Monday, January 21, 2008

Pizza Time

I asked my boys what they felt like eating for Sunday dinner and they responded in one voice: PIZZZZAAAA!! So, Pizza it was. I made two kinds: a traditional cheese pizza with thin crust and slices of Mozzarella di Bufala and one that was a variant from a Calzone.

The dough is simple to make. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook attachment and placed 4 cups of white, all-purpose flour in the mixing bowl. In a tall glass, I combined lukewarm water with two Tbsp of dry yeast and let it sit for a couple of minutes. I added the water + yeast to the flour with a couple Tbsps of extra-virgin olive oil, mixed the whole thing and added few more Tbsps of lukewarm water as needed, until the dough was elastic to the touch and did not stick the the side of the bowl. I covered the bowl and let the dough raise for about 30 minutes. In the meantime I gathered everything I needed for the topping and the filling.
For the tomato sauce I used two 8oz can of tomato sauce (one for each pizza) mixed with some extra-virgin olive oil, minced or powder garlic, dry oregano, salt and pepper. I also add my shredded mozzarella cheese. When the dough was about twice the size and nice and fluffy, I flattened, cut the two ends (and kept them for the thin crust pizza) and spread the tomato sauce, cheese, and more extra-virgin olive oil to seal it:

Then I folded the edges over, placed the calzone on a greased cookie sheet, poured some more oil on the top (for a flakier texture), and baked it for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. I placed the thin crust pizza in the oven later and baked it for about 12 minutes:

Of course, "someone" wanted to help...

1 comment:

  1. I totally need one of those pampered chef dealies! I make pizza dough in my breadmaker and then have the hardest time getting it rolled out thin enough! This looks YUMMY!

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