Life as a Spectator Sport

Reader Michelle asked me to post the recipe I use for pizza dough that is ready in ten minutes. The recipe came originally from the book The Pizza Gourmet, by Shea MacKenzie. But I've simplified it somewhat.

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, 1 package (or 2-1/2 tsp.) yeast (use fast-rise or bread machine yeast), 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. brown sugar. Beat in one well-beaten egg and approximately 1 cup of warm water.

The original recipe calls for bread flour, but I've made it with everything from ordinary all-purpose white flour to my own hand-ground whole wheat. The texture is slightly different each time, and you have to adjust the amount of water, but it's always good. The book says to use 1 to 1-1/2 cups of warm water, but I have found that anything more than one cup is usually too much.

You can turn the dough out onto a floured or oiled board and knead it there, but I don't bother. I just slap it around in the bowl until it feels right (a little puffy, and beginning to turn shiny), and then leave it there for about ten minutes while I'm chopping and slicing whatever is going to go on top of it. I also start the oven heating to anything between 375 and 450 degrees at this point, and put the 16" pizza stone in it to preheat. The pizza book says to use 450, but we have found that the dough gets too brown and the cheese tends to burn at that temperature before the toppings are as hot as we like them.

Then I put a LOT of coarsely-ground yellow cornmeal on my big pizza peel, dump the dough in the middle and then pat, stretch and lift it with my fists underneath to get it as large as possible. My peel is 14 x 20, so I can't make a pizza quite as large as my 16" pizza stone would accomodate, but it's big enough. I try to work quickly at this point, because the dough will begin to stick to the peel regardless of how much cornmeal is underneath, if I take too long to pile on the toppings.

Then I take the hot stone out of the oven, slide the pizza off the peel onto the stone, throw it all back into the oven, and make the salad. The pizza will take 10 to 15 minutes in the oven, depending on what you have on top. Whole-milk mozzerella melts and burns much faster than partial-skim mozzerella, which doesn't like to melt properly at all. It is also much less stringy, but can be hard to find. Many supermarkets carry only the shredded partial-skim, a poor substitute for the real thing. Also, if you put the cheese on top, as we do, rather than the meat and vegetables, it will tend to burn more quickly. The only time I put the meat on top is when I'm using ground sausage, as I want to be sure it cooks through. Pepperoni is pre-cooked when you buy it, so you don't have to worry about it getting sufficiently done.

I use Roma or another Italian-paste type tomato, rather than slicing tomatoes, as they have less juice. I've had complaints about the topping being too watery when I tried regular tomatoes.

Do throw as much fresh or dried oregano on top as you like. I also use basil and parsley, snipped fresh from the pots in the kitchen window, but they are available fresh from most supermarkets. I grate Reggio Parmesan cheese to put on top, some to go on top in the oven and some for a cheese shaker so people can add extra at the table. We like cheese!

For anyone who is interested in a wide range of pizza's, I can recommend Shea MacKenzie's book (Caribbean Shrimp and Edam Pizza, Goat Cheese and Spinach Pizza, etc.). It is available in most large bookstores, or from Amazon. It has recipes for all kinds of crusts, some of which I have tried and enjoyed. But we keep coming back to the "speedy dough," and the simplest of peasant toppings, just tomatoes, cheese and some variety of ground or sliced sausage.

Thanks, Michelle, for your interest, and for giving me an excuse to talk some more about one of our favorite dishes.

The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section

This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.

RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email to liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002