johnreilly

pizza, part two

(If you haven’t already, see part one here.)

Okay. So the dough has been chillaxing for two hours, and it’s looking all big and puffy again, sorta like this (isn’t yeast great?):

Plop the dough out on to the board once again, and tear it into two equal-ish pieces. Form each into some sort of ball-lump type of shape.

Spread each doughball into your desired pizza shape. 

(That was an advanced technique. Only attempt if you know what you’re doing, or if you’ve already got a couple beers in you.)

We went with two rectangle pizzas, as that was the same shape of the pans that we had. Your shape may vary. Our shape certainly varied:

Next, toppings.  First, sauce. We went with something from a jar. There is no shame in things that come in jars. Except when you’re talking about Italian gravy, aka. spaghetti sauce. But that’s for another time.

Here are some example toppings. We chose to use all of them. Green peppers, onions, olive oil (yes, that’s a topping. Use sparingly), mozzarella cheese, oregano, basil, and pepperoni.

Awesome note: If you want your pizza to not be crap, you must shred your own mozzarella cheese from a mozzarella cheese brick. The only acceptable alternative is to use that fresh mozzarella stuff that comes in a small bucket of water. I’m right about this.

Topping layer one: the cheese.

Topping layer next: the other things.

Looking good.  Finish with another layer of cheese, and sprinkle some pizza-friendly herbs. I generally like to go with either oregano OR basil, but for these we went with both on each and it was plenty tasty.

Pro tip: When finished topping, throw a few drops of olive oil over the whole thing. This tip will make you a pro!

Now bake. 450 degrees Fahrenheit until it looks done. Maybe 15 minutes? Can’t really advise too well on this one… Just keep an eye on it and you’ll be fine.

When done, remove them from the oven and place on a nice cutting board. I’d recommend letting them cool for just a moment, but I’ve got a sensitive mouth roof. If you’re hardcore, just dive in.

Open a beer, toss a salad, cut ‘em up however you’d like, and enjoy.

Thanks for watching. Maybe we’ll do this again sometime.

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…

dinner tonight

Homemade pizza. Kneading dough and everything. Will report back soon.

dinner == success

So, of course, once all the food was ready it was quickly devoured, leaving me zero time for any pics of the finished product.  Judging by the speed at which it was eaten, it must have been good.  As to the cake, everyone had a second helping, and, in some cases (me), a third. 

Lesson: A big ol’ chicken isn’t that difficult to cook. Plus you can make a wicked stock from the remaining bits. Also, Katy knows how to bake a cake.

Starting to smell quite good in here. :)  Now I really wish I had finished our patio in the back yard, tonight would be a great night to dine outside.  Ah well.  I’ll take my comfort in some Bell’s.

dinner prep

Roasting two full chickens tonight. First time working with full chickens. We’ll see how this goes.  Worst case, there’s a Little Caesar’s just down the road. 

Updates forthcoming.