Sourdough pizza dough

y little dance with the sourdough concept has been going on for a few months now. I'm pretty consistent about taking it out of the fridge every weekend, letting it warm up and feeding it, baking with it, etc.

The bread I've made has turned out well, for the most part. There have been a few more leaden loaves, but that's usually my yeast-impaired skill set showing itself... I will continue to experiment and fiddle, and as the sourdough flavor develops and deepen, I have faith that the loaves will reflect that.

A number of friends have mentioned using their sourdough starters for pancakes and pizza dough, so I thought I'd take a stab at one of those. This recipe immediately popped out to me for a couple of reasons: no additional yeast, thus short "rising" (resting) time. Bonus for a family that traditionally decides rather last minute what's on the menu! Also, I extrapolated that the lack of yeast might yield a thinner crust, something I've been aiming for with varying success.

Sure enough, this dough delivered. Soft, very easy to work with, and delicious to boot. As always, we customize the pizza toppings to suit each person's particular tastes, which meant, of course, that mine was loaded with blue cheese on top of the usual mozzarella and parmesan. (I don't know who first thought of blue cheese on pizza, but I could kiss them. Love love love it.)

Sourdough pizza crust
1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
4 -5 tablespoons olive oil
 1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour (plus a little more or less to adjust consistency)

Preheat oven to 500°F.

Mix starter, 1 tbsp olive oil, salt, and flour together in a mixing bowl until it blends and forms a ball (add more or less flour to adjust consistency; if you get it too dry just add a little more starter).

Allow dough to rest for about 30 minutes (don't look for it to rise, just to get the dough where it is easier to roll).

Roll out mixture on parchment paper or a lightly floured surface until it fits the size of your pan, turning the dough as you roll (if you want a more even circle).

Par-bake the crust on a pizza stone or pizza sheet for about 7 minutes, then remove from oven.

Before topping your pizza with any sauce, cheese, or toppings, brush the top of the crust all over with remaining olive oil (as needed), using a pastry brush (this helps keep soggy moisture out of the crust as it bakes).

Top as desired and cook until browned and cheese is melted.

If you use certain vegetables as a topping (onions are the first thing that comes to mind) you might want to cook those about halfway before topping the pizza with them (or they will be too crunchy).

Pear-brie pizza

uddies are playing together (Seth and Jake) and that means pizza. I have been working around the place all day, and in no state to go out pizza-getting. The delivery options seem to be getting slimmer and slimmer around town too, so that leaves homemade. Once I got the yeast to play properly, it was a snap.

For the boys I did the basics of sauce and cheese. But there was a little crust left over, and that made me want to play... So here's my experiment of the day, based on what was around: Pear-brie-blue cheese-parmesan-white cheddar-arugula pizza. But I'll shorten it, just to make it easy on you: 

Pear-brie pizza
Pizza crust
1/2 cup blue cheese dressing (Litehouse worked great)
1 red pear, sliced thinly
Brie slices (about a dozen, cut into 1-inch pieces)
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup white cheddar, grated
1/3 cup pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Spread the pizza dough out on a sprayed and floured pizza pan. Spread out the blue cheese dressing and arrange the pear slices around the pie; scatter the brie, parmesan, cheddar and pine nuts over the pears. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the cheese and crust are golden.

In homage to California Pizza Kitchen's pear and gorgonzola pizza, I couldn't resist tossing some arugula in a light vinaigrette with some thinly sliced red onions and placing that on top of the pizza (if I'd had blue cheese crumbles on hand, I'd definitely have tossed those in too).

This pizza made for a lovely accompaniment to watching the Golden Globes, fast-forwarding through those speeches and checking out movies I haven't seen... (I think I might just check out The Tourist. I'm not usually a fan of Johnny Depp, but the preview looks interesting and he seems different than his usual one-trick "thing.")

A wonderful supper, and a great reminder of how easy the pizza dough is. I'll be pulling that out again soon, especially for calzones, which are a great school lunch for Seth.

We did it our way: Homemade pizza

izza is kind of a big deal around our place. It is loved by all, and there's a general agreement on toppings--that is, Seth likes very few and very specific, while if it's most any vegetable at all, husband and I are fine. Every once in a while I deviate off into some fruity-pesto-y land, and leave the boys behind (as you'll see below). (Seth's pizza is pictured above, very simple: red peppers and green peppers and lots of cheese!)

But pizza itself, how lovely. Really almost a perfect food, when you think about it. I seem to remember my brother and I making this argument as children: what's not to love? You've got your grains (crust), your vegetables (sauce AND toppings), your dairy/protein (cheese). Almost a complete meal. There's been a trend of egg-topped pizzas lately, and how much more complete would that be? Yeah, I didn't think you were going to go for that one. My guys either. But I might be persuaded to give it a whirl, one bold and crazy weekend. (Yes, I know. How sad if that's what passes for bold and crazy. Sigh.)

Here's a fabulous pizza crust recipe I found in my new standby: Cook's Illustrated. It requires a large-ish food processor for the version I tried, but there are also instructions for using a stand mixer too. But if you can squeeze this into your food processor, give it a spin--it's quick and easy and makes a really delightful crust. Me, I need to work on my pizza-dough-twirling skills. They are lacking...

Pizza crust 
from Cook's Illustrated

1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees)
1 envelope (about 2 1/4 tsp.) instant yeast
1 1/4 cups water, room temperature
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting work surface and hands
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let it stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room-temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

Process the flour and salt in a large food processor, pulsing to combine. Continue pulsing while pouring the liquid ingredients (holding back a few tablespoons) through the feed tube. If the dough does not readily form into a ball, add the remaining liquid and continue to pulse until a ball forms. Process until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 30 seconds longer.

The dough will be a bit tacky, so use a rubber spatula to turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead by hand for a few strokes to form a  smooth, round ball. Put the dough into a deep oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.

 Poked and on its way down...

 Husband's veggie version, with pepperoncinis. Those peppers were HOT.

My version, with pears, blue cheese and chevre, on pesto. It was an attempt to recreate the California Pizza Kitchen's Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza... and it was quite yummy. It did not, however, hold up as well as other pizzas in the leftovers department. Sad but true.

I see this crust getting to be a regular around here. Maybe calzones are next on the list?

Pizza with peanuty goodness

The first time I tasted a pizza with peanut sauce (actually I think it was the first time I'd had peanut sauce, period) was in Sydney around 1988, and I thought it was the most ingenious thing ever.

Peanut sauce became a favorite of mine from that time onward (see link to my usual recipe below), and it's a rare day I don't have a homemade tub of it lurking around my fridge somewhere. Nothing jazzes up a bowl of steamed veggies or some noodles more than a dollop of peanut sauce!

But I haven't made pizza with it, at home. I know, what? Why ever not!? Seems like a no-brainer. Peanut sauce on a crust with some veggies... kinda healthy, too. I looked around online to see if this kind of pizza even needed cheese--it's been so long since I've had this in a restaurant I couldn't really remember... but EVERY pizza needs cheese, right?

I had a bit of a no-show on the pizza crust that I started in the breadmaker today (I'm inclined to think it was user error, not an issue with the machine itself), so I went out for premade crusts, which will always work in a pinch.

Here's what I topped it with:

1/2 cup peanut sauce I had knocking around in the fridge

Spread over the premade crust.

Top with:

1/2 c cup shredded carrots

5 steamed asparagus spears, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1/4 cup chopped red peppers

1/2 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 425 degrees.

This smelled heavenly while it baked and tasted even better once it was out and cut up! Even the somewhat skeptical husband was a fan after a slice or two! Yum-o.