Making a pizza right now!
I followed this recipe copied from another board:
Over the years I had more people ask for my pizza recipe, I hope you try mine a couple times - don't be dissapointed if it doesn't quite turn out the first time: with a little practice and adjustments on the dough thickness, the sauce and what toppings you use you'll be making "Pies From Heaven". Ain't nothing like a really good homemade pizza. When I make this dough recipe I usually end up with a lot more dough than I intended to use that day, so what I do is make a bunch of small and medium sized pizzas with the leftover dough and PARTIALLY BAKE them, let them cool, put them in freezer bags and freeze them. You get a late night Jones for a pizza or you have unexpected guests drop in you're covered. Enjoy
Mis en place
DOUGH
1 package dry yeast
1/2 Tsp white sugar
1 cup tepid water
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
SAUCE
1 Jar your favorite pasta sauce
1 TBLS garlic chili paste (or Tabasco sauce)
1 TBLS Herbs de Provance
1 TBLS dry Oregano
1 TSP red pepper flake
2 TBLS white sugar
TOPPINGS
1-2 Cups grated mozzarella
1 Cup (grated parmesan, asiagio, provolone, ricottta)
meats
vegetables (be careful you don't add too many vegetables - you'll end up with a soupy top)
The dough: first I gotta teach you something about your ingredients here. Flour is made from processed wheat - flour has something called gleuten in it, part of the wheat grain - when making dough you knead the dough and in the process you work the gleuten in the flour. The more you work the dough the more you work the gleuten - as you're working the dough you'll notice some resistance, the dough gets a little elastic and tough - that's because you've worked up the gleuten, like working muscles when working out, working the gleuten in the dough will give your crust a nice "snap". That's a good thing.
Fill your mixing bowl with hot tap water, let stand about 2 minutes - you are "tempering" the bowl to remove the chill from it - yeast works best at body temperature - so if you start off with a cold bowl you're yeast won't grow as well as it could. Drain the bowl and now add 1 cup TEPID tap water (doesn't feel hot or cold on your had, it's roughly body temperature). Add dry yeast and white sugar and combine. Let stand about 10 minutes, meanwhile turn on your oven so your work area is pleasantly cozy - never make breads or doughs in a cold and drafty work area... The sugar you added to the water acts as food for the yeast to feed on. After 4 or 5 minutes you'll notice some activity on the surface of the water, some brown foam... at the end of 10 minutes the yeast will have come alive and you can proceed.
SLOWLY add half the flours to the water, with a large wooden spoon or spatula fold the flour and water together, adding a bit of flour at a time until the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl. NEVER add all the flour at once, chances are you'll have too much flour and end up with what we call a "slack dough" that's impossible to work properly (throw that away and start over). Add an additional dusting of flour and switch from the wooden spoon to working the dough with your closed fist, pushing down into the dough with your fist while turning the bowl with your other hand a quarter turn. Push down and turn, push down and turn. Repeat this for about 2 minutes - if the dough starts sticking to your fist, dust the dough with a tiny bit more flour. Work the dough for total of about 4 minutes - feel that gleuten toughening up and the dough working a little tighter ?? You're getting there. Now cover the mixing bowl with a soft towel and place in a warm not drafty location for at least 30 minutes. Prepare your sauce, grate your cheeses and prep your toppings, have a glass of wine.
Sauce: combine all ingredients listed and mix well.
Preparation, with oven preheated to 450 take a piece of your dough, dust the work surface with a small amount of flour (or use my favorite Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix) with an old wine bottle or rolling pin roll the dough thin, turn it over and dust with a little more flour and roll that side - if the gleuten got worked well the dough will try to shrink back a bit as you roll it out (a good sign). Now LIBERALLY grease a cast iron skillet or heavy aluminum sheet pan with a couple of GLUGS of EVO and place your dough out, pushing dough into edges of the pan. Next add sauce, a very liberal dose of assorted cheeses and your toppings. Season the top of the pie with some garlic salt, a little more Herbs de Provance and a dash of red pepper flake. Into the hot 450 degree oven for 15 minutes, rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake approximately another 8-12 minutes depending on how big your pie is and how "hot" your oven is. Remove pie from oven and let rest about 5-8 minutes before cutting into it - giving the ingredients to rest - you cut the pizza too soon and it'll go all runny on you.
