Pizza
From Ars Cookbook
Submitted by aeberbach
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups semolina flour (if you haven't got it or can't buy it just use all white flour)
- 1 1/2 cups white flour
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Pinch salt
- Pinch sugar
- 1 tsp dried yeast
Directions
- Mix yeast with water and pinch of sugar, stir until it's dissolved.
- Toss everything in the mixing bowl.
- If using a machine apply dough hook for ten minutes, else knead by hand for the same amount of time.
- Let it rise in the bowl covered with a cloth in a warm area until it doubles in size.
- Stretch it out onto the biggest tray you've got - if using tray oil with good olive oil.
- Let it rise a bit more before wiping a little oil over the surface of the dough, stops the sauce from soaking the dough and making it soggy.
- Cover in what you like, then put it in a 250° C (~475° F) oven until it's as brown as you like it. Remember that the base will not cook as quickly as the top so you may want to lift it and check before deciding that your pizza is done.
If you do this more than a few times buy one of those stone tablets that go in the oven, often they come with a big wooden paddle ("peel") that you make the pizza on before sliding it onto the stone. Semolina sprinkled onto the peel acts like little ball bearings so it can slide off. You're trying to recreate a wood-fired pizza oven with a brick base in your home oven. If you do this heaps and you own a back yard, consider building a pizza oven! A great addition to your BBQ space and the family will love it. Invite everyone over and hand out dough, get them to make their own pizzas, it's easier than cooking it all yourself.
Coming from someone who worked in a pizza joint, cornmeal also works very well for this purpose. -brodie
Good on pizza:
- Basil pesto (instead of tomato sauce)
- Hot salami
- Bocconcini or quality mozzarella
- Tomato
- Basil leaves
- Artichoke hearts
- Anchovies
- Black olives
- Mushrooms
- Italian parmesan (grana padano, reggiano etc.)
- Almost anything else you like
Bad on pizza:
- Pineapple
- Spam
- Chicken
- Ground beef
Something different: Pizza Rustica
Cover pizza with thin slices of any waxy potato variety briefly dipped in oil. Sprinkle finely chopped fresh rosemary and also a handful of unchopped rosemary. A little fresh ground black pepper helps to balance the flavor. Thinly sliced garlic is also good if you like garlic. Bake until golden, don't go too far and burn the garlic.
This is also good with other meals if you just put some garlic, sea salt and oil on it, makes a sort of a crunchy, light garlic bread.
