Have a hearty laugh at my expense

But only if it's warranted. And I'll wager few--if any--of you will know whether it is, in fact, warranted. I certainly don't. So where does that leave you?

I know, I know: "Wha...???" Allow me to explain. Last night I tried to made pizza for dinner. When the dough was all risen and I went to get the ingredients out, I discovered that my container of thawed pizza sauce was starting to go bad AND that the cheese was frozen solid. Probably because I buy the cheapest mozarella I can find, it was compacted into a solid block despite technically being shredded cheese, so there was no crumbling off a bit of it like I used to do back in the days of decent bulk mozarella.

I suppose could have spooned off the questionable sauce and gotten some untainted stuff from the bottom. But I knew that even if it smelled and tasted fine, I wouldn't be able to enjoy it.

The girls like their pizza without sauce; I could have made pizza with American cheese and no sauce. How sad would that have been? Homemade pizza crust studded with bright orange squares of plastic cheese? (And, in Robin's case, bananas and apples...)

Or I could save the crust and make a real pizza tonight. I talked the girls into that and we all had cereal for dinner.

But here's the thing: I didn't want to freeze the dough. To begin with, I'm not too clear on the mechanics of the whole thawing/rising thing, and anyway we're using it within 24 hours. It had already risen an hour, been punched down & kneaded, and risen most of another hour. I didn't punch it down or anything, I just stuck a lid on the bowl and shoved it into the fridge.

Today I noticed that it had continued to rise which, frankly, strikes me as odd. I guess tonight I'll just punch it down and roll it out. But I can't help wondering what it will do. Will it be tough? Rubbery? Soggy? Crunchy? Floppy? Maybe we'll end up with matzza. (Get it? Anybody?)

If you have any experience in this particular branch of culinary science, you are personally invited to picture us having our dinner this evening and, yes, to have a hearty laugh at my expense. But only if it's warranted.