Wow, you have everything you need to perfect your pizza making skills. I'll bet there are some wonderfully creative ideas in the cookbook. I love non traditional and traditional toppings. You're gonna have such fun. Hope your feeling good again Jayne, I'll be looking forward to more pictures. You sent a terrific box Ann, I love it. Lee

I love baby clams with my home-marinated artichoke hearts as a topping, which is strange, because I don't care for any other seafood on pizza. I also love my pickled jalapeno rings on a cheese pizza. When I worked in a pizza parlor as a teen, we used to make those pizzas and scarf on them, waiting to see whose eyes would start watering first. I also like to eat crisp, cold dill pickles with pizza (not on it)which is another thing I picked up working there...yeah, I know, salt on top of salt, but I love the combo.

Annie, I can't speak to the perforated pan, since my method is to use parchment paper. If you use my crust, it's easy to make the thinnest crust pizza just using your hands. It's only technique, but for myself, I like the parchment paper on the stone and liken using a stone as a quick sear method to help set the crust. If the pizza is thin enough, and you don't overload it with ingredients, the middle won't be soggy. At the high heat, it also comes out with the browned crust you expect from a pizza parlor. I always make the outer edge of the crust a little thicker, with the middle as thin as I can make it. Try using half the amount of ingredients you normally would and see if it makes a difference. (I know, it goes against my basic nature to use restraint, but it really makes a difference!) One recipe of my crust will cover the bottom of a half sheet pan (on parchment), which lets you know how much the dough should stretch. I've tried Ann's method of using an peel and sadly I am obviously not coordinated enough to manage it. It seemed that in order to get them to move, my crusts always had too much flour, and the cornmeal always burned and smoked in my oven. I'd really like to watch her do it, so I figure out a new technique! My pizza crust also has an olive oil coating (top and bottom), which helps create a crispy exterior and flavor that I like. It's impossible to move anywhere after you oil the dough, spread it out and load it, which is why I like making it on the parchment. This is only a theory on my part, but I think when you make your crust in a pan, the tendency is to overload the toppings since you have a pan to support the crust. The pan will take time to heat up with the pizza in it, which is why the top burns before the bottom gets done. There are many ways to make pizza, however I know this is the only way I can make mine turn out! Since I'm also a fan of thin and crispy (St. Louis style) pizza, that's the style I wanted to learn to make. I am dismal failure with anything else...

I do it all from scratch. YUM! Yes....jarred spaghetti sauce is fine to use. Crust: I use a bread machine. 3 cups regular flour 2 1/2 tsp baking yeast(sold @ health food stores, it's "not" quick rising) 1 1/4 cups water The machine mixes and kneeds the dough, lets it rise then kneads again. Ready in 1 1/2 hours. 16" pizza pan, grease with butter, sprinkle with corn meal(if you want to), flour your hands, spread dough onto pan. 8oz tom sauce 1 roma tomato diced 1/4 cup diced onion 1 clove garlic minced 1 red bell pepper diced Mushrooms or olives....or other toppings 1/2 tsp dry basil 6oz sliced pepparoni OR 1 lb sausage(cooked) 12oz motzarella cheese, grated put on pizza in the order listed....bake @ 450 for 25 minutes,If you have a convection oven put a cookie sheet on the rack above the pizza, remove the pan after 25 minutes, bake another 5 minutes to toast the cheese a little.