Thursday, January 19, 2012

margarita pizza, with stone

I gave my boyfriend a pizza making kit for Christmas, and we finally got around to using it (finally only because we cook so often). I wanted to make homemade dough for it (memories of making pizza weekly with Eryn in Morocco and the giggles that accompanied all of our kitchen time), so I've included the basic recipe from SK, though I tweaked it a bit. I think using the whole wheat flour instead of some of the regular flour contributed to the thickness of the dough, as did some perhaps imperfect measurements on my part. When it was hot, it was good, but the crust part was a bit more chewy than normal. I haven't had this problem using the same recipe but all white flour, so if you follow it exactly, you shouldn't have a problem.

We first baked the dough on the stone with a bit of olive oil, garlic, herbes de Provence, fresh thyme, and black pepper. Once it was about halfway done, we brought it out and put on the tomato sauce (from a jar), mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and tomatoes, and put it back in the oven. When it was finished, we sprinkled fresh basil on the top, and voila. It was very yummy. We even enjoyed it cold the next day (sometimes reheating in an oven [no microwave], though worth it when I do, is more than I'm bothered to try).




*I doubled this recipe for our pizza, but I have used this for two and its been good (and thinner)


6 tablespoons warm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more water)
2 tablespoons white wine
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups flour [I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour with 1 cup regular flour]


Whisk wine, water and yeast in a medium bowl until yeast has dissolved. Add honey, salt and olive oil and stir. Add flour and no matter how dry it looks, work it with a spoon and your fingers until it comes together as a dough. Add more water one tablespoon at a time if you need, but in my experience, this is almost never necessary.

Sprinkle some flour on the counter and knead the dough for a minute or two.

If you’re like me and always trying to reduce the number of dirty dishes left at the end of the night, wash the bowl you made the dough in, dry it and coat the inside with olive oil. Put the dough in, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it rise for an hour or up to two, until it is doubled.

[Easiest way to tell if a dough has risen enough? Dip two fingers in flour, press them into the dough, and if the impression stays, it's good to go. If it pops back, let it go until it doesn't.]

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