructions

1. Set oven to 200 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn oven off.

2. Meanwhile, in bowl of food processor fitted with either metal or plastic blade, add water and sprinkle in yeast and sugar. Pulse twice to dissolve yeast. Add all remaining ingredients and process until mixture forms cohesive mass. Dough should not be sticky (if it is, add 2 more tablespoons flour and pulse briefly) nor should it be dry and crumbly (if it is, add 1 more tablespoons water and pulse briefly). Let rest for 2 minutes. Process for another 30 seconds.

3. Remove dough from food processor and knead by hand on floured work surface for 1 minute or until dough is smooth and satiny (dough will feel a bit tough at this point).

4. Very lightly oil large bowl with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Place dough in bowl (do not coat dough with oil) and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 40 minutes or until doubled. Remove from bowl, punch down, remove from bowl and separate into two round pieces. Let rest for 10 minutes under damp dish towel, then shape according to illustrations below, and add toppings.

5. Proceed to cook topped pizza in preheated 500-degree oven using the following guide to determine cooking time for pizza crust with topping but without cheese. All pizzas need to be cooked an additional two or three minutes after adding cheese, or until cheese is completely melted.

Toppings (adapted from Bon Appetit)

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 large onions, thinly sliced
• 8 oz mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 1 (5-oz) package Boursin garlic-herb cheese

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then cook onions with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to moderate and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden, about 15 minutes more. Add mushrooms, reduce heat to low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and deep golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Remove from heat and cool to warm, about 10 minutes.