A Year in Bread, Part 1: Pizza Dough
Round 1 of A Year in Bread! I think I have sufficiently convinced/browbeaten H., Shannon and hopefully Alissa to do it too -- I know H. has already made the pizza dough also.
Short story: It was great.
Long story: I went over to J.'s armed with three kinds of cheese, a thousand vegetables, fresh rosemary and basil, special bread flour, a new bottle of yeast, Trader Joe's pizza sauce, my new rising bowl from eBay and several hours in which do complete the task.
I followed Susan's recipe, mostly because it was shortest and easiest, and it truly was short and easy. One mix, three minutes of kneading, two hours of rising, spreading out the dough on the pans... that was it. Truly, I have cooked more difficult things.
I made one big pizza on a round pan and one small one on a cookie sheet. The big one had tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes, peppers and red onions, basil and the cheese blend described in another one of the Year in Bread entries; the small one was sauce-less, with cheese, red onions, rosemary, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.
At H.'s suggestion, I put a little olive oil on the crusts of both pizzas to make the dough chewier. It could have used a little more salt and pepper. I had been concerned that the dough hasn't risen enough, so I let it go a little longer, and I'm not quite sure it ever got as big as it should have, but it tasted great.
I would say it was worth it -- a little bit of a hassle, especially when I think about how Shannon just picked up the 99-cent bags of dough at Trader Joe's yesterday, but it was fun and a good start to this project.
Let's hear it for the next 11 months of bread...
Short story: It was great.
Long story: I went over to J.'s armed with three kinds of cheese, a thousand vegetables, fresh rosemary and basil, special bread flour, a new bottle of yeast, Trader Joe's pizza sauce, my new rising bowl from eBay and several hours in which do complete the task.
I followed Susan's recipe, mostly because it was shortest and easiest, and it truly was short and easy. One mix, three minutes of kneading, two hours of rising, spreading out the dough on the pans... that was it. Truly, I have cooked more difficult things.
I made one big pizza on a round pan and one small one on a cookie sheet. The big one had tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes, peppers and red onions, basil and the cheese blend described in another one of the Year in Bread entries; the small one was sauce-less, with cheese, red onions, rosemary, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.
At H.'s suggestion, I put a little olive oil on the crusts of both pizzas to make the dough chewier. It could have used a little more salt and pepper. I had been concerned that the dough hasn't risen enough, so I let it go a little longer, and I'm not quite sure it ever got as big as it should have, but it tasted great.
I would say it was worth it -- a little bit of a hassle, especially when I think about how Shannon just picked up the 99-cent bags of dough at Trader Joe's yesterday, but it was fun and a good start to this project.
Let's hear it for the next 11 months of bread...
Comments
they definitely hooked us with a do-able recipe for the first round. God help our efforts next month now that we think bread-making is dewdrops and rainbows.
I promise we'll be nice to you all - but you have to check in Thursday to see what's next. grin
Will get into the swing of things next week, though, and promise to make pizza (actually, calzones), the no-knead bread and whatever it is they've got up their sleeves for this week. :)
In practice, however.... I have the world's smallest kitchen, I'm not sure my pizza stone would even fit in my tiny oven, AND, I do not have any room to even bring my pizza stone to my apartment, let alone bring extra ingredients to my cabinets. Seriously, I live in a Polly Pocket-sized apartment. Maybe I can save up all the recipes and make them at home in Philly, though, where my pizza stone even has its own drawer to live in, with the pizza wheel that goes with it.
I love the 99cent bags of dough at TJ's though. :)
I feel very honored that Beth from a Year in Bread commented here! Can't wait until Thursday. Dewdrops and rainbows...