Monday, August 19, 2013

Pizza Night!


This is Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe and it is delicious.  The consistency is perfect for handling and it can be made into a thin crust pizza or a slightly thicker crust (which is what we made here). A pro tip I learnt at Serious Pie is to paint the crust of the pizza as soon as it comes out of the oven with EV olive oil and sprinkle it with sea salt. Ah-mazing! The pizza was also delicious cold the next day :)

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups (1 lb) AP flour
1 1/2-2 tsp fine sea salt (I used regular table salt)
1 packet active dry yeast (1/4 ounce)
1 1/2 tsp raw sugar
2 Tbs olive oil
1 1/4 cups luke warm water


Method:
1) Mix water, yeast, sugar and olive oil in a large measuring cup. While the yeast is getting excited by all the sugary warmth mix flour and sea salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center



2) Pour yeast mixture into well and mix until dough is shaggy looking. At this point you can put dough onto a floured surface and knead until it is springy but I just threw it into my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook on for about 3-4 minutes.


3) Wash out bowl and oil it lightly. Put dough in and turn to coat. Cover bowl with damp towel and leave in a warm spot for an hour. The dough will double in size.
4) Punch the dough downThe dough can be used immediately or put in the fridge wrapped to be used later
5) Roll dough out 10-15 minutes before you want to cook it. For a thicker crust use a half sheet pan. For thin pizzas use two half sheet pans. When ready to cook preheat oven to 500F. I prebake the dough for 5-7 minutes before adding toppings just because I like a really crisp crsut.

Toppings: We did half chicken (shredded left-over chicken, feta, olives and basil) and a vegetarian side with just mozarella, olives and basil. Delicious. I think a pesto pizza would be great too. If my Basil plant would just stop dying on me...