Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Daring Bakers Challenge- October!

Okay, here is the daring bakers challenge for October... Pizza! I like pizza but only when its home made. I decided to make a shimp pizza and and ancovy pizza (b/c thats my FAVE topping!!!). The dough was good, but I had to add a lot of flour and then rosemary to make it the best dough ever! I even used a little of my new robust, spicy olive oil on the top of the pizzas.
I noted changes in red.
BASIC PIZZA DOUGH
Original recipe from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.
Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups Unbleached bread flour
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast
1/4 Cup Olive oil
1 3/4 Cups Water
1 Tb sugar
Cornmeal for dusting
Chopped rosemary
Day One
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).
2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.
3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.
4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).
5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.
6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.
7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days. I only rested it for a couple hours and room temp.
Day Two
8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).
10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.
11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.
12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.
13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.
14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

The Pizza dough, with rosemary added.
Shrimp pizza.
Roasted garlic, Precooked shrimp marinated in spices, Mozzerella cheese

Anchovy and Basil Pizza.

Tomato sauce with roasted garlic, mozz and parm cheese, oregano, fresh basil, anchovy fillets (torn).

<3

10 comments:

  1. The leaves on your pizza look so pretty, and I love the rosemary in the dough. I love anchovies, too. Good job with the challenge!

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  2. I agree, I needed a bit extra flour. The dough was so soft. Great pizzas, and great Douglas Adams quote. I'm a big hgttg fan.

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  3. I needed extra flour as well. I love the rosemary the shrimp pizza looks delicious

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  4. Both of your pizzas look delicious. I especially like the one with anchovies.

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  5. I'm not sure how I feel about the anchovies (well I know how I feel and it's not very nice) but the pizzas look great and I'm glad you liked them.

    P.S. I'm about to try your advice on uploading my photo.

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  6. Your pizza looks delicious! Love the added herbs to the dough, great idea!

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  7. what a great idea!! next time i make pizza dough, i will surely add some rosemary in the dough. great job!! -kk

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  8. Your pizzas look like a professional made them. I wish that Jack Frost had not murdered my basil in the dead of night. I love that you were able to use fresh basil. I also like the addition of rosemary to your dough. Excellent job.

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  9. Lynn, thanks! I got the basil from my grandmother, who grows it on a patio or I would have been SOL too... :)

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