A Day of Baking : Pizza Attempt Numero Uno

hi seesters!

alright, so freya went to stay with nana for the afternoon, so this mama got some stuff done!  i made a breakfast loaf bread with hazelnut meal and cranberries (i'll post those recipes in a separate post), a regular honey wheat sandwich bread, strawberry ice cream, and my first attempt at the pizza.

the pizza's the only thing i've eaten so far.  it was damn tasty!!  i just did a very simple margherita pizza with tomato slices, fresh mozzarella, and basil.  but all the ingredients for the topping (except for the crushed tomatoes for the sauce) came from the farmer's market or the little flower stand down the road.  makes all the difference!  

i like a thinner crust.  i'm thinking i should have divided this dough after it rose and refrigerated or frozen some of it.  in any case, even though it ended up pretty thick, it was still good.  greg, who never eats his crusts, ate all of his.  we polished off the whole pizza!  i took pictures, but still can't figure out how to get them to be smaller jpg.'s so they don't take up the whole page.  when i get that figured out, i'll post pics.  cloud, this recipe for the dough would be perfect for your deep dish pizza, methinks.

here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups very warm water (but not hot)

2 tsp. yeast (i used the yeast i use with bread, instant dry)

2 tsp. sugar

2 1/2 cups bread flour

1/2 cup semolina flour (i found Bob's Red Mill brand at the store)

1 tsp. salt

*this recipe says to make it in your food processor.  i used my stand mixer because i felt there would be less clean-up.  also, i already had it out for the bread and stuff.

place the sugar and yeast in the bowl of the stand mixer.  pour the warm water on top.  let stand for 2-3 minutes.  you'll see small bubbles start to form to let you know your yeast is working.  

measure out your dry ingredients.  after the yeast has had time to activate, dump the dry ingredients on into the bowl and turn the mixer on low.  once all the flour has been incorporated, crank up the mixer a few notches and let it go to work.  you may need to add a little more bread flour if the dough is too sticky.  after about a minute, it should start to form a loose ball around the dough hook (if not, add flour, a bit at a time).  too wet is better than too dry.

lightly oil a bowl with olive oil.  when the dough has finished mixing, take it out of the mixer (a little olive oil on your hands will keep it from sticking) and form a ball.  place the ball of dough in the bowl and coat with olive oil.  cover with clean kitchen towel or saran wrap and let it rise in a warm, draft free place for about an hour, or until doubled in size (mine was HUGE!).

when the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 500-550 degrees.  take it out onto a well floured surface.  roll out or stretch the dough into the shape you want it.  cooking on a pizza stone is supposed to yield a really crunchy crust, but i bet you could shape it into a cast iron skillet (esp. for deep dish) or cookie sheet.  spray the surface of what you are cooking it on and sprinkle a bit of the semolina flour to keep the crust from sticking.

assemble your pizza.  dough, sauce (not too much), cheese, toppings.  though i put the basil on top - they sort of shrunk and crisped.  greg said i should have put it under the tomatoes instead.  i also drizzled just a bit of olive oil over the pizza, making sure to get the crusts.  i then sprinkled a bit of coarse sea salt over the tomatoes and crust.  delish!

place pizza in preheated oven.  bake for 12-15 min.  let the pizza rest for 1-2 minutes before cutting.

as i said, you could probably cut this dough in half (at least) for a thinner crust.  you can refrigerate or freeze the additional dough.  just let it come to room temp. before rolling out to bake.

enjoy!

some things i learned with this pizza:

• wetter is better than drier.  try to keep it wettish and use flour and/or olive oil to help it keep from sticking to your hands and the counter.  but that's generally a good rule with all bread.
  
• i used a 550 degree oven.  i felt like the edges got done before the bottom got cooked the way i like it.  i may try a lower temp oven at first and then jack up the heat.  or try putting the pizza on a preheated pizza stone - though i'm not sure how to make that part happen.

love y'all.