Monday 21 January 2013

Pizza and Friends

So. You need pizza dough, or breadsticks, or calzones, or whatever. Line muffin pans to make little bready baskets? The only limit is your imagination.

Yeast comes in two varieties, the stuff you add to liquid, and the stuff you add dry.

Active or traditional yeast has to be revived in warm liquid with sugar first.

Instant, fast-rise, or special pizza yeast, goes in DRY.

So first ascertain what you have.

(We have yet to figure out if bread machine yeast can be used as a dry yeast substitute. We THINK it can.)

So, for active or traditional:

Start
4 teaspoons of yeast, in
2 cups of hot water, with
2 teaspoons of sugar

Let this go frothy, about ten minutes

Then, add it to:

6 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of salt
4 tablespoons of olive oil (or melted butter)

And knead it WELL.

Leave this to double in size, covered.

For instant, fast-rise or pizza yeast:

6 cups of flour
1 tablespoon salt
4 1/2 teaspoons sugar
7 tsp yeast

Then add:

2 cups hot water
9 tablespoons oil


KNEAD REALLY WELL.

This can be used straight away.

...........................................................................................................................................



Take your kneaded dough, divide it up as required and roll it out to HALF the final thickness you desire.

Shape it and leave it aside while you assemble your toppings.

OK, now the fun stuff.

Assuming this is not one of those weird modern white pizzas or something.......

First you'll need some tomato sauce. Any. Add garlic or herbs to taste, and spread over the dough, but don't overdo it. There is nothing worse than too much tomato sauce. I find that 5 tablespoons of sauce on an extra large pizza ( = 1/4 of above recipe) is plenty. Add garlic, herbs, spices etc to sauce. Let it sit.

Then you need veggies and/or meat. Sliced/diced/cut up small. You may want to cook some meats a bit first, e.g. bacon. It's only going to be in the oven 20 minutes so plan accordingly.

We regularly use onions, green peppers, mushrooms, salami, tiny meatballs, tomatoes, etc. but really, you can use anything.

I think artichoke hearts and olives go well, but it's a matter of taste. Most people like pepperoni.

Then cover everything with LOTS of cheese. Don't skimp on the cheese. Cheddar, mozarella, goat cheese, whatever.

Bake it, serve it and SERVE WINE with it.


Bake at 200C for 20 minutes.



5 comments:

  1. I know you have been kind enough to share how to make dough with both kinds of yeast, but do you have a preference, or one that you happen to have on hand the most? Do you purchase a lot of it? Can you tell yeast and I do not have a very forgiving relationship? LOL

    Have you ever held onto yeast beyond its expiration date, or do you manage to always use it before the date becomes an issue? Any recommendations you may offer would be greatly appreciated. :) ~ Blessings!

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    1. We were making all our own bread until the Kitchen Aid committed suicide. So right now, apart from a few burger buns, naan, etc, we are really only make pizza dough, for which I definitely prefer the second version - with dedicated pizza yeast. We also use this recipe for fancy stuff like the Maltese pasties. I am very comfortable with yeasted goods, so I will tell you, with impunity, that the first recipe is better for bread, buns, cinnamon rolls, etc.

      It never sticks around here long enough to go past expiry, frankly. We buy it in jars. I am TOLD you can freeze it.

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  2. I can vouch for the yumminess of her pizzas.. I'm drooling just remembering... Yep..

    We have used the Pizza dough recipe on the Pizza Yeast jar, it works really well, but we have to double it to make enough for everyone here.

    Melanie, you burnt out ANOTHER Kitchen Aid?? I think you need to start going to restaurant auctions to source out an industrial one..

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    Replies
    1. Not burnt out, half the head has sheared off. You can see inside. I'm going to take to to the factory with a camera crew:)

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  3. Pizza has become our "there's nothing else in the house since it is the end of the money and the food" meal. Since anything can go on it, and I always have the stuff on hand to make the dough, pizza it is. And no one complains!

    I made the mistake a few weeks ago of making barbecue chicken pizza (barbecue sauce, chicken, bacon and red onion), and it has been the request for every pizza since. I have created monsters.

    ReplyDelete