Quick Eats Pizza Dough

[Rebecca263]

Quick Eats Pizza Dough

Serves 4 as Appetizeror 2 as Main Dish.

OK, maybe you can't wait for an hour to eat, or it's too late to order pizza in your little town, or you can't stand the price of delivery pizza- it's only bread, cheese and sauce! You've got the most amazing tomatoes sitting on the counter, Nana's homemade chicken sausage would make SUCH an excellent pizza topping, OR, you just can't stand the taste of pizza from a box-whatever your reasoning, it's time to eat and you WANT homemade pizza, NOW. In my house it's a group of teenagers hovering near me, expecting to be dazzled, but hungry NOW. That's when this pizza makes an appearance. Now, I'm a home cook, and I grew up on verbal recipe traditions, so bear with me, darlings, and we'll go on the very quick journey to a decent pizza in about a half hour!

• 1 T or 1 packet of fast rising yeast
  
• 413 g white whole wheat flour (see notes)
  
• 1 c hot water (110-120 F)
  
• 2/3 tsp kosher salt
  
• 1 tsp raw sugar
  

olive oil

• 
  

semolina flour

• 
  

toppings? your choice!

• 
  

First, turn the oven to 500 F.

Gather all of your dough ingredients. We make the dough now! So fun, why kick the loved ones, tackle some dough instead, and everyone gets fed after you work out your frustrations on this ball of joy.

OK-You put the yeast, the water and the sugar into a large bowl, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Then, you add in the salt and flour, first the salt with about 1/4 of the flour, then the rest of the first 2 1/2 cups (413 grams) of flour, bit by bit, until it's all mixed in and messy.

Now, you knead! And knead! For at least 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. You've got that extra 1/2 cup (82 grams) of flour sitting near, to add to the dough, if you feel it needs more flour. This always varies, depending on the weather. I don't know why, don't ask, it just does. That's a question for the real bakers, we're just making pizza. Oh, you're a fancy pants with a food processor? Lucky duck, go ahead, dump everything in there, and mix it until it forms a ball of dough, about a minute or so. In our home, it's kneading or nothing.

Let the ball of dough rest for about 15 minutes, unless you're in more of a hurry, then, just roll it out immediately. But, I like to let the dough rest after I've pummeled it so thoroughly, before I send it to the oven.

Get your toppings of choice together. I sometimes slice a ball of mozzarella into rounds, then slice tomatoes and an onion or two into a bowl,sprinkle in some oregano, and top it all with some fresh basil, torn, and a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, tossing the mixture with olive oil, allowing it to marinate while I'm making the dough. You can top this dough as YOU prefer, or with whatever you've got in the kitchen that looks interesting. We've used leftover salmon and dill, with fresh corn and sliced steamed red potatoes, and bits of goat cheese crumbled atop it all, that was pretty darn good!

Time to make the pizza: roll out the dough flat; choose your shape, we make ours rectangular, because we don't own a round pan. Sprinkle some semolina on the pan, then place the dough onto it. Add your toppings, then stick the entire thing into the oven. Let it bake for about 15 minutes. If you want it really crispy, let it bake another few minutes after that, but watch it, this isn't a cassoulet.

Some variations you may want to attempt:

Sprinkle sesame seeds and salt onto the edges of the dough before baking.

Use a Middle Eastern style tomato sauce, with allspice seasoning, and ground lamb, pine nuts and chopped onion for your topping.

Top with shredded nova, sliced tomatoes and red onions, bits of cream cheese and fresh dill with a splash of olive oil.

NOTE ABOUT FLOUR: I used to use 1/3 whole wheat flour and 2/3 white flour, but the white whole wheat flour from King Arthur has me completely happy!

Keywords: Main Dish, Appetizer, Easy, Bread, Italian, Kosher, Vegetarian

( RG1692 )