It's my birthday... And I already went out for a fun night with my friends so today I could just do what I like most: cooking and eating. We made 3 different kinds of little pizzas, mostly because I wanted to use all the stuff in my fridge before driving home for the holidays.
Ingredients
4 1/2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold
a few tablespoons chopped herbs (optional)
Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting
Preparation
Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed. Add the herbs. Mix with a spatula as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. Add a little water or flour if needed. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky.
Transfer the dough to a floured countertop. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and mold each into a ball. Rub each ball with olive oil and slip into plastic sandwich bags. Refrigerat overnight.
When you are ready to make pizza (anytime in the next few days), remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before making the pizza. Keep them covered so they don't dry out.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and pop the baking stone in-- you can get a baking stone for 25 bucks, do it, it is an AWESOME addition to the kitchen.
Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and gently press a dough round into a disk wide enough that you can bring it up onto your knuckles to thin out - you should be able to pull each round out to 12-inches or so. If the dough is being fussy and keeps springing back, let it rest for another 15-20 minutes.
Pop it on the heated stone and add toppings!
Margherita Pizza
Ingredients
Fresh Basil, cut into little wisps
Fresh Oregano, chopped
Tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Pizza Crust
Preparation
Assemble!
Ingredients
Fresh Basil, cut into little wisps
Fresh Oregano, chopped
Tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Olive oil
Pizza Crust
Preparation
Assemble!
Asian Style Duck Pizza, an adapted epicurious recipe
Ingredients
1 duck (or chicken) breast, fat trimmed
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 Serrano chili, diced with seeds
1 teaspoon olive oil
 |
| Marinating the poultry |
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1/2 zucchini, halve it then slice
4 scallions, thinly sliced
cilantro for garnish
Preparation
Sprinkle duck (or chicken or turkey) with five-spice powder, salt and pepper and smother on the serrano. I like to marinate it so it gets nice and flavorful and spicy! Heat oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Cook duck until browned, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer skillet to oven; bake duck until outside is cooked but inside is rare, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool 4 to 5 minutes. Thinly slice and set aside. If you are doing turkey or chicken you can also pre-slice the meat and marinate in a plastic bag for a while in the fridge then do all the same (sautee) but forget the oven step.
I like to transfer the poultry out of the way so that I can use the skillet again to briefly sautee the diced bell pepper, zucchini and spinach so that they take some good flavor/ tasty fat. I like to sautee each separately so I have more control over assembly and the look of the final product. Add some salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Spread hoisin sauce on stretched dough and top with spinach, cheese, bell pepper and duck. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove and garnish with scallions and cilantro.
Artichoke Lover
Ingredients
Artichoke hearts, quartered
Trader Giotto's artichoke antipasti
Spinach
Mozzarella
Grate Fresh Parmigiano Reggiano
Grate Fresh Parmigiano Reggiano
Whole wheat pizza dough
Preparation
Spread the artichoke antipasti over the dough generously. Top with cheese, spinach and artichoke hearts. Bake and eat.
