Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Pizza Crust

This recipe uses a bread machine -- a tool I heartily believe in! It's no substitute for the therapy of kneading dough when you're frustrated, but when I've got a lot going on in the kitchen it's nice to know the bread's making it okay without me.


Ingredients to make two 12 inch pizzas:

  • 1 1/4 Cup Water
  • 2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 Cups White Flour
  • 2 Cups Wheat Flour
  • 1 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Tsp Granulated Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Rapid-Rise Active Dry Yeast
In the Bread Machine:
  • Pour water into bread pan.
  • Add oil.
  • Sprinkle the flour over the wet ingrdients.
  • Put salt and granulated sugar into separate corners.
  • Make an indention in the middle of the flour and add the yeast.
  • Set bread machine to basic dough setting.
  • Observe dough for first 5-10 minutes of kneading to make sure that a firm ball is forming. If it is too dry, add water a TB at a time. If it is too wet, add flour a TB at a time.
  • When dough is done, roll into two pizza crusts, spread a small amount of tomato sauce or tomato paste on top, and add toppings of your choice.

In the Oven: Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

My Favorite Toppings Include:
Herbs (rosemary, oregano, sage, parsley, etc.)
Prosciutto or Pancetta

Mushrooms

Black Olives

Onions

Mozarella Cheese

Ricotta Cheese from scratch





Ideas:

Use your pizza dough to make an Italian flatbread--Focaccia.

  • After rolling out the bread, cover for 15 minutes and allow to rise.
  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  • Dimple the bread with your fingers, cover again and allow it to rise for 20 more minutes.
  • Spritz with olive oil, sprinkle on salt and herbs (I like rosemary).
  • Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and hollow sounding when tapped.

2 comments:

  1. I always like homemade pizza dough-someone else in this family doesn't care for it as much as I do though :)
    http://karensquilting.com/blog/

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  2. That's too bad! For us pizza is all about the bread--we can be kind of skimpy on the toppings! Luckily, so long as we stay away from processed food, carbs don't seem to affect our weight. I make this ahead of time on my days off, and we heat it up when I come home for lunches throughout the week.

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