Meal 20: Pizza

Of course I had to make pizza this month, I'm not a monster.

Aside from the obvious, I wanted to make pizza because it was a good opportunity for me to get experience working with yeasted bread. The dough making was actually way easier than I was expecting and makes me wonder why more people don't make bread at home, because I sure will from now on out.

In regards to the toppings, I wanted to lean more traditional with a Margharita: tomato, basil, mozzarella. The tomatoes proved to be a deceivingly hard ingredient to work with because I forgot to remove the wet innards, which led to some seepage and inhibited the middle of the crust from fully crisping. However, after a quick dab with a paper towel much of the liquid was removed and with this technique I managed to save the pizza (buts let's be honest I would have eaten it whether or not it worked). Overall, this foray into breads was a decent success, and I got a pizza out of it which is always a bonus.


Recipe:

Pizza Dough

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp instant yeast
2 tsp coarse kosher salt
2 tbsp olive oil

1.) Combine the four, yeast and salt in stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Turn on machine and add 1 cup of water and the oil.
2.) Mix for about 30 seconds, adding more water, a little at a time, until the mixture form a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is still dry, add another tbsp or two of water and process for another 10 seconds.
3.) Either turn out the dough onto a floured surface or put on the dough hook attachment and knead for a few seconds. Form the dough into a ball and put into a bowl, covering with plastic wrap. Let it rise until it doubles in size, about 1-2 hours.
4.) When the dough is ready, form into a ball and divide into 2 or more pieces, rolling each into a ball. Put each ball on a lightly floured surface and cover with plastic or a towel and let rise again for about 30 minutes. Then follow any pizza recipe you like.

Margharita Pizza
*I chose to go classic and just made a simple Margharita, but you can use the same methods with any variation of toppings

One ball of pre-made dough
Pizza sauce (I used store bought, but you could take the time to make this from scratch)
Fresh mozzarella, sliced into rounds
1-2 Roma tomatoes, sliced and seeded
Fresh basil
Salt and pepper

1.) Set oven to 500 degrees. On a lightly oiled baking sheet stretch and form the dough ball into a large flat disc, around 12-inches in diameter.
2.) Sauce and top your pizza with desired toppings. For a Margharita: Lightly oil and sauce the dough, leaving exposed crust around the outside. Place mozzarella rounds and tomatoes on sauced pizza, leaving as little or as much exposed as desired ( I obviously chose to use as much cheese as possible). Tear fresh basil into smaller pieces and sprinkle over pizza, leaving some to add after baking.
2.) Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until the crust is crispy and browned.