Friday, October 1, 2010

Making pizza, part 2...

Sorry for the delay, I got a little bogged down working on other things... Where were we?

Ah, yes, our pizza. One hour later, it should look like this:

 Roughly doubled in size. The oil keeps it from sticking to everything, and gives it a nice flavor too.

Now, get whatever you plan to be baking on, preferably a heavy baking sheet, and carefully pour out the excess oil onto the pan, and spread it around with your fingers. If you're using a double batch you may need to add a little more oil to cover the whole pan. Next, plop your dough ball onto it.
Excellent. now using your fingertips, gently spread the dough out into a thin disc. If you get it too thin, it'll break up, or burn when you cook, but if it's too thick the pizza won't be nice and crisp. (TIP: if your dough doesn't want to cooperate with you and recedes when you stretch it, simply let it sit for 5-10 minutes. The gluten will relax, and the dough will stretch out easier!)
Poifect. Now we wait again; 30-45 minutes. This is called proofing. In the meantime, heat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the time's up, pop that sucker in the oven for about 5 minutes. Should yield something like this:
Lookin' good. Now for the fun part; toppings. This is where I can't help you. It's your pizza, you can put whatever you like on it! Today I'm just doing tomato sauce, mozzarella, and smoked sausage.
Rock and roll. Now, if you have a pizza stone in your oven, now's the part where you'd get your peel, and slide the pizza onto it, where you'd cook it for about 2 minutes, then transfer it directly to the oven rack and let it sit under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown. However, I don't have my stone at the moment, so we're just going to pop it back in the 500 degree oven for another 5 minutes or so. For at least two of these minutes, I turn the broiler on. Basically, keep an eye on your pizza. Take it out when she looks ready. Something like...
This! From here you can cut it however you want, add red pepper, tabasco (thank you shiro you putz), parmesan, whatever the hell, and eat that sucker. Enjoy it, you just made your own pizza!

Well, there you have it. I have a little more work to do, but then I'll finally be able to relax and catch up on some other blogs I've been reading. Have a good one, folks.

25 comments:

  1. Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Awesome post gonna try this, thanks.

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  2. I am trying this right now...
    In a few minutes it will be ready to please my hunger!

    S!

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  3. Yes! I love food and I love cooking. I will definetly be back for more :D

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  4. I liked your input on my last blog post :)

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  5. Om nom nom... Now I must have pizza tonight.

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  6. I know what I'm making for dinner. Thanks.

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  7. you are torturing me man, I'm so hungry I could eat a cow. Of coures butchered, cut into pieces and slowly roasted with some spice and a pinch of thyme... GAAAAAH

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  8. awesome. I was dubious at first but it turned out well!

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  9. I always order out, but I think I'm gonna have to try making my own pizza.

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  10. hummmm good.. i'll make mine now hehe

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  11. Make a pesto pizza, its like the nicest pizza ever

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  12. Looks good. My nan taught me to cover the dough with a warm, slightly damp towel whilst it doubles.
    But whatever man, yours looks awesome.

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