What I'm cooking: Red and Green Tomato Pizza with Cornmeal Crust
What I'm drinking: Soave
What I'm listening to: Mandolin Orange (from Carrboro!)
Pizza is a great way to clean out the fridge. I always have some random cheeses and other ingredients hanging around. Not enough to make a full entree, but enough to throw on a pizza. I'm a big believer that almost anything makes an appropriate pizza topping. My only rule with pizza is that is must have some type of cheese on it. In my opinion, a pizza without cheese is like decaf coffee - utterly pointless. In this recipe I'm making a light cornmeal crust (too much can make the dough heavy). Pizza dough can be tricky. It's taken me years to get a decent recipe. Part of the problem is that cooking pizza in a home oven is never going to yield the same results as a pizza or wood burning oven. That said, there are a few things you can do to improve the outcome. Letting the dough rise twice is key - don't skip this step or your dough may end up too dense. Also, kneading until the dough is elastic will result in a far superior crust. A Kitchen Aide mixer with a dough hook comes in handy here (and in many other cases). Keep the dough working for a good 8-10 minutes. Finally, using bread flour (instead of all purpose) will make a big difference in the texture of your crust.
INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup warm (not hot) water
2.5 cups bread flour
1 cup fine corn meal
4 T. olive oil
1.5 T. salt
1 T. sugar (optional)
Toppings:
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. olive oil
2 large green tomatoes
2 large red tomatoes
1 large ball of fresh mozzarella (.5-.75 lb.)
handful of fresh torn basil
1 cup of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
In the bowl of your mixer, combine warm water and yeast. Whisk.
Add flour, cornmeal, olive oil, salt and sugar (be careful not to pour salt directly on yeast - it will kill it). Mix on slow speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and allow to knead for several minutes. Check consistency. If dough is still very sticky, add 1/4-1/2 cup more flour. Continue to knead on medium speed until dough is smooth and elastic - about 7 more minutes. If you do not have a mixer, this can all be done by hand, though the kneading process will take a little longer.
Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and allow to rise in a warm place (event he top of the fridge will do) until doubled in size. Depending on the temperature of your house, this could take anywhere from 1 to an 1.5 hours. Due to the corn meal, this is a particularly dense dough, so it takes a bit longer to rise than an all flour version. In the summer, I put my dough outside to rise - it will cut the time in half.
Once doubled, gently press dough down to remove some of the air. Transfer dough to whatever you are going to cook your pizza on (cookie sheet, pizza stone, screen - all lightly greased). Using a combination of hand stretching and a rolling pin, shape your dough into the desired thickness and shape. I prefer this dough recipe for a thinner crust, but it makes an OK thick crust too.
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
Now this is important: Do not put your toppings on yet. Let the dough rise again, this time for only about 45 minutes. This will give you all those great air bubbles and not a heavy crust. Once the dough has risen again (zombie crust), use your fingers to gently make small indentations in the crust - do not flatten completely.
Topping: In the microwave, combine olive oil and garlic in a small bowl and heat on high for 1 minute. This is now your pizza base - brush over pizza as liberally as you like.
Alternate thin slices of tomato and mozz. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is starting to lightly brown. A thicker crust will take 15-20 minutes.
While the pizza is baking, put balsamic vinegar in a small pan and reduce until syrupy.
Topped baked pizza with kosher salt, fresh cracked black pepper, torn basil. Drizzle with vinegar.
What I'm drinking: Soave
What I'm listening to: Mandolin Orange (from Carrboro!)
Pizza is a great way to clean out the fridge. I always have some random cheeses and other ingredients hanging around. Not enough to make a full entree, but enough to throw on a pizza. I'm a big believer that almost anything makes an appropriate pizza topping. My only rule with pizza is that is must have some type of cheese on it. In my opinion, a pizza without cheese is like decaf coffee - utterly pointless. In this recipe I'm making a light cornmeal crust (too much can make the dough heavy). Pizza dough can be tricky. It's taken me years to get a decent recipe. Part of the problem is that cooking pizza in a home oven is never going to yield the same results as a pizza or wood burning oven. That said, there are a few things you can do to improve the outcome. Letting the dough rise twice is key - don't skip this step or your dough may end up too dense. Also, kneading until the dough is elastic will result in a far superior crust. A Kitchen Aide mixer with a dough hook comes in handy here (and in many other cases). Keep the dough working for a good 8-10 minutes. Finally, using bread flour (instead of all purpose) will make a big difference in the texture of your crust.
INGREDIENTS:
Crust:
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup warm (not hot) water
2.5 cups bread flour
1 cup fine corn meal
4 T. olive oil
1.5 T. salt
1 T. sugar (optional)
Toppings:
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. olive oil
2 large green tomatoes
2 large red tomatoes
1 large ball of fresh mozzarella (.5-.75 lb.)
handful of fresh torn basil
1 cup of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
In the bowl of your mixer, combine warm water and yeast. Whisk.
Add flour, cornmeal, olive oil, salt and sugar (be careful not to pour salt directly on yeast - it will kill it). Mix on slow speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and allow to knead for several minutes. Check consistency. If dough is still very sticky, add 1/4-1/2 cup more flour. Continue to knead on medium speed until dough is smooth and elastic - about 7 more minutes. If you do not have a mixer, this can all be done by hand, though the kneading process will take a little longer.
Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and allow to rise in a warm place (event he top of the fridge will do) until doubled in size. Depending on the temperature of your house, this could take anywhere from 1 to an 1.5 hours. Due to the corn meal, this is a particularly dense dough, so it takes a bit longer to rise than an all flour version. In the summer, I put my dough outside to rise - it will cut the time in half.
Once doubled, gently press dough down to remove some of the air. Transfer dough to whatever you are going to cook your pizza on (cookie sheet, pizza stone, screen - all lightly greased). Using a combination of hand stretching and a rolling pin, shape your dough into the desired thickness and shape. I prefer this dough recipe for a thinner crust, but it makes an OK thick crust too.
Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
Now this is important: Do not put your toppings on yet. Let the dough rise again, this time for only about 45 minutes. This will give you all those great air bubbles and not a heavy crust. Once the dough has risen again (zombie crust), use your fingers to gently make small indentations in the crust - do not flatten completely.
Topping: In the microwave, combine olive oil and garlic in a small bowl and heat on high for 1 minute. This is now your pizza base - brush over pizza as liberally as you like.
Alternate thin slices of tomato and mozz. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is starting to lightly brown. A thicker crust will take 15-20 minutes.
While the pizza is baking, put balsamic vinegar in a small pan and reduce until syrupy.
Topped baked pizza with kosher salt, fresh cracked black pepper, torn basil. Drizzle with vinegar.
okay where did you get the green tomatoes?
ReplyDeleteI ordered them through our CSA (www.carolinagrown.org). They are from Sunburst Tomato Co. out of Nashville, NC.
ReplyDeleteyum! I need to try and make pizza dough again. last time it did not go so well but practice makes perfect....right?
ReplyDelete