Pizza night around my place is usually Friday. With that said, my fridge seems pretty bare right now with the exception of homemade sauce, pepperoni and mozzerella cheese. I also happened to have flour and yeast...ha! Sooo, with all of that just sitting around, I figured it was a good time for pizza night. I usually grill my pizza, but wouldnt ya know it, I am out of propane too. Geeezz....what have I been doing around the house to run out of everything but wine and beer :)
So I whipped up a homemade recipe of pizza dough as follows:
1 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tsp of sugar
Mix all that up and let the yeasties eat all that sugar....I forgot to take a picture but I left mine a little too long and it was growin' out of the cup!
I use a food processor for my dough since I do not have a fancy Kitchen Aid mixer.
3 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
I put these two in the bowl, wiirrrr it up a few times. With the blade still running, I drizzle in the yeast mixture. It comes together pretty quickly. Scrape that gooey mess out of the processor and place it into a large greased (with EVOO) bowl. I cover it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. I have read that when yeast grows in cool places like the fridge, the taste is better. I usually let this sit for a few days but today, I was too desperate to eat something other than lettuce.
Here is the dough after 5 hours in the fridge.
I let it get warm on the counter for a few mins....45 or so.
After that I put it on a floured surface and punch it down...taking out all those aggressions. The dough is enough for two good sized pies...probably 14". So I divide it into two and freeze one of them for later....possibly another day when I have nothing else in the fridge.
For a great pizza, you gotta get that oven screaming hot, 500 or as hot as it will go. I use a pizza stone, but you could also use a cookie sheet. With a cold oven, I put my stone into the oven to preheat. Turn on the oven and let it go for a good 30-40 mins. I also put a little flour on my stone. If you do not have a peel...get one. Cheap tools that really help a lot..even more so if you are grilling the pizza.
My stone waiting for the preheat...and yes, its supposed to be that ugly.
I take one of the dough balls and stretch it out as good as I can. I have also read that using a rolling pin can take too much of the air from the dough, making it a very dense crust. I have also done this...many time, and I agree! One dough ball waiting for flattening.
The other going in the freezer!
The cast of characters. I usually use a block of mozzerella and grate it myself but hey, we are doing this desperate and do not wanna leave my house, style.
I suck at rolling out dough...its never a "perfect" shape, but whatever. it still tastes good when its oblong! I make my own sauce using The Pioneer woman's recipe found here. I make a batch of this once a week probably cause I love pasta and sauce! and its a great pizza sauce as well.
I spread a little sauce on my malformed dough, put my cheese and pepperoni on, slap that puppy in the preheated oven! It does not take long for this pie....5-8 minutes or so.
Here is the cooked pie ready for me to eat...right after I burn my tongue twice trying to eat it too hot.
I also spread a little basil love on my pie cause I have so much growing I cannot use it all...see!
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