Friday, June 4, 2010

I can't wait to make my own pie!....

Pizza pie that is. I wanted to put a Seinfeld video here but, sadly, there are copyrights. Anyway, we've got a great pizza dough recipe that is easy and oh so good. Also, it makes four medium sized pizzas so if you want you can freeze half of the recipe by wrapping the dough in wax or sprayed parchment paper and when you need it just thaw it, making sure to let it come to room temperature and you're ready to make your own pie! We make many variations, I've even used the dough to make a desert pizza by sprinkling cinnamon and sugar on it and then after it cools make a glaze to drizzle over it, it's yummy! I could start naming off our favorites but it would turn into the scene from Forest Gump where he's hearing about all the ways to cook shrimp so I'll just let you do your thing. We have discovered that we prefer provolone cheese to mozzarella. But, again, you make it however you like it!

Pizza Dough

1/4 C whole wheat flour
3 ½ C High gluten flour, the original recipe called for all purpose here but we found that high gluten makes a crispier crust
2 tsp. yeast
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. olive oil
1 1/3 C Warm water

Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl with the dough hook attachment, gradually add the olive oil and water while on low speed. Then kneed on low speed for about 6-8 min.


Divide the dough into 4 balls and place on 2 baking sheets lined with wax or parchment paper (I spray mine with Pam) and place another sheet of sprayed paper on top, and cover that with a damp towel until they double in size, about 2 hours.


Preheat oven to 550° and put your pizza stone on the middle rack.
Roll out pizza dough and place on a pizza palette.
We've started using yellow corn meal for rolling instead of flour it adds such a nice texture.



Last night we used the recipe above to make Calzones. The only difference is, after you've rolled it out, you put your fillings on one side, fold the dough over it, crimp about 1" around with a fork, put some vent slits in the top, and bake at 425° so the vegetables and cheese have more time to cook. It took ours about eight minutes to be done at the lower temp. They were so good. JP ate a whole one, our little 6 yr old granddaughter ate over one-half, and I got stuck at half! That girl can pack in the food and isn't picky at all. She asked me last night if we were meataterians, I said without skipping a beat "absolutely honey." Kids are so funny.

We are having a wonderful and blessed weekend here in the holler and hope you all are too.

4 comments:

YD, sometimes with ♥June and ♥Angel Samantha said...

Love love love homemade pizza! We make it quite often. I use the dough that Lena made for us when we visited her and Sean.
Have you tried Chicken Parm Pizza? Shrimp Alfredo Pizza? Shrimp Scampi Pizza? I think I may have to make a pizza this week. :)

Cindy said...

The dough recipe is very interesting and different from any I've used. It looks soooo good! I have a pizza stone and a peel but gave up trying to get the pizza OFF the peel and onto the hot stone as every time I tried, the toppings went off the dough and all over the stone---what a mess! Now I realize a calzone would remedy that problem. Thanks for the great idea.
Also, re your question on the bowl with the apple on it. No, it is not blue ridge mountain. It was made by GLF and is called apple ware. At least I'm pretty sure it is. I enjoy my one piece of it, which I found at a garage sale for 50 cents. I appreciate your prayers---am in the process of making an appointment at the Mayo Clinic for a second opinion.

Cindy said...

Oops, I posted a comment just before this and forgot that I am at my son's home and on his computer!! So you may wonder who wrote it.
I hope it didn't confuse you. Cindy (from Blueberry Buckle Way)

JP said...

Cindy:

Sliding the pizza off the peel and onto the stone is definitely a skill. I make sure that the peel is well covered in corn meal before we put the pizza dough down on it, and as soon as we do, I pick the peel up and shake it a little before putting anything on the dough, until is starts scooting back and forth on the peel freely. Then once the pizza has all the toppings on it, the Mrs. helps me by opening the oven and sliding the rack that has the stone on it out, and meanwhile, I again shake the peel back and forth until the pizza starts to move back and forth freely (but be careful not to slide it off onto the floor), then carefully slide the pizza onto the stone. We have also found that it helps to top the pizza w/ sliced cheese instead of grated cheese because it doesn't slide off of the pizza as easily.

Hope these ideas help!