pizza, part one
Pizza. ‘Nuff said. Here’s how we’re making it tonight.
First, prep your dough. In a big ol’ bowl, mix together 3.5 cups flour, 0.5 tsp salt, and 1 pkg dry active yeast. Like so:
Next, in a smaller bowl (or a measuring cup), mix together 1 cup warm water, 0.25 cup olive oil, and 2 tbsp honey:
Mix wet with dry!
You’ll get a dough that looks, well, not very well mixed. This is good. Like this:
Dump the whole mess out onto a board with some flour sprinkled on it. Now roll up your sleeves. Time to knead.
Kneading isn’t that hard. Push down on the dough with the heels of your palms, fold it over, then push down again. Repeat. Over and over.
Here’s what it looks like after about 30 seconds:
Here’s what it looks like after about 6 or 8 minutes:
Notice how smooth it feels. Nice. Sorta like skin, but less creepy somehow. Pat it with your hands. It should have a hollow, almost musical tone. Very pleasant.
Next. Put a small bit of olive oil in the mixing bowl, and tilt the bowl around so it coats the sides somewhat. Just a bit, don’t need much.
Place the ball of dough into the bowl:
Loosely cover the dough with a bit of plastic wrap, and put in a warm spot for about an hour. Then:
Holycrap. Thank you yeasties. You’ve made my dough awesome. As reward to the tender yeasties, press down once or twice on the dough with a fist, and listen to all the air escape. Satisfying!
Now scoop it out of the bowl, back on to the floured board. Knead a few times more, about 30 seconds. Then back into the bowl with the plastic wrap, back to the warm spot, and back to waiting for another hour or so.
Now’s a great time to post pictures and write about what you’ve been up to so far. Maybe on tumblr.
More coming, as it happens…
