Pizza Friday

Most Fridays we have pizza and watch a movie. This is my favourite pizza recipe to date and I’ve tweeked it a little bit since discovering it a few years ago. It is a great recipe which just requires some time {letting the dough rest} and patience when rolling out the dough.

The below recipe is enough for 4 x 14″ thin crust pizzas. I make two and then freeze the other half, however I do think the dough tastes a little nicer when unfrozen.

     

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons of yeast {I use Saf-instant which comes in 1 Ib bags}
• 1/4 teaspoon of sugar
• {1 teaspoon -1 tablespoon of mixed pizza herbs or oregano optional}
• Between 2-2 1/2 cups/475ml-600ml of lukewarm water
• 4 1/2 cups/625g Bread Flour or Strong White Flour
• 1/2 cup/75g of Semolina Flour 
• 1-2  tablespoons of Wheat Germ {optional}

Pizza Stone 14 3/4″/ 37.5 cm

Pizza Peel

Non Stick Parchment Paper

Suggested Toppings:

• Tomato Pizza Sauce I use a fresh one fromTrader Joe’s
• Fresh grated Mozzarella {approximately 8oz per pizza}
• Pepperoni {I use the brand Ciao which is stocked in many supermarkets including Trader Joe’s}
• Chopped onions optional

Method:

When baking with yeast I prefer to activate it first, so I dissolve the yeast along with the sugar, herbs and a cup of water in the bowl of my KitchenAid this usually takes 10 mins or so. Then I gradually add the flour along with the remainder of the water and mix using the dough hook until it is combined. When it is humid in New York I find you require less water so be careful when mixing as adding too much flour will make your dough tough.

     

     

You can allow the dough to rest covered with a clean tea towel in the same bowl you just mixed it in if using a little later that day or chill in the fridge. I add a drop of olive oil to a clean freezer bag before adding the dough when popping in the fridge or freezing. Before freezing it helps to divide the dough up into discs as I mentioned earlier this recipe makes enough for 4 x 14″ pizzas.

If chilled remove the dough  from the fridge and let it rest for 1/2 hour or so before rolling out. I cut out two 14″ circles from parchment paper {I use the pizza stone as a template} I find it is easier to lift the dough onto the peel when you have rolled it out on the parchment paper especially after adding the toppings.

Place pizza stone on the lowest rack. Preheat oven at a high temperature in our gas oven that is 500F.

I flatten the dough into a rough circle and sprinkle lightly with four before rolling from the centre to the edge which you do in a circular motion. You can also turn the dough upside down when it is still thick before rolling again. It will seem like you do not have enough dough to do this but take your time and soon enough you will have rolled all the way to the edge.

       

I then place the dough and parchment paper onto the peel and spread the tomato sauce on top {around 4 tablespoons depending on your own taste preference} sprinkle with grated mozzarella and then add the pepperoni. Transfer the pizza and parchment paper onto the the pizza stone in the oven and bake for 6-7 minutes. It did take me a little practice getting used to sliding the pizza onto the stone however the parchment paper does make that easier. We add chopped fresh basil to the pizza and serve with a crunchy green salad.

17 Jul This entry was published on July 17, 2015 at 7:56 pm. It’s filed under #pizza recipe and tagged #homemade pizza. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.