Pizza–Ready for the Oven!

The ‘sauce’ is pesto–thinned with a little Extra Virgin olive oil–and topped with raw onion, sliced Crimini mushrooms, chopped tomatoes which sat for awhile in Balsamic vinegar, dried minced garlic and black olives.

The crust is unbleached flour, sea salt, yeast–dissolved in warm water with a half-teaspoon of organic honey–and this time I added basil and fennel seed!

Sprinkled on top was more dried basil, a combo of parmesan/romano/asiago cheese, and topped with grated Monterey Jack cheese.

Twenty-five minutes later, my pizza from scratch looked like this:

Oh, let me give you a closer look!

I’ll wager you can almost smell the lovely blend of aromas!

I’ve been making my own pizza for well over forty years now…the ingredients occasionally vary, but the satisfaction?

NEVER!

Fennel is one of these ingredients. I first tried it raw in a few recipes, and I was beginning to think I wasn’t too fond until I saw a recipe for caramelized fennel and onions. Anything tastes better caramelized right? But fennel doesn’t just taste better, it tastes AMAZING.

I have always been a huge fan of anything aniseed or liquorice, and this is just what fennel tastes like when it has been caramelized. That said though, the love does not like liquorice, and he does like this, so. Not sure what’s going on there.

Anyway! I searched Google a little, mashed up a few ideas and came up with this recipe for one of my all-time favourite pizzas!

Serves 2.

For the Dough

• 200g strong white bread flour
• 7g packet fast-action dried yeast
• a little salt
• 125ml warm water

For the Tomato Sauce (or just use passata)

• 1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp dried basil or mint

For the Topping

• 1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 ball mozzarella cheese, sliced (store the rest in a tub of water for a day or two)
• handful of pitted black olives, roughly chopped

1. To make the base, put the flour and about 1/4 tsp salt into a large bowl. Add the yeast to the opposite side of the bowl to the salt. (If placed directly on top of each other, the salt will kill the yeast). Gradually add the water and mix it into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon. When it is starting to come together, knead the dough with your hands until it is smooth and springy (about 10 minutes for me). Shape it into a ball, then cover the bowl (with the dough still inside!) with oiled cling-film, and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until doubled in size.
2. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan over a medium heat. Add the fennel, onion, herbs and a little salt and black pepper. Cook for around 20 minutes  or until softened and golden.
3. Heat some oil in another pan over medium heat, and add the garlic. Fry until fragrant, then add the tomatoes and basil or mint. Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until reduced to a spreadable consistency. Preheat the oven to 220°c.
4. Dust a clean work surface with flour, then take the dough from the bowl and place it on there. Knock back the dough by briefly kneading it to push out the air. Divide the dough into two and roll them into whatever shape of pizza your heart desires, pinching the dough around the sides to make a little wall :3 (just to stop anything dripping off the base – it forms a good ‘crusty bit’). 
5. Spread the tomato sauce up to the ‘crusty bit’, then top with the fennel mixture, followed by the mozzarella and olives.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until crispy and browned. ENJOY!!!

Ingredients

• Two prepared portions of pizza dough (e.g. one batch of the dough recipe)
• One batch of tomato sauce
• 16 oz mozzarella cheese
• Cornmeal (enough so the dough doesn’t stick to the counter)
• Parchment paper
• Fresh basil
• Other toppings of your choice

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to its highest temperature, which is normally ≥500F. If you’re using a baking stone, make sure to preheat it in the oven so it can get hot gradually.

2. Take the dough out of the fridge, cover lightly with plastic wrap or with an overturned bowl, and allow to rise for 15 minutes.

3. Sprinkle the counter with cornmeal, then roll the dough out until it is quite thin, at least 12″ in diameter. If you prefer a thicker crust, make the necessary adjustments.

4. If you are using a pizza pan, transfer to the rolled-out dough to the pan at this stage. If you are using a baking stone, flip a 9×13 baking sheet over and cover with parchment paper. Transfer the flattened dough to this makeshift pizza peel.

5. Top the dough with tomato sauce, using the back of a large spoon to spread it out relatively evenly over the dough. Leave a 1/2″ to 1″ margin around the edges of the crust.

6. Sprinkle the sauce with the shredded mozzarella and whatever other toppings you choose. If you have fresh basil, tear it into chunks but wait to add it to the top of the pizza until it has just come out of the oven.

7. If you are using a pizza pan, bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes, until the cheese has browned slightly. If you are using a baking stone, open the oven and carefully slide both the parchment paper and piza onto the stone, baking for 7-10 minutes.

I always check my pizzas constantly as they cook, because cooking times vary depending on the temperature of the oven and what implement you’re cooking the pizza on. Better safe than sorry, as wasting an entire pizza would be a tragedy of near unspeakable magnitude.

If you visit this blog often, you know by now that AK is a hard core chicken and meat eater. He doesn’t believe in vegetables. As a result, I’m always making pizzas that are overloaded with ham, salami, pepperoni and cheese. But sometimes, I have an intense craving for a simple tomato and basil pizza. If I can add on some baby spinach or rocket or zucchini, that’s an added bonus. But sometimes, just sometimes, the most simple pizza is my favourite!

This post is not about the step-by-step process, but more about a variation and some new things I learned.

The Dough

I decided to try a new recipe, by Emma at A Beautiful Mess. She’s got some fantastic recipe ideas!

Here’s what I used (she says she gets a 14″ pizza that is neither thin nor thick crust, more like hand-tossed; I got a 12″ and an 8″ thin pizza out of this quantity).

1-1/2 cups flour

3/4 tsp dry active yeast

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1/ tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

I combined the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a wide, deep bowl. In another small bowl, I poured the warm water and stirred in the sugar. Sprinkled the yeast on it and set it aside for a few minutes.

Slowly, I added the yeast-sugar-water and olive oil to the flour, mixing with my hands till well combined. The dough was very soft and sticky.

In earlier times, I just mixed the dough with the hand beater+dough hook but this time I mixed it by hand. Then I lifted it out of the bowl and kneaded it on the counter, for almost 10 mins. The stickiness subsided a little and the dough came together really well. It was smooth and almost silky.

Then I rolled it into a big ball and placed it in a greased glass bowl, covered it with a plate and wrapped it up in a couple of towels, leaving it alone for about 2 hours  rest and rise.

What I learned:

1. Since I’ve been reading up on bread making recently, I discovered that kneading is of utmost importance. 10 minutes on average is a good time. Your kneading arm might hurt with the strain but don’t skip it. It releases and aligns the gluten in the flour and helps it become airy and soft rather than dense.
2. If the dough hasn’t approximately doubled in size, your yeast has failed to activate. Which happened to me. So I ditched that dough and made a fresh lot. Instead of sending off the ruined dough to the garbage bin, I salvaged it, and will talk about that in the next  post.
3. For some reason,  the dough seems to rise better in a glass/ ceramic bowl rather than a metal one. I haven’t figured the science behind that one, but you might want to use that piece of info!

The Pizza Stone

So apparently I’ve been using the Stone all wrong. No wonder it took me 50 minutes plus of baking time to get the pizza ready and even then it wasn’t done well. The stone helps the pizza to bake evenly and if baking directly on the stone, it absorbs the excess moisture. Here’s what I learned about using the stone and followed as closely as possible:

1. The oven rack should be placed at the lowest position. Using only the bottom coil (bake setting) at about 250 C, the stone should be pre-heated. Place the stone in the cold (not yet on) oven, turn on the oven and let the stone pre-heat for about 45 minutes to 1 hour (the earlier post will show you that I spread out the dough on the cold stone and then put it in to  bake)
2. The pizza should ideally be baked directly on the pre-heated stone. For this the pizza should be stretched and rolled on a floured counter, lifted with a wooden pizza paddle (like this) and slid on and off the stone. The paddle is like an over-sized spatula, which fits the whole pizza on it,making it easy to lift without breaking. Since I had neither bought a paddle or fashioned one DIY style, I chose to spread out the pizzas on 2 pie tins and placed those on the hot stone alternatively.
3. If the bottom of the pizza isn’t floured enough, it will stick to the counter and stone. Some people like to use cornmeal/ makki atta  to avoid the raw flour taste.
4. The pizza must always be lifted off the stone before cutting, to avoid damaging the stone.
5. Since the stone is porous, detergent must never be used on it else it will  absorb it. Use plain water and a hard brush to scrub it clean before and after each use and store inside the oven when not in use.
6. If you don’t have access to a pizza/ bread stone (which is often over-priced in the home & kitchen stores), simply find a piece of marble/ granite/ terracota tile which will fit inside your oven, or have it cut to size. Ideal thickness should be about 1/2 inch and it MUST be a raw piece with no glaze/ polish etc because that sometimes has lead in it.
7. If you can’t get your hands on that either, just make the pizza without it in a nonstick cake pan/ cookie tray and in a pre-heated oven on the lowest rack! No harm done!

Assembling & Baking the Pizza

My entire life, I’ve been assembling home-made pizza the same way, whether I used store-bought base or made the dough from scratch. And this was ingrained in me by the “bakery pizza”  we had growing up, before Dominoes and Pizza Hut and then more authentic Italian restaurants came in. The order was always base, sauce, toppings, cheese and seasoning (herbs & pepper).

Now I realised that ideally, the cheese should go below the toppings! It makes all the difference. See for yourself. Below is the pizza made old style, where everything looks like one big mass, as opposed to the tomato pizza picture on top.

So back to the process, once the dough had risen, I punched it down (angrily) and stretched it out into 2 rounds to fit my 2 pie tins. I baked them individually, placed on the pre-heated stone, for about 5-6 minutes each. I pulled them out, added the sauce, cheese and toppings and baked for another 12-15 minutes until golden. And the tomato pizza was the best one I had made. Ever.

Let’s start in the lower left corner. Chips (mixed colors) for dipping in some sort of salsa, maybe a smoked pepper, but not the normal grocery store kind.

Guacamole: You can get this package ready to go from Trader Joe’s. Follow the package directions and you will LOVE it. Make sure you add the whole lime, it makes a difference and avoids discoloration. I added one avocado for a total of 3 and it seemed to be great for 11 people.

Dates stuffed with goat cheese/pistachio spread. I sliced and pitted the dates and mixed goat cheese and crushed pistachios to stuff the dates. A nice mix of sweet and savory.

Caprese salad. Easy to make. Sliced mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil, layered. I mix sugar with balsamic vinegar, simmer until the mixture sticks to your spoon, let it cool a bit, drizzle over your salad.

(For those that care, this is an Arte Italica serving piece. Click here to check it out. It’s Gorg! I want to collect them all).

Salmon Appetizer. I toasted a whole baguette of french bread to make the salmon app. Spread goat cheese on the toasted sliced bread, layer with a small piece of smoked salmon, place capers on top, drizzle with honey, YES HONEY. SO GOOD. Unexpected and amazing. LOVE.

Cucumber Appetizer.  I found this awesome white bean and basil hummus at Trader Joe’s. I used the zip lock bag method to pipe it onto slices of unpeeled cucumbers. I added one pistachio on top of each. Cute, easy, healthy.

I cannot forget the marvelous flatbread PIZZAS my husband made from scratch. We had cheese/curry, spinach/sweet basil chicken sausage/red pepper, and two more kinds (I can’t keep track). These were all made with wheat flour and fresh ingredients. He even made the tomato sauce. These were fun for the crowd because every time a pizza came out of the oven, everyone wondered what kind it was. I can’t believe I don’t have a photo of them!

We had meatballs and gravy for those that craved a little more protein. I placed this in a two sided dish for easy dipping. I didn’t want this to be a focal piece of the table since the pizza and salads were the stars.

Cake. We decided to use Trader Joe’s Vanilla White cake to make this. My husband added some tahini paste, walnuts and bit of goat milk to it. We topped the cake with cream cheese frosting (made of lite cream cheese, 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar, and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract), layered with sliced strawberries and covered with our new Bon Appetite cake cover for added pizazz.

Other items we added were pickles, black and green pitted olives, and a few chutneys to provide more toppings and sides for the crackers and cheese (with grapes), and bread slices.

We served a yummy red sangria as well, which I highly suggest. Having a drink of the night is nice because you end up spending less time making drinks and more time socializing. Make it early, make a lot, and sit back and relax. The recipe we used was from my dear friend Ida, and it’s a secret. You’ll have to ask her for it!

Overall, the best way to create a spread is to have a main course, two salads, some finger apps, and desert. A mix of sweet and savory adds to the flavor profiles. Using similar ingredients overall (such as pistachios in the date spread and pistachios on top of the cucumbers) adds to the ease and consistency of creation and flavor. The table will look great if you have coordinating serving pieces. They don’t have to match, in fact, ours don’t. But they GO together.  I tried to create some symmetry with the plating and used color pops with the food, because we eat with our eyes before our mouths.

We ended the night with more visual pleasure at Waterfire…

Made the dough with all purpose flour, yeast, salt & sugar and water.

Crisp the crust for 7 minutes…

Fresh grated baby Gouda from Holland, peppers, mushrooms, onions and chicken teriyaki mince.

Then we bake…

Not a piece leftover. Belissimo! Tag team pizza baking success.

I had never made barbeque chicken pizza before, but I’d bought some barbeque sauce at TJ’s over the weekend and figured, why not?  We eat pizza every night anyway (clearly), so I thought this might be a nice switch from the usual things I throw on my dough.

*Note: This is the last pizza post for awhile, so if you hate pizza, or just have something against things covered in cheese, have no fear.  All kinds of wedding posts coming up next week, so cool your jets, pizza haters.

I stretched pizza dough while KC did a mass of dishes last night (I think I got the better end of that bargain, don’t you?).  It got slathered with barbeque sauce.

While it was blind-baking, I rounded up the rest of the ingredients.  (Sadly, this pizza took a little more prep than the previous night’s Margherita pizza, so no wine was had.  I’m still sad about it.)

I diced the chicken (doesn’t that kind of sound like a dance move?  No?), sliced onions, grated cheese, chopped cilantro, and then like clockwork, the pizza was done blind-baking.  It’s like I planned it.  Pat on the back, me. (←By the way, totally my inner monologue last night.)

So, fun fact: barbeque sauce looks hideous on a blind-baked pizza crust.  I thought about taking a picture to show you what it looked like; but considering it looked a bit like a crime scene, I decided against it.  If any of y’all make this pizza, just know that that step ain’t pretty.  True story.

On went the cheese, chicken and onions.

Back into the oven for a few, then voila: pizza in yo’ face.

I let it rest, threw on the chopped cilantro, and then KC and I proceeded to stuff our faces while watching So You Think You Can Dance.  Nothing I love more than watching people exercise real hard while I shove food in my face, especially while making comments like, “Wow, that looks really hard.  Pass me that end slice.”

Recipe

• 1 lb pizza dough
• Olive oil for brushing (optional)
• Barbeque sauce of your choice (I used TJ’s Bold and Smoky or something…)
• Mozzarella and cheddar cheese (you could just use mozz here, if you wanted)
• 1 large chicken breast, cooked and chopped
• 1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
• Handful of cilantro, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 475°F
2. Place your dough on a floured board and stretch into your desired shape (mine was so close to being a rectangle last night, then like 2 of the corners pulled in.  So rude.)  Press into a greased pan and brush with olive oil.
3. Cover dough with a thin layer of barbeque sauce.  Make sure your man smells that barbeque goodness so he knows you’re doing this for him.
4. Blind-bake the dough for 10 minutes.
5. Chop the chicken, onions, and cilantro (set cilantro aside separately).  Grate the cheese (I used about 2/3 block of mozz, 1/3 block of cheddar).
6. When the pizza is done blind-baking, pull it out (marvel at how awful it looks), cover with the cheese and top with chicken and onions.  Bake another 10 minutes.
7. Pull out pizza when crust is browned and cheese is melted throughout.  Transfer pizza to a large cutting board, sprinkle with chopped cilantro and let sit for 5 minutes.
8. Slice that thing up, turn on an exercise show and get to work.

A little note: Avocado would probably be good on this, if you’re looking to fancy it up a bit.  I wanted to put sliced peaches on it last night and basically got verbally b@#$%-slapped by KC over it.  Ok, really he just said no peaches, but his eyes were like, “How dare you even say that to me…” 

Point taken.

Let’s focus on happier things, shall we?  Like pizza!  Are you guys pizza’d (yeah, that word just happened) out yet?  I could eat pizza basically all day every day, so I don’t really have a good gauge for that limit of “too much pizza.”

I’m gonna go ahead and assume you guys are still excited about it and are super pumped to see this next recipe.  Whoop!  Let’s do it!  (By the way, putting in exclamation points makes anything more exciting.  Watch → You get to go to the DMV!  So awesome!  Your cat puked on the rug!  Wha-what!  ← Ok, so apparently it just makes things like that seem sarcastic, so I totally just disputed my own point.  But I digress…)

Pizza!

I want to eat my computer screen right now.  I.  LOVE.  PIZZA.

Alrighty, a little background for those of you who actually care about the words that come out of my brain and make their way on to this blog (for the rest of you, scroll down until you see Recipe and get on with the pizza-making).  Margherita pizza is classic cheese pizza in Italia.  Though many American restaurants would have you believe that Margherita pizza is always served with fresh basil, in Italia, this is not the case — it’s simply cheese.  However, let’s take a moment to talk about American cheese pizza vs. Italian cheese pizza.

Want to know the difference?  Here it is:

That, my friends, is fresh mozzarella.  And no, that’s not what’s used on most American cheese pizzas (unless you’re at a fancy pizza joint like Pizzaiolo).

The Italian food philosophy is to make simple food with the best ingredients available.  So while many of you may be like, “Seriously, Chelsea?  Cheese pizza?  What am I, 9?”  Let me just take a moment to tell you that this pizza is delicious.  Like, stuff-half-the-pie-in-your-face-before-KC-grabs-a-slice delicious.  Not that that’s how last night went down or anything.  (A little note: it’s super awesome to be married to me.  Super.  Awesome.  Just ask KC.)

But let’s just get right down to it, shall we?  Last night I whipped up a batch of pizza dough when I got home from work.  I used all 00 flour this time, as my lovely grandpa had given me a bag of it over the weekend.  (Ahem, yeah, my grandpa knows pizza.  He can whip up a crust that will make you cry.  Oh yeah, and my grandma?  She makes a red sauce that will take your pants off.  Things just got awkward, didn’t they?)

Anyway, half of the dough got stretched out and covered in olive oil.  (Most things in my kitchen get covered in olive oil.  I’m Italian so basically, if I don’t know what to do with something, I just cover it in olive oil.  It works.)

If you want to “watch your waistline” a bit, you could leave off the olive oil, since you’re going to throw some sauce all over that bad boy; but, y’all know how I love a crispy crust, and olive oil makes that crust brown and crispy like nobody’s business (so many inappropriate metaphors almost went in right there.  Reign it in, Chelsea.)

Alright, sauce it up, then throw on a little parm (yep, yet another Italian tradition.  When in doubt, add parmesan.)

That goes in the oven for a bit to brown up.  In the meantime, slice up the cheese.

So here’s my trick for the fresh mozz — when I take it out of the water, I press the cheese into a clean towel to take off the excess moisture.  Those of you who have cooked with fresh mozzarella know that that excess moisture will make it onto your pizza, and can leave you with a bit of a soggy mess.  Boo hiss to that.  Pressing out the moisture ahead of time means you get a deliciously cheesy, non-watery pie every time.

Now, slicing up that cheese took you all of what, 12 seconds?  So you’ve got 11.8 minutes to do whatever you want!  What should you do?  I have no idea.

I’m sure you’ll think of something.

By the way, yeah, that’s totally ice in my wine.  I’m super fancy like that.  Also, that wine is $4 at Trader Joe’s.  I’m amazed at how high-class I am, too.

Ok, pizza’s done blind-baking, so throw that cheese on there.

Get it back in the oven for another 8 minutes or so.  (Discussion on this down at the bottom.)

Finish your wine.  Pour yourself another glass.  No judgments here.

Pull it out of the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes to let the cheese come together.

I like to sprinkle a little sea salt over the top of mine, as fresh mozzarella is not nearly as salty as other cheeses.  But, this is totally optional.  You should also know that I love salt, so there’s that.

Recipe

• 1 lb pizza dough
• olive oil (optional)
• Red sauce of your choice (I use TJ’s Pizza Sauce.  Because I’ve been too lazy to make my own.)
• Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)
• Fresh mozzarella
• Fresh basil (optional)
• Salt (sea, flake, or kosher — also optional)

1. Preheat oven to 475° F
2. Stretch your dough into whatever shape works for you (mine was a giant, lumpy oval last night), then press it into an oiled pan.
3. Brush with olive oil (optional).
4. Cover with sauce (make sure to go almost to the edge), and sprinkle with parmesan cheese (optional).
5. Blind-bake for 10-12 minutes, until crust is just browned.
6. While dough is blind-baking, take your fresh mozzarella and press it into a clean towel (or paper towel) to remove the excess moisture, then slice thinly.
7. When dough is done blind-baking, place the mozz in an even layer on the pizza.
8. Place pizza back in the oven and bake until cheese is melted.*
9. Remove pizza from oven, place on a large board and let sit for 5 minutes.
10. Sprinkle a little salt and/or fresh basil over the top (optional).
11. Slice, then eat the entire thing.

I make this pizza almost weekly, and there has yet to be a night where KC and I don’t polish off the entire thing.  You guys, I might need a pizza intervention.  Nope, I can stop anytime I want to.

*Side note: making pizza dough is not only super easy, but it saves well so you can make it ahead of time for a party.  Not to mention that people will think you’re so fancy when you tell them that yes, you made the dough.  Yourself!  Out of like flour and stuff!  What a domestic goddess you are.

As I’ve already disclosed, I make pizza dough basically all. the. time.  Which means that KC and I eat pizza all. the. time.  (No one’s complaining over here, mmk?)  That said, while I love me some traditional cheese pizza (margarita pizza recipe coming up on here a bit later!), it can get a bit… repetitive.  So, it’s nice to mix things up and jump out of that cheese-and-sauce mold now and then.

This pizza, or flatbread (which is just a fancy way of saying, hey, this pizza doesn’t have sauce on it), is based on a starter I had years ago at one of my favorite SF eateries, NOPA.  It’s super easy to make, but packs a big punch flavor-wise.  It’s also quite unexpected, as most people associate pizza and flatbreads with something a bit more savory and cheese-laden.

Trust me, this flatbread hits the spot on a hot summer night with a frosty beer or cold glass of crisp white wine.  And, you can feel good about eating it because it’s piled with veggies!  I mean, it’s basically a salad, right?  Go ahead and eat the whole thing!  Don’t mind if I do…

Recipe

Spicy Summer Vegetable Flatbread

• 1 lb pizza dough (ideally homemade)
• olive oil
• zucchini (2 large or 3 medium), cut in half and sliced into half-moons
• 1/2 yellow or red onion, sliced
• 1 bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), diced
• handful of cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half or quarters
• 1/2 – 3/4ish cup fresh or frozen corn
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 – 1 tbsp. cumin
• red pepper flakes/cayenne pepper/chili powder/hot sauce (like Tapatio)
• cheese (cheddar/jack/pepper jack)

1. Preheat oven to 475°
2. Stretch out pizza dough and press into an oiled sheet pan or pizza pan.  Brush dough with olive oil.
3. Blind-bake dough for 10 minutes, until just browned and crispy.
4. While the dough bakes, chop all veggies and place in a bowl together.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Add cumin and a mixture of any or all spices/hot sauces listed above and toss everything together.
5. When the dough is done blind-baking, dump the veggies into the middle of the pizza and then spread into an even layer with a spatula.
6. Cover the whole mess with a good amount of grated cheese.
7. Place the sheet back in the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes, til cheese is melted and veggies are just starting to brown on top.
8. Let the pizza sit for 5 minutes before slicing, to allow all the cheesy goodness to come together.

Notes:

Step 3: As I’ve said, I like my pizza to be very crispy, so I always blind-bake my dough.  If you prefer a chewier crust, you could try making this without blind-baking, or cutting down the baking time in this step; however, the amount of veggies in this may make a less-crispy crust a bit soggy, so beware.

Step 4: I never measure the spices out in this recipe, so I can’t tell you exactly how much to add here — it’s really based on taste.  I like quite a bit of cumin for the depth of flavor it adds with it’s smokiness, so I add a good palm-full to the mix (probably about a tbsp).  Then I generally add about 1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes, about 1 tsp chili powder, and a healthy dash of cayenne(maybe a tsp? Maybe more?).  I have no clue what the actual measurements for these are (I just eyeball it), so that’s really just an estimation.  The amount you add will need to be a trial and error process of figuring out what flavors you like and how much heat you can handle.

Step 6: Any of the 3 cheeses listed would work — I always have cheddar on hand, so that’s what I use most often.  As a reference, I generally use about 1/4 of a Trader Joe’s size block; but really, I just grate it right over the veggies til they seem well-covered.

And lastly, this pizza is pretty messy to eat.  Inevitably, I end up spilling veggies all over myself while consuming it, so it’s probably not the best thing to serve on a first date (though I promise you, it’s way delicious).  However, I’m sure you’re much more refined and delicate than I am, so you’ll probably have no problem shoving this into your face and looking like a lady whilst doing it.  I, on the other hand, clearly don’t have that kind of dexterity.

Eat up!

I like to make a 2 pound batch, which makes two large-ish pizzas.  My favorite recipe combines white flour (I like to use bread flour or 00 flour if I’ve got it) with a bit of whole wheat flour, which I think gives the dough a nice texture — a good crispy bottom and slightly chewy crust.

My favorite type of pizza is traditional Roman-style pizza, which is ultra-thin and ultra-crispy — almost bordering on cracker-like.  The recipe below (which I make pretty much weekly) gives you a nice thin crust, but isn’t quite as thin as true Roman pizza.  As for the crispiness, that is slightly dependent on how you cook your dough.

I like to stretch my dough by hand, and press it into a pan until it’s nice and thin throughout.  This dough is best when slightly warm right after making it, or when brought to room temp if you’ve saved it in the fridge or freezer (it’s kind of difficult to handle when cold).

As you can tell from the pictures, I don’t worry too much about making my pizzas “pretty.”  I believe true pizza isn’t perfectly shaped, but rather a little free-form and rustic.  If you’ve ever had traditional pizza in Italy, you’ll know that you rarely, if ever, see a pizza that looks like the puffed, golden, perfectly-round pies favored by American eateries.  Italian pizzas are very much homemade-looking (and tasting).  And I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have a delicious, fresh-tasting pizza than some commercially good-looking cardboard slice; so don’t worry too much if your pizza ends up looking a bit like the state of Michigan (as mine often do).

Recipe:

Easy-Peasy Pizza Dough

• 1 1/3 cups warm water (80-90° F)
• 1 tsp. honey (you could also use sugar here)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil (plus more for brushing, if not using a bread maker)
• 2 tsp. salt (I use sea salt, but kosher would work well, too)
• 3 1/4 cups white flour (I use bread flour or 00 flour*)
• 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 packet yeast (I use active dry)

If using a bread maker:

1. Place all ingredients in the bread maker in the order listed above.  Set your maker to the “dough” setting (mine has a dough/pizza dough setting) and let it do its thing.

If not using a bread maker:

1. Using an electric mixer fitted with a dough paddle, combine the water, honey or sugar, and yeast, then stir to dissolve.  Let stand until mixture starts to foam, about 5 minutes.
2.  Turn the mixer on low and add the olive oil and salt.  Add the flour, a little at a time, until it’s fully incorporated.  When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium, stopping periodically to pull the dough off the hook for mixing consistency.
3. Check the consistency of the dough by pulling a bit off the ball — if it’s crumbly, add more water.  If it’s very sticky, add more flour.  (Add either water or flour 1 tbsp at a time until the consistency is correct.)  Mix until the dough comes into a ball, about 5 minutes.
4. Place dough on a lightly floured board and fold it over itself a few times until it’s smooth and elastic.
5. Form dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl, turning the dough over to coat each side.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp towel and set in a warm spot until its doubled in size.  (If it’s a warm day, you can leave it on the counter.  If it’s cold, place it in a warm oven (100° or so), or over the pilot light on your stovetop.)

At this point, your pizza dough is ready for use.  Here’s how I like to proceed:

1. Preheat oven to 475°
2. Place dough on a floured surface and cut in half.  Place one half into a ziploc bag and store it in the fridge/freezer for later.
3. Stretch out dough, then press it into a thin layer on an oiled sheet pan.
4. Brush the surface of the dough with a bit of olive oil, and you’re ready for anything.

*00 flour is my flour of choice for making pizza — it’s traditional Italian pizza flour, and works well due to it’s soft consistency and high-gluten content.  However, 00 flour is significantly more expensive than traditional flour, and can generally only be found in Italian markets and specialty stores.  (Also, if anyone has a place that sells 00 flour in bags larger than 2.2 lbs — let me know!)  That said, for those of you not looking to spend $4+ on 2.2 lbs of flour, bread flour works quite well in this recipe as well.  Bread flour has a higher gluten content, making it ideal for traditional breads and doughs; although, I’m sure all-purpose would work just fine in a pinch as well.

A favorite flatbread recipe coming up next week.  Let’s get this pizza party started!

Guiltless Tomato Rosemary Pepper & Caramelized Onion Pizza

Time: 25 minutes with crust prep time 2 hours 25 minutes
Yield: 10 – 12 slices
(9 Item Recipe)

Topping Ingredients:

16 ounces Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
14 oz Organic Tomato Sauce
1/2 organic red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, and sliced thin
1 /2 organic orange bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and sliced thin
1 medium organic vidalia onion, cut into thin rings
3 Sprigs organic rosemary, stems removed, minced fine

Whole wheat Crust Ingredients:

3 cups organic whole-wheat flour (I use and prefer Bob’s Red Mill Brand)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast1 1/4 cups warm purified water (about 110 degrees F)
2 tablespoons honey

Whole Wheat Crust Directions:

— Brian Tracy   (self help author and motivational speaker from California)

Paneer tikka pizza

Until a McDonald’s Pizza Hut showed up in our city the local bakers here used to deceive us with their easy pizza imitations for years ! An inch thick but amazingly soft prebaked base , a pile of chicken or mushroom or Paneer (there ends our collection of toppings) dumped on top and just to stay true to its name “cheese pizza” teeny tiny bits of cheese on top, mostly they served the purpose of garnish! Still they tasted good  . So unless you end up with a rock hard base all is well in pizza making .

This is a recipe I always follow to satisfy my pizza cravings ! Hope this works for you too

Pizza dough 

Makes three thin crusted or two medium crusted pizzas

250 gms of All purpose flour

one teaspoon of active dry yeast

about 150 ml of ice cold water or as needed to get the perfect consistency  for the dough

2 teaspoons of olive oil

a pinch of sugar

salt to taste

Place yeast in a small bowl lay a pinch of sugar on top , pour lukewarm (not warm too much temperature kills the yeast) water just to cover the mixture . Keep this undisturbed until it turns frothy this may take about 6 minutes.

Take the flour in  a large mixing bowl,make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture , roughly stir in using a wooden spoon.

Add olive oil and salt and slowly pour in water and stir continuously until the water is  all absorbed by the flour .Using a large spoon or by hand knead the mixture into a smooth dough, for about 10 minutes.The dough should come off the sides of the bowl but should stick to the the bottom of the bowl .If the dough seems too sticky add some more flour or if the dough comes out too easily add a few drops of oil. The finished dough will be springy and elastic.

Cut out the dough to make three small or 2 medium sized balls ,transfer them to a bowl lightly coated with olive oil cover with a cling film ie to avoid formation of a dry film on the surface of dough which may prevent it from rising . Let the dough rest in a warm place  for two hours until it reaches twice its original size .

Take out the dough carefully and punch down the air .Gently press each ball to get small circles ,cover them up with plastic wrap and let them rest for another hour or at least 30 minutes.

Deflate the small circles we made ; generously dust the working surface with flour and roll out the the dough to the thickness of your liking ( we can make about three thin crusted or two medium crusted pizza’s out of this).

Toppings

The necessary thing here is a thin layer of tomato paste , I always use the bottled ones without any additional flavor , but we can  make our own tomato paste,will add a recipe for that soon!

Always keep the toppings minimal that helps the dough to rise properly and add a generous amount of cheese , the best one is always Mozzarella . Other choices would be finely grated Gouda (they tend to retain their shape so it is better to add a mix of Mozzarella and Gouda ) and Parmesan . If you live in a place where Amul cheese slices represent the entire cheese community go for it , they taste good on pizza .

An Italian pizza which is a classic called Pizza Margherita has toppings as simple as  – a spread of tomato paste , couple of basil leaves , fresh buffalo mozzarella, and a drizzle of olive oil  .

Pizza Margherita

But this  ‘Less is More policy ‘ does not always work for our Indian palettes ,  we like our pizza a bit  crowded and  spicy . One of  our favorite vegan pizza is Paneer tikka pizza with our ubiquitous pizza partner bell pepper or capsicum.

Paneer Tikka Pizza

for one pizza

Quarter of a capsicum or bell pepper diced

5 to 7 pieces of Paneer

Thin slices of half an onion

2 handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese

4-5 leaves of fresh basil or half a teaspoon of dried basil

a pinch of pepper powder

For marinate

yogurt- 2 tspns

red chilly powder – a pinch

salt

Lightly marinate the paneer pieces in  two teaspoons of yogurt ,a pinch of red chilly powder and salt for half an hour .Toss them on a heated tava or pan until they get a light golden brown color.This happens very fast so be careful not to burn the paneer pieces

Spread two teaspoons of tomato sauce on top of the rolled out base arrange the basil leaves then add a handful of grated cheese , form a layer of capsicum and paneer ,top it with the remaining handful of cheese and sprinkle the powdered pepper on top .

It is extremely important to preheat the oven at 220 degree Celsius  for at least 15 minutes . Bake the pizza for 8-9 minutes or until cheese bubbles appear.

Three pointers for Perfect pizza

• Ideal way of rolling a pizza is by  stretching with hands . Hand stretched pizza rise better than the ones rolled out using rolling pin .
• Do not start filling the pizza from the edge , leave  space about a centimeter so that the edges can rise while baking .
• Keep the toppings minimal .

Do tell how your pizza turned out  :)

About a year ago I finally realized that some of my favorite foods (loaded with naturally occurring free glutamates) were making me sick, so I stopped eating them.  Since then, one of the foods that I miss the most is the tomato.  But you won’t be missing it on this pizza, even though its not there.  A 16″ pizza would normally be one meal for our family of three, but this particular pizza is very filling and lasted for two meals.  If you can find a good premade dough or crust, feel free to use it instead of the homemade version.

Homemade pizza dough:

• 2 1/4 tsp yeast (one packet)
• 1 3/4 cups warm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white flour

Add yeast to water and oil in a large bowl.  Sprinkle the sugar over the yeast and allow it to proof for a few minutes.  In about three minutes the yeast should be slightly frothy.  Stir the mixture, and then stir in the whole wheat flour.  Once the flour is incorporated into the dough add the white flour.  You should have a smooth dough that is not sticky.  Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes, and then roll out to and 18″ circle for a 16″ stuffed crust pizza.

Amazing Pizza

• 1 recipe homemade pizza dough
• 1/2 pound oaxaca cheese (mozzarella will work too – oaxaca can be found in the mexican section of your grocery store; it has the perfect consistency for stuffed crust.)
• 1 large white onion
• 1/2 pound msg free turkey pepperoni
• 1/2 pound sliced Virginia ham
• 1 small can diced black olives
• 1 large red bell pepper – optional (if you skip it, use a second onion)
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground sage
• 1/2 tbsp parsley
• 1 lb shredded mozzarella cheese

Dice the onion and bell pepper.  In a large skillet, saute the veggies until tender.  After about 5 minutes of stirring, I add a small amount of water to the skillet so that I can work on other ingredients while the veggies finish cooking.  (If you want to, you can add a few sliced raw tomatoes to this mixture.)

Meanwhile, dice the ham.  Saute the garlic in a small pot and add the butter to melt.  Stir in the oregano, sage, and parsley.  Keep warm.

Slice the oaxaca cheese into 1/2″ sticks.  Lay your crust into the pizza pan with 1.5″ hanging over the edge.  Circle the oaxaca sticks around the crust, and curl the excess dough around it forming a stuffed crust.  Brush the entire crust with the seasoned garlic butter.  Set aside.

Add the ham, pepperoni, and olives to the cooked onion mixture.  Heat until just warmed through.  Spread the mixture evenly over the pizza dough.

Sprinkle with mozerrella cheese.  (Adding 1/2 cup of cheddar will add some flavor and color.)  Bake at 400*F for 25-35 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbly.  Cool for 5 minutes before slicing.  Enjoy.

I know what you’re thinking.  Your reaction to this picture is, "that’s a bizarre shape for a pizza!" 

I admit.  I struggled with the dough.  It behaved atrociously, and no matter what I did, it rebelled.  No amount of coaxing or cajoling could turn it round or rectangular.  It wouldn’t budge.  I think it was a miracle I managed to make it stay open so I could quickly shove in the toppings before it went berserk on me again.  This pizza dough – made from scratch – was wet, sticky and unwieldy.  I was tempted to chuck it.

Then someone whispered in my ear that people were starving elsewhere so decided against it.  With all the patience I could harness, I caressed it with pizza sauce, sprinkled it generously with thinly sliced green peppers, mushrooms, salami/prosciutto, dressed it up with mozzarella and then dribbled a few drops of hot pepper sauce.

What happened after that?  This pizza was a true, certified gourmet delight.  Mouth watering – and I’m not exaggerating!

When it came out of the oven, I set it on the table while I prepared a green salad.  When I sank my teeth into it, my taste buds were suddenly energized.  It was oozing with taste, I forgot that infamous struggle earlier.  Think of a pizza baked in a makeshift brick or stone oven at the back of a country home in an old Italian countryside.  Yes, it tasted that way.  To use an oft-repeated phrase – it was to die for!

Home, home on the range.  What an accidentally delicious pizza that landed on my plate!

I can think of at least three good reasons why this pizza came out a winner:

• I added some sourdough starter.  They say using a small amount of sourdough starter injects it with extra flavor.  It is certainly much, much better than store-bought pizzas.  You know how some commercial pizzas taste like cardboard?
• The dough recipe was a combination of semolina, rye and all-purpose flour.
• The baking stone and the high heat

While this pizza deserved flying colors for taste and flavor, I suspect that the sourdough starter may have contributed to the dough being unmanageable.  Was high hydration the culprit (my starter is 100% hydration)?  Should I reduce the amount of water when using a starter?

Second, I’m not exactly sure that setting the oven temperature at 475 degrees (F) is a good idea.  Some experts say that the baking stone combined with high heat will yield the ideal crust.  I have my doubts.  I’d much rather set the oven at 350 degrees and bake it for an additional 7-10 minutes – for a total baking time of 20 minutes.  Broiling the pizza for two minutes on high is also a good idea.  Most of the recipes I’ve come across recommend 475 degrees for 8-10 minutes, depending on the crust’s thickness.  Next time I’ll pre-heat the oven at that temperature and then reduce the heat to 350 as soon as the pizza goes in.

The first pizza dough had rye, semolina and all-purpose unbleached flours.  The second one had organic bread flour and all-purpose unbleached.  I used my starter in both cases.  The first pizza with the three flours was a lot more flavorful.  The semolina gives the crust a nutty taste with excellent crunchiness.

Now that I’ve learned to make pizza dough from scratch, it’s going to be hard for me to buy commercial pizza again.  As soon as I find the right blend to make the dough more pliable, I’ll make batches and freeze them (they will hold well in the freezer for up to two weeks).

Here’s a tip from the experts:  less is more.  This means don’t smother your pizza with pizza sauce and use more than 3-4 toppings (cheese and sauce excluded).  They say there must be a good balance of the sauce, cheese and toppings.  Let the cheese and toppings come out in their full flavor, without one encroaching on the other.

Other possible combinations:  chopped spinach with goat cheese, basil leaves and spicy sausage, grilled eggplant, asparagus and palm hearts.

How about just cheese?  Whatever your heart desires.  But be a convert to "pizza from scratch."

Kamut makes the best whole grain dough. And if you didn’t know that (most people don’t), you should give it a try. Unfortunately, nobody in southern Maine sells Kamut. Fortunately the Whole Foods in Hadley MA has a legitimate bulk section (unlike any other Whole Foods, I should add), and so while I was out there, I picked up a massive bag full of Kamut berries.

Today, I milled some of them into about 4 cups of flour, added maple syrup (organic grade B from bulk, of course), some yeast, salt and olive oil to make a pizza crust. I let it rise 3 times (45 min, 20 min, 10 min, respectively) to make up for the whole grain and coarseness.

I added some fresh made pesto (basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil), and baked that onto the crust for 10 min at 350°

I then added some thinly sliced onions, crimini mushrooms, and spinach soaked in tomato paste and sauce, upped the temp to about 450° and let it bake for about 15 more minutes on the stone.

It is really tasty, though pretty heavy, and while I suspect it meets most of the definition of a pizza, it has a very unique flavor, maybe from all the baked in pesto in the dough..?

So now I lapse into a food coma…

Below you will find the recipe and step by step instructions for the dough followed by the pizzas that I made. Have fun and be creative with your toppings! (Note: this recipe makes enough for 6 10′-12′ pizzas – I only made 4 pizzas and discarded the leftover dough.)

No-Knead Pizza Dough (From the March issue of Bon Appetite, recipe by Jim Lahey)

Ingredients:
7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for shaping dough
4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
3 cups water

Directions:

For the Dough:
1. Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. While stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually add 3 cups water; stir until well incorporated.
2. Mix dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball. Transfer to a large clean bowl.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature (about 72°) in a draft-free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on the temperature in the room). *I am ashamed to admit this, but I actually put my dough next to our heater (turned to 67 degrees). I started it on the floor and then moved it to a chair about a foot from the actual heater.
4. Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape into a rough rectangle. Divide into 6 equal portions.
5. Working with 1 portion at a time, gather 4 corners to center to create 4 folds.
 6. Turn seam side down and mold gently into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet.
7. Repeat with remaining portions.
8. Let dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, until soft and pliable, about 1 hour.
DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap and chill. Unwrap and let rest at room temperature on a lightly floured work surface, covered with plastic wrap, for 2–3 hours before shaping.

For the Pizzas:
1. Arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°.
2. Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough generously with flour and place on a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a 10″–12″ disk.
3. Arrange dough disk on baking sheet; top with desired toppings. Bake pizza until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, about 10 minutes.
4. Transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat with remaining pizzas.

We made 4 pizzas that night – the only one not pictured below was the Hawaiian. My best advice to anyone making more than one pizza is to prep the ingredients ahead of time (oh and have a glass of wine handy), it will save you time and a headache!

Pizza #1 – Margarita
Handful of basil leaves, whole
Sauce (I used blended crushed Italian tomatoes)
Fresh mozzarella
Pizza #2 - Prosciutto
8-10 Slices prosciutto, sliced
3 oz. crumbled goat cheese
3 oz. fresh mozzarella
3/4 cup caramelized onions
Sauce (again I used blended crushed tomatoes)
Pizza #3 – Sausage and Red Pepper
1/3 lb. Italian chicken sausage
6 oz. goat cheese
1/2 cup peppadew peppers
Sauce (again I used blended crushed tomatoes)

From the Kitchen of: Jessica Brainard

Homemade Pizza Dough

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 package active dry yeast

1 tablespoon of salt

1 tablespoon of garlic powder

1 cup of warm water (120 degreese)

2 tablespoons of cooking oil

For the crust in a large mixing bowl combine half of the flour, yeast and salt. Add water and oil. Beat with an electric mixer on a low speed for 30 seconds scraping the sides of the bowl. Stir in the remaining flour and beat on a high speed for 3 minutes. Knead the dough into a ball place onto a clean floured surface and roll out. Transfer to a greased pizza pan sprinkled with cornmeal and stretch to fit. Perforate the dough with a perforator or use a fork if you don’t have one, this prevents the crust from bubbling. If you want a more flavor in the crust add some pesto, garlic paste, or chopped herbs to it.

Sauce the pizza crust leaving an inch around the edges. Cover the sauce with a layer of bottom cheese then add the toppings you want spreading them out evenly. Then sprinkle on the top layer of cheese and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degreese or until the edges of the crust and cheese are golden brown. I like making my own pizza so I can customize it the way I want. The choices of toppings are endless but here are some of my favorites:

Pizza Toppings

• Canadian-style bacon
• Italian sausage
• Ground beef
• Roasted garlic
• Chicken
• Mushrooms
• Green olives
• Bell pepper
• black olives
• bacon crumbled
• onions
• Baby mozzarella
• tomatoes
• pineapple
• fresh sage
• feta

Garnish with parmesan and crushed red pepper.