While Miriam took her morning nap, I made the dough and popped it into the fridge.
When Matthew came home from work he kept Miriam happy and I put together the pizzas. Matthew has a great way to roll out the dough. Lay piece of parchment on the counter, with your hands stretch the dough out a little, cover with plastic wrap and roll out the dough to the desired thickness. Also, remember pizza doesn't have to be round. Be sure to keep a creative mind, remember you have just had a very busy day!
I used left overs to make delicious pizza toppings. I was able to make three different kinds of pizza; Red clam sauce with Parmesan, caramelized onions, fresh sage, kalamata olives and Parmesan, and salt, pepper, olive oil and Parmesan (this very simple one was great the following days with cheese and snacking.) It's quite fun seeing what you can make with left overs.
Basic Pizza Dough
1 3/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (keep a jar in the fridge.)
5 1/2 cups a.p. four (unbleached white flour that has a little bran still, tasty and healthy,)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for coating the dough and bowl
1 tablespoon salt
For the dough:
Pour the water into a mixing bowl and dissolve in it the sugar and yeast. When the yeast is active add your first cup of flour and whisk. Next add the oil and salt. With a dough hook incorporate the remaining flour until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and the dough holds it's shape.
For kneading:
Dust your kneading surface with flour. (Only use enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your work space.) Turn out the dough and knead until it feels smooth and springy. Place dough back in the mixing bowl. Be sure the bowl and dough is well oiled. Cover and pop in the fridge.
An hour before baking the pizzas preheat your oven and pizza stone to 475.
Take the dough out of the fridge about 15 minutes before preparing the pizzas. Turn dough out onto counter, knead out any air bubbles and cut into 4 portions. Roll out as I described above. As for the toppings open your mind and your fridge. Again, just have fun!!! Slide the pizza into the oven right on the parchment.
Bake at least 15 minutes until the crust is cooked and the desired crispness. It is easy to tell when the crust is cooked though because the pizza will easily slide off the parchment. We like our crust extra crispy so I baked ours longer and kept an eye on it's progress.
Homemade red clam sauce with Parmesan.
Not only did we have a tasty dinner but, Matthew and I had a few days lunch.
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