Showing posts with label crust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crust. Show all posts

Monday, July 25, 2011

Pizza from scratch

In this installment of Alex tries new things, I am going to spend the next three days running through Martha's basic pizza recipe. Of course, this did not actually TAKE me three days, but because it required three different recipes, I thought this would be the best way to organize things. That, and I'm super lazy right now because I have submitted (count them) 33 medical school applications. Vomit.

Day 1: The crust

I bought yeast. Never thought it would come to this. Does this mean I'm a real baker now? Martha? What do you think?

Well, I feel special. For the crust, I simple took a cup of hot water, added a packet of the quick yeast from the grocery store and included 2 teaspoons sugar. I let this sit for 5 minutes, per Martha's instructions and then added in flour - 1:1 ratio of whole wheat and white.

After mixing this together and getting most of it on my hands as I kneaded it, I managed to scrape some off to sit for 45 minutes. After this, I "punched" the dough (great way to get out my anxiousness) and let it sit for another 30.

Miraculously it worked, and I was left with a nice, fluffy dough circle.

Tomorrow: special olive oil. Don't let the anticipation kill you!'

Recipe: (Martha is my grlll) from http://www.marthastewart.com/333200/basic-grilled-pizza-dough

Ingredients
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 packet (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
  • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl and brushing
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 1/4 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
Directions
  1. Pour 1 cup warm water into a medium bowl; add sugar and sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, 5 minutes.
  2. Whisk oil and 1 teaspoon salt into yeast mixture. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until liquid is incorporated (dough will appear dry). Turn out onto a floured work surface. Knead until dough comes together in an elastic ball, 2 minutes. Transfer to an oiled medium bowl; brush lightly with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; set in a warm, draft-free place until dough has doubled in bulk, 45 minutes. Punch down dough and cover; let rise another 30 minutes.
  3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into 4 equal pieces. Let rest 15 minutes before using.