A tale of two pizzas
4 Nov
In a tiny kitchen somewhere in NY, two pizza pies were created from scratch.
Two VERY different pizzas.
Can you guess what kind of pizzas are pictured below?
The first pie is topped with topped with sauce, baked acorn squash, mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, cheddar cheese and cilantro.
But what about the second?
If you guessed Kimchi, you’re right.
Am I crazy? Maybe. Does it taste yummy? You bet!
“Red Vines + Dr. Pepper = crazy delicious!”
After reading about homemade pizza dough here, here and here, my curiosity was aroused. That’s when I found out it was because all these wonderful blogs are participating in the Daring Bakers challenge!
Though I never baked pizza from scratch before, I had a handy dandy KitchenAid mixer with a kneading dough hook to help me. Sadly, I didn’t even know what that attachment was supposed to be used for until now!
Recipe: Basic Pizza Dough
Adapted from Closet Cooking and Simply Recipes
Ingredients:
For the dough:
3.5 cups of bread flour
1.5 cups of warm water
1 3/4 teaspoons of salt
1 package of instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon of sugar
A sprinkle cornmeal (or semolina flour) for dusting
For the toppings:
1/2 cup of crushed tomatoes
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 cup of cheddar cheese
6 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese
1/4 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
Procedure:
1. Mix the yeast and water in a large bowl or (Kitchen Aid bowl). Let it rest for 5 minutes.
2. Use the mixing paddle, add the oil, water and sugar until it forms a sticky ball of dough.
3. Change to dough hook and let it mix together for about 7-8 minutes.
4. Cut the dough into two pieces and form them into balls.
5. Place the dough balls on a big bowl, with enough room to expand. Spray with oil and cover with plastic.
6. Place the dough in a warm place and let it rise for 2-3 hours.
7. Lightly flour a working surface and remove plastic from dough.
8. Flour (or oil) your hands and lay the dough across your knuckles. Lightly bounce the dough on your knuckles, turning it and stretching it until it reaches the size that you want. And sing a song!
9. Let the dough rest for another 10 minutes. Then stretch to desired size.
10. Brush dough with olive oil to avoid soggy pizza.
11. Place the dough on a baking pan dusted with cornmeal. (I didn’t have cornmeal so I just greased my pan with oil).
12. Add your pizza toppings and sauce.
13. Bake in a preheated 450 oven until golden brown on top, about 10-15 minutes.
A few notes:
- For the Kimchi pizza, I just chopped up about 2 cups of Kimchi. Pan fried it, making sure that there is no more liquid left. Then placed it in the dough before baking.
- As for the acorn squash, I quartered it, then removed the insides. I sprinkled brown sugar and salt on it. It roasted in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. I love acorn squash! So nutritious and yummy!
- I don’t have a cheese grate nor a pizza cutter, so that was quite a challenge!!
