Homemade pizza is a lot of fun to make. There's something enjoyable about sprinkling on toppings, knowing you can pile on the cheese to your heart's content without having to pay an extra $1.95. The worst part about making homemade pizza is the smell. I don't mean it makes a stench...I mean that a baking pizza makes the most intoxicating, heavenly aroma in your oven, resulting in every member of the household hovering around the kitchen and asking "Is it done yet?"
This particular pizza crust isn't exactly traditional dough. It includes herbs, spices, and a generous amount of parmesan cheese mixed right in. If made in a pizza pan, this makes about a 14-16 inch pizza crust.
Pizza crust ingredients:
2 1/4 c. flour (approximate)
1/4 c. parmesan cheese. Nothing fresh or fancy; the grated powder right out of the can works best for this application.
1 packet dry yeast.
3/4 tsp. salt.
Pinch of sugar.
1/2 tsp. garlic powder.
1/2 tsp. onion powder.
1 tsp. dried oregano.
1 cup warm water
2 tblsp. oil/liquid fat. I think olive oil gives the best flavor, but you can also use melted butter or vegetable oil.
Start by putting warm water in a good-sized mixing bowl. The water should be slightly warm; just a bit warmer than body temp. Mix in your bit of sugar and packet of yeast, and let sit until the yeast is foamy. It takes maybe 3-5 minutes. Add the oil and mix a bit, then add your dry ingredients: flour, cheese, and seasonings.
So many times, I've seen the whole "pre-mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl" recommendation, both on TV cooking shows and in recipe books. I never do that. I hate doing dishes, and never saw the point of generating more dirty ones than I absolutely have to. I do something different. When you add dry ingredients to wet, they don't magically mix instantly. The dry ingredients sit in a mound on top of the wet ingredients until you stir them together. What I do is add the flour first, right on top of the wet ingredients. I add the herbs and other ingredients on top of the flour. Next, I give the mountain of dry ingredients a thorough tossing with my clean fingers -- being careful not to mix in any of the wet ingredients -- and call it blended. Then, I stir the wet and dry together. It's worked for me every time.
It should come together in a nice dough, soft but not sticky. Feel free to add more flour or water as needed. Breadmaking isn't an exact science. Then, it's time to knead. Turn out your pizza dough on a lightly floured surface. Never kneaded before? It's easy. With the palm of your hand, squish the dough down on the board, slightly flattening it. Grab the top half of the dough and flip it over the bottom half, folding the dough ball roughly in half. Don't worry about being exact or anything. Squish down again, mashing the two halves together. Then, rotate the dough a quarter-turn and repeat. Squish, fold, squish, turn, repeat. Every time you fold and squish the dough, you're working air into it and developing the gluten. This gives the finished products its final texture and flavor.
How long do you knead the dough? Well, it depends. It takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes of kneading. Don't worry about overworking dough when it comes to yeast bread. Bang it around, abuse it, take out your frustrations. It can take it, and it's all good in the end. You can tell by feel when your dough is ready. You know those dense, foam stress balls? The ones that are so soft and squishy, yet spring back once you release your grip on it? That's what your dough will feel like when it's ready to rise. It will be soft and smooth, and puff right back after you smoosh it.
Lightly grease the inside of a large bowl. I use those cooking sprays, but you can also rub a stick of butter on the inside of the bowl. Form your dough into a rough ball or mound. Put it face-down in the bowl, then flip it on its back. This lightly greases both sides of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and leave it on the counter to rise until it doubles its size. It takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours or more, depending on how warm your kitchen is. The warmer the temperature, the faster the dough rises.
When your dough has risen, take your fist and gently punch right in the middle of it. It should deflate as the extra air is punched out. Now it's ready to go in the pan. You can toss the dough around on your hands if you want, and that'll stretch it out pretty well. I, unfortunately, am not coordinated enough for that. I know, I've tried. Luckily, I find that grabbing and gently stretching the edges of the dough works just fine for klutzes like me. You can bake this pizza on a round pizza pan, or you can make it into a rectangular pizza and cook it on a cookie sheet. Be sure to grease the pan or cookie sheet first.
Once your dough is stretched out, it's time for toppings. Be as creative or as simple as you want. The only rule in pizza topping is to make sure that any meat ingredients...chicken, sausage, bacon or whatever....are fully-cooked before they go on your pizza. The pizza won't be in the oven long enough to cook raw meat thoroughly. Veggies, however, can go on raw without a problem. For pizza sauce, I find that the cheap, plain old spaghetti sauce out of the can works just fine for the purpose. Then I put on the cheese, and then the rest of the toppings. The pizza in the picture is topped with sauce, a mix of jalapeno jack and mozzarella cheese, chicken, black olives, mushrooms and onions.
Bake your pizza in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. It's done when the crust is lightly browned, and the cheese is melted and a bit bubbly.
No comments:
Post a Comment