HOME MADE PIZZA

I had a pizza party on Monday, which was fun, but I was trying out a new pizza dough recipe I learned from the TV show Good Eats. It was fun trying out the new recipe, and my table top mixer. Despite how much fun it was, the recipe turned out to be a thin crust pizza, which I'm not fond of, and it was really salty. So I had to come up with my own. Having experimented with several pizza dough recipes, I have settled on my own version which I have put out here for you all to enjoy.

So you have two choices, if you plan to make home made pizza. Try out this recipe, or invite me over for dinner, and I will bring my own dough balls.

I will resist the temptation to turn that into something dirty.


Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
3 3/4 cups of Bread Flour
2 Tablespoons of Sugar
1/2 Tablespoon of Salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
2 1/2 Teaspoons of Quick Rise Instant Yeast
1 1/2 cups of hot ( no warmer than 140 degrees centigrade) Filtered or Mineral Water. (Why mineral or filtered? Because tap water has chlorine in it and that will kill the yeast!)

*IMPORTANT NOTE* Making good pizza dough takes time. This recipe should be started 24 hours before you plan to actually make the pizza!

1 In a table mixer, add the sugar, water and then the yeast. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the yeast has foamed up.

2 Add the flour (3 1/2 cups using the scoop and sweep method), olive oil and then the salt. Mix until combined.

3 Change the mixer to the dough hook, and knead for 15 minutes, or until a small piece of dough can be flattened out and stretched into a very thin membrane.

4 Take the dough ball and place it onto a clean work surface, and flatten it out. Turn the edges in on themselves as if you are making a jellyfish and keep pulling tight on that side until the rounded end becomes tight as a drum.

5 Take the dough ball and place it onto a clean work surface with the tight, rounded end facing up. Wrap your hands around the sides of the dough ball and roll it between your hands, without moving your fingers. The act of moving the ball around in a circular pattern will further pull the ball tighter. Once done, cover it with a tea towel, and let it sit for 1 hour.

5 Divide the dough into two equal portions, and repeat steps 4 and 5 with each portion of the dough.

6 Place each dough ball in a metal or plastic bowl, and add a bit of olive oil to and toss to coat (don’t add more than 1 tablespoon of oil). Place the dough in the fridge for 24 hours. The dough will probably double in size, and that is a good thing.

*IMPORTANT NOTE* Do not attempt to try to form and cook the dough without waiting the 24 hours. The dough will be so tight and mealy that you won’t be able to evenly flatten it out and flip it to the desired size. Trust me, I know, because I’ve tried. Waiting the 24 hours radically changes the chemical composition of the dough and makes it much easier to work with.

7 After 24 hours, flatten out each ball of dough, one at a time, and toss it between each of your hands, holding it by the edges, rotating the dough as you go. This will spread the dough out evenly around, while keeping about an inch of the outer edge of the dough much thicker. This becomes the crust, and assists in flipping. Flip the dough in the air, like you’ve seen done at fancy restaurants or TV. There really is a good reason for doing this; it’s not just for show. The thicker, outer edges of the dough, gets pulled from the center axis when it is spinning in the air, and this action spreads the dough out to the desired shape. If you use a rolling pin to shape your dough, you loose the thick crust edge, because the dough will be uniform in thickness. Sometimes science tastes good!

8 Sprinkle some cornmeal out on your pizza pan and place your dough on it, and put on whatever toppings you want.

*IMPORTANT NOTE* Don’t put a lot of sauce down, or your toppings will slide off, but if you like a messy pizza… If you go over 3 toppings + cheese, you may be overloading your pizza, but if you like a messy pizza…

9 Put your pizza in a preheated oven at 450 degrees, for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has begun to brown.

Once all this is done, you might end up with a nice pizza like the one I made today (see the above picture).