Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Day 175, Homemade Pizza from Scratch

I had to test some yeast from a sample I had, so I decided to make pizza from scratch instead of a box. I even went out and bought fresh flour for the pizza.

Homemade Pizza

1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cups flour
1 envelope pizza yeast
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup very warm water (120 degrees to 130 degrees F.)
3 tbsp oil (I used olive oil)
Prepared toppings of your choice:
cheese, sauce, pepperoni, sausage, Canadian bacon, peppers, onions, etc...

Combine 1 cup flour, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil. Mix together until blended; about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup flour gradually until dough forms a ball. Add additional flour, if needed, to handle. Spoon dough out of bowl onto floured surface. Dough will be slightly sticky. Knead on floured surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic; about 4 minutes.
Place dough on a greased pizza pan and press to fill pan. Top with desired prepared toppings and bake on bottom rack for 12 to 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.

Makes 1 hand-tossed pizza, serves 8-10

I had never worked with yeast before, so this was a new way of cooking for me. I ended up using slightly over the 2 cups of flour in the mixture, but it would vary depending on the humidity level of the day as to how much flour I'd have to use. I haven't seen the pizza yeast on the store shelves near me as this is a new product, but it seems like a quick yeast because you don't need to let it rise. The baking process made it rise more than I had expected. I think I would divide this crust into 2 separate crusts for a thinner crust. I don't like a thick crust, so I'd want it to be thinner than it turned out. Making it from scratch, different flours could be used; it would be easy to make whole wheat crust.

Flavor Rating: Great, fresh ingredients, fresh taste.

Ease of Preparation: Moderate, it's more kneading than cookies and pies, but not as much as you'd think for a bread.

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