Monday, December 10, 2012

The life of a pizza

From birth to death, the life cycle of a pizza.
The dog is not interested until the cheese appears

Don't feel bad for it, it died in a good cause (and was delicious)!
If you're interested in making your own pizza, it's dead easy. The recipe I used is from (Amazon link) River Cottage Veg Every Day! (River Cottage Every Day)
Here's the recipe for the dough, taken from that book:
250g strong white bread flour
250g plain white flour
5g powdered dried yeast
10g salt
325ml warm water
About 1 tbsp olive oil
1 handful coarse flour (rye, semolina or polenta), for dusting

In a bowl, mix the flours, yeast, salt and water to form a sticky dough. Mix in the oil, then turn out on to a clean work surface and knead until smooth and silky. (Alternatively, if you have a mixer with a dough hook, mix the flours, yeast, salt and water on a low speed, add the oil and knead for 10 minutes). Shape into a round, and leave to rise in a clean bowl, covered with a plastic bag, until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven (and pizza stone or substitute) as high as it will go. Take a lime-sized piece of dough and roll it into a 5mm thick round. Dust a rimless baking sheet with coarse flour, lay the dough on it, add your toppings and slip the pizza from the sheet on to the hot stone. Bake until any cheese is bubbling and the base is taking on some colour, seven to nine minutes. Scatter over any leaves or raw toppings, and tuck in.
All these pics taken with my iPhone, hence the slightly iffy quality

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Would be nice if you could deliver it across the pond!

Unknown said...

It'd be a bit cold and greasy by then!