joewatts

The other day I was thinking back on all the recipes that I created when I worked at Southern Progress for Weight Watchers Magazine. I hardly use any of the recipes I created and only a handful of those that I tasted. Not sure why, as there really were some pretty tasty ones. My all-time favorite and most used recipe from those days is the Shrimp Gumbo recipe posted a few days ago. The recipe that I use most often now is for homemade pizza. I start with a sourdough starter (purchased from King Arthur Flour after I killed the starter my sister Margaret gave me). Into that cup of starter goes the following:
1.5 cups of bottled water
3 cups all purpose unbleached flour

Mix well and let sit in a warm place for 2-4 hours, until it starts to bubble.
Add:
1 cup bread flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1-2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

I use my Kitchenaid mixer at this point to make the dough and to knead it, adding up to 1.5 cups more unbleached flour as I go until I get the consistency right (this is what has taken me a bit of time to understand just what the right consistency is). Usually, I mix it for 8-10 minutes, though. Turn this out into a bowl coated with olive oil. Let rise for 1 hour. I then separate the dough into 3 balls of more or less equal size. One goes into a bowl to rise a little longer. The other two go into ziploc bags for later and into the fridge.

At this point, turn the oven to 450 with a pizza stone in it. I’ve tried rolling the dough out and hand shaping it (hand shaping works okay and works even better if you use a cup of Italian 00 flour to soften the dough up instead of some of the bread and whole wheat flour). I like to roll it out though–easier and more even.

Once rolled, it should make about a 12 inch thin crust pizza dough. Now is a good time to get together your ingredients to top the pizza. I use mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses as I favorite cheeses, along with the occasional feta.  Fresh garlic is also great. Fresh tomatoes when in season along with some fresh herbs like basil and that’s about all you need. You can also add some good Italian meats, mushrooms, fresh spinach, whatever, but this isn’t a Pizza Hut pizza, so double the toppings aren’t good.

Brush dough with olive oil and slip onto the heated stone (I sprinkle the pizza stone with grits to keep it from sticking). Let bake for 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven to pizza peel. Increase oven temp to 525.

Top the pizza with a sprinkle of cheese, garlic and herbs, then the veggies and finally with the remaining cheese. Back into the oven for 5-8 minutes. Keep an eye on it–you want a little golden color on the top, but don’t burn. Remove and slice. Yum!