Guess what was for dinner last night and lunch today? Okay, okay, stupid, no rhetorical question, the title of the post is a dead-giveaway, yes, it was PIZZA.
Who doesn't like pizza? I certainly do, but I will admit that I am pretty picky about it. And no, I am not talking about if pineapple belongs on pizza or not. That's personal preference. For the record - I do like it on pizza. It was on today's pizza, but not on the one shown in the photos below, which is one that I made while on vacation on the Outer Banks. Otherwise it was pretty similar.
Recipe (for ~1 baking sheet):
500 g water
220 g levain (made from ripe sourdough starter)
16 g salt
700 g All Purpose floor
Dissolve the levain in the lukewarm water, then add the flour and lastly the salt. Mix it either with an electric mixer, handheld or KitchenAid-like, until it resembles a cohesive dough or do what I do most of the time, which is use none of those. Usually I am too lazy to break out my mixer, which I have to clean again, then pack and put into the cabinet again. Too much work - I tell ya 😆.
Instead I am employing the 'slap and fold process'. Which a) will combine all the ingredients into a nice feeling dough in no time and b) alleviate some tension or aggression you might hold. Why? Because 'the slap and fold process' means that you will repeatedly throw the dough forcefully onto the counter, then pick up a corner, stretch it up and fold it over the rest of the dough and repeat. After a few times turning the dough ball around you'll a) have a nice dough and at the same time b) feel more relaxed. Seriously, it works.
Keep the dough covered in a bowl somewhere warm (not hot) for a couple of hours. During this time perform a 'fold-and-stretch' in the bowl every half an hour and at the end place the dough in the fridge for half an hour. I found that cooling it down will make it easier to spread it on the baking sheet.
Should you have too much dough or you made double the recipe like I sometimes do, you can freeze the dough without a problem for the next pizza night. Just allow it to thaw slowly (e.g. in an oven with just the oven light turned on) for maybe 2 - 3 hours and then it is ready to go.
Once it is spread on the baking sheet place it in the oven with the light on to ensure it is nicely warm for the wild yeast to do its thing i.e. you may see bubbles forming. But don't worry if you don't. You can see them pretty clearly in the first picture below, even though it is already baked.
While the oven pre-heats to 420°F press dents into the dough with your fingers and sprinkle some olive oil all over the dough. Then I like to add some finely grated parmesan cheese and place the sheet into the oven. Bake for about 12 minutes or until the dough and cheese turn slightly golden. By this time you definitely should see the crust rise or even bubble some.
Now top it to your heart's desire. For the most part we usually go with the usual ingredients: Tomato or bolognese sauce (home made), chicken, Soppressata salami, mushrooms and peppers. When I have it on hand I will add arugula pesto to it, because it gives the pizza an awesome touch. It looks great and tastes even better.
Due to hubby's preference we usually go a little overboard on the cheese covering - as you can clearly see. But who's complaining?!
Enjoy!
