Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Quick, Messy, Delicious, Home-Made, Thin Crust Pizza




Crust - 
about 3.5 cups flour, 2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp yeast, 1.5 cups warm water. put yeast in water and let sit for several minutes. pour in half of flour and mix well. pour in rest of flour and salt and work by hand for several minutes until dough is consistent in texture and no flour is visible. cut into equal sized parts of abut 200 grams each and let sit for s much time as you have (at least several hours) 

Toppings - 
Margherita - home made tomato sauce (sweet sauce is prepared with i large can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, sugar, olive oil, 5 cloves of garlic and 3/4 cup of chopped onion. saute garlic and onion and oregano in olive oil, add tomatoes, salt and pepper, let simmer for 10 minutes. use immersion blender and blend until smooth. ad sugar to taste. let simmer for 20 minutes) fresh basil and thinly sliced mozzarella 
Pesto - home made walnut pesto (fresh basil, garlic, romano cheese, walnuts, olive oil, salt, pepper) mozzarella 

Prepare - 
on a heavily floured large wood board. about 200 grams of dough makes a good sized pizza. use LOTS of flour, fingers and palms to shape it - thin in the middle with a bit of thickness around edges.  place sauce and thinly sliced cheese. slide off onto pizza stone. 

Bake - 
on pizza stone - 550 (or your oven's highest) degrees for about 6 minutes

time - 
about 1 hour prep and cook