Pizza

Dear Husband and I like pizza, but don't care for the regular chain ones very much, and since gourmet pizza is out of our price range, we decided to make our own. Besides, I tend to like Brazilian-style pizza, which has little sauce and a ton of toppings ( we put everything but the kitchen sink on it!).

We did not make the dough tonight, we had it frozen already.

We have been experimenting with different doughs and cooking methods, and I am proud to say that tonight we got it nearly perfect. All we need to do next time is to adjust the racks in the oven for an even heat distribution and hopefully we will have the perfect pie!

Here is the recipe for the dough( from instructables.com) : 

This step takes about 15 minutes in three five minute shots over several hours.  And you'll want a bread machine if you've got it.  I usually start the dough in the morning before work and finish it when I get home at night.  At which point, you may either use it or freeze it for later.

The dough is really the core of the pizza.  Bad dough = bad pizza, right?  So, I worked for a national Dine In/To Go/Delivery pizza joint one summer and learned how to make pizzas really fast, but not so good.  They tasted just like they came from a national Dine In/To Go/Delivery pizza joint.  Eh.  Why bother making that one at home?

How do you make good rustic Italian dough using a bread machine?  I'm glad you asked.  This is a two part process involving the starter (5-10 mins) and the dough (5-10 mins).

The Starter: (5-10 mins)

1 1/2 C. water
2 C. All Purpose Bread flour
1/4 tsp yeast.

Put this in the bread machine and start on the dough cycle.  Let it sit for 3 - 9 hours before the next step.  It's best the longer you let it sit.

The Dough: (5-10 mins)

Using the well proofed Starter in the bread machine, add:
1/2 C. water
2 C. All Purpose Flour (or 1 C. All Purpose Flour & 1C. Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. yeast.

Start up the bread machine on the dough cycle again.  This time, it's very important to listen to the beep when it's done.  It will attempt to take over the bread machine, then the counter and the kitchen if left too long.

Wrapping it up.

If you don't want to make pizza immediately, freeze the dough.  This makes about 2 lbs of dough which is plenty for two fairly substantial 15 inch pizzas.  But, you need to wrap it up and freeze it.  Get out a large cookie sheet (or a clean counter) and dust it with flour.  Turn out the dough and lightly cover the outside with the flour.   Divide it in half and wrap in plastic wrap to freeze it.  Make sure the dough is completely covered by the plastic wrap or the exposed portion may freezer burn.

Oh yeah, fair warning, this makes an intentionally sticky dough.  Dust it liberally with flour.

The dough 12 hours after we got it out of the freezer. It's so soft and wonderful to work with!

We bake the pizza on the tile ( even tough we have several fancy pieces of pizza cookware) because it makes it so easy to slide the pizza in and out of the oven. And the other tool is Dear Husband's brand new pizza peel, from Arthur King Flour. We loved it!

                                   Dear Husband shaping the pie.

I had some left-over catupiry ( Brazilian-style cream cheese) and decided to stuff the crust with it. Oh my God it was to die for!

 My pizza getting ready to go into the oven. We made two indivually-sized pies, because we have very different tastes when it comes to toppings.

My pizza ready to be devoured. My toppings were corn ( yeah, corn kernels from the can), seasoned onions, kalamata olives and of course the cheese-stuffed crust.

Dear Husband likes a Margherita, complete with home-grown veggies.