This is a question I find myself thinking almost every day around 4 pm. Most of the time all the chicken or hamburger I own is frozen... thus making this question all the more pressing. Today, I actually planned ahead! Pizza!
Like most people we are trying to cut back on our expenses and eating out is obviously one of the quickest fixes. I've also tried to find great recipes to substitute our fast food fixes at home. I lovingly call this "Fake Out". I know... I'm just so clever, but it works for me. I have experimented with several pizza dough recipes that were pretty good, but I'm most fond of this one right now:
Ingredients:
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110*)
1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
(OR 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour)
Directions: (If you have a Bosch or Kitchen Aid machine, see footnotes.)
1. In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top and let stand 10 minutes until foamy.*
2. Stir olive oil and salt into yeast mixture, then mix in 3 cups of the flour until dough starts to come together. Tip the dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining flour and knead until the dough is smooth and not too tacky, about 10 minutes.* Place dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover loosely with a cloth and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 pieces for thin crust, or keep whole for a thicker crust. Form into a tight ball and allow to rise until doubled again, about 45 minutes.*
4. Preheat the oven to 500* (Usually the hottest setting for a home oven.). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further, Then, drape it over both of your fists and gently pull the edges outward while rotating the crust. When it's reached the desired size, place on a pizza stone or baking sheet. Top with your favorite sauce, cheese and toppings.* (I typically use a 16oz package of mozzarella cheese for the two pizzas.)
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes until cheese is melted and crust is golden brown. Allow to cool 1 minute, then slice and enjoy!
*If you have a heavy duty stand mixer like Bosch or Kitchen Aid, you can dump all the ingredients into the mixer and let it go! It will do all the kneading for you and turn out wonderful without all the sweat!
*Allow the mixer to run for 8-10 minutes to develop the gluten in the flour. You have added enough flour once the dough comes clean from the sides of the mixing bowl. If you happen to make it TOO dry, just add a little more water!
*I have skipped the 2nd rise when I'm in a hurry and it still turns out fine.
*We like to spray the edge of the crust with no-stick cooking spray or spread olive oil on it with a pastry brush. Then we sprinkle garlic salt, Parmesan and Italian seasonings on it. YUM! This is also how I make the cheesy bread or dessert pizza, but substitute butter in for the oil.
I made a triple batch of this in my Bosch. It made ...
 |
| Large 1/2 pineapple 3-cheese |
 |
| Large pepperoni and black olives |
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| Garlic cheesy bread (about 1/2 the size of a large) |
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| Large cinnamon sugar with cream cheese frosting |
I love that the crust gets a nice crunch on the bottom but is still soft and chewy. I have also found that if I bake it on the 2nd rack from the very top for the first 12 minutes, and then move it down to the middle rack for another 3 or so minutes it gives you that pizzeria look and taste. The pizza turns out fine if you just bake it on the middle rack like usually, but this is a trick I found when I couldn't get that golden crust across the TOP of the pizza on the cheese and pepperoni. (For some reason I really love a crunchy pepperoni.) Sorry the one w/ the pepperoni turned out a little dark. I was feeding the baby and my sweet, but inexperienced hubby was in charge of taking it out for me.
We did make a nice salad to go along with all this carb-loading, but it was pretty standard... so it was deemed not blog worthy.
Happy baking!
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