WAINSCOTING

This is the first house we've owned that had wainscoting included in the original build.  It was used around the lower half of the dining room walls, which I found to be a really nice design element. 

Fast forward almost nine years in the house and I decided to "encourage" my husband to continue the wainscoting on the main entryway wall.  

We used the measurements from the dining room as the road map for this wall.  The challenges were determining the actual interior paint color that was used (they left us some touch up paint, but the name of the color was nowhere to be found).  Do you have any idea how many colors of white there are?  Fortunately, the Sherwin Williams up the road was able to help, but only because there was an individual who worked there who knew the original name of the painters who the builder used back then.  

   

The other challenge was finding the actual chair rail moulding.  We never did find the one they used, but what we found was a close enough match.  Both the chair rail and the half inch round were really difficult to find.  The box stores didn't carry it.  We had to have it ordered through a lumber yard.  We never did get an understanding of why you couldn't find these items in stock.  We waited almost six weeks for it to arrive.

My husband was able to finish this in just a couple days, once we had all the supplies in hand.   The dining room has the smooth panels on the lower half with the half inch round on top of it.  We chose to bypass that step and just used the white paint over the existing texture.  Had we wanted to continue with additional wainscoting in the dining room, I definitely would have used the panels, but for the entryway hall, I was perfectly fine with the matching paint.  

I love it!  This has been a really dark area of the house, so the white accents have definitely brightened it up.  The total cost of the project was under $100.....it should have been way under that.  I was shocked what the Sherwin Williams store charged me for a quart of paint (but I felt kind of obligated to purchase the paint there given the help they provided me).  

I moved a painting from the living room and placed it on this wall....not sure, I'm sold on it.  But it works for the time being.  

Deep Dish Pizza

 I've been wanting to try my hand at a deep dish skillet pizza for a long time.  This past weekend I gave it a try and boy was it worth it!  America's Test Kitchen shared a cheese version of this recipe.  I made it with extra toppings, which included: Italian sausage, pepperoni, red/green pepper and onion. 

*The dough comes together very easily and uses a cold rise, so you want to make it a day ahead of the day you plan to eat your pizza.  Also the "day of " you need to add lead time in prior to baking (more details in the directions).  It's not a big deal, it's just important to know that so you're sitting down to eat when you plan on doing so.  

INGREDIENTS: 

DOUGH

2 cups bread flour

1 tsp table salt

1 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast

1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)

TOPPINGS

7 oz. whole milk mozzarella, shredded

4 oz. Monterey Jack, shredded

1/2 cup pizza sauce (I used a jar version)

DIRECTIONS:

*Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Add in the warm water.  Use your hands to bring it all together into a nice dough.  Place it in a pie plate sprayed with cooking spray (you don't even need to spread it out).  Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge for 12-24 hours.  It will spread during the cold rise to fill the pie plate. 

Remove the dough from the fridge 30 minutes prior to working with it....also keeping in mind you need 90 minutes of room temperature rising time before placing your pizza in the oven to bake. 

Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature for 30 minutes.  Add a skim coat of olive oil to your skillet.  Oil your fingertips with olive oil and spread the dough to within 1/8" of the edge, deflating any large bubbles.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 90 minutes.  

Add 1/2 cup sauce to the center of the pizza.  Spread it to within 1/2" of the side of the pan.  Add the shredded jack cheese to the perimeter pressing it into the sides (this creates a nice crisp cheesy outside edge) of the skillet.   Add your mozzarella all over the top.  

Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes placing it on the lowest rack of your oven.  Let sit for 3-4 minutes after removing from the oven.  Use a bread knife to loosen the edges.  Look underneath.  If you'd like the bottom crispier, place the skillet onto a burner (I did this...it took about 4-5 minutes to brown).  Cool 10 minutes prior to slicing. 

I think you'll agree that his pizza has a wonderful flavor.  I would suggest it also is a perfect recipe for a deep dish cheese pizza.  

Here's some thoughts I have for the next time.....

As I mentioned, I also topped mine with 2 meats and some veggies.....I found there really wasn't enough "real estate" on the surface to really make it the way I wanted to.  So, my next attempt will be to use a rimmed baking sheet.  I loved the flavor of the dough, so I will use that again.  I'll probably make 1.5x the dough recipe, since I enjoyed the height of the dough, but by having more room to work with as a rectangular pizza, I can really top it generously the way we like our pizzas.  I think the crust will still crisp with olive oil on the bottom of the baking sheet and baking it on the lower rack of the oven.   Can't wait to try it again!!!