29.10.08

daring bakers: pizza, pizza, pizza

a cheesy slice

i've said it before but i'll say it again: i love pizza. plain, white, vegetables - you name it, i love it. well, actually, i prefer my pizza meatless. is that an aberration?

anyhoo, what a happy surprise when rosa from rosa's yummy yums picked pizza for this month's daring bakers challenge. and it was even more special as this month's selection was in honor of sherry, who was to co-host with rosa, but who tragically passed away this summer.

i just had one wee mistake. i've only made pizza dough once before and it was made, proofed, and baked on the same day. so even though i waited to the very last minute - because i like to put the challenge in a daring bakers challenge! - i was cool as a cuc, and anticipating a fun night of when the moon hits your eye ....

but this recipe from peter reinhart instructs one to rest the dough in the refrigerator overnight before proceeding the next day .... frickety frick!!

slice away!

well, there was not going to be any overnight rest and i made do with the time i had (about 3 hours in the fridge). this made the dough harder to work with as it was relatively warm and soft. i used more flour than usual to get it working. i also think next time i won't make the dough balls so small, as it is counter-intuitively easier to work with larger pieces of dough.

even without the longer fridge time, these pizza babies still came out terrific. it had a wonderful flavor, soft but crispy at the same time, it was great to bite into. but i felt badly i didn't do this recipe the justice it deserved. however, this is definitely going to be my go-to recipe for pizza dough from now on, so i'm excited to see just how amazing it can be!


for the recipe, from reinhart's the bread baker's apprentice, please check out rosa's blog. however please note the original recipe did not call for sugar, and listed oil as only suggested for high gluten flour like bread. for more pizzas check out the entire daring bakers blogroll, all zillion of them!

pizza #1: fresh mozzarella, anchovies, capers, hot chilis, and sauce (inspired from jaime oliver)

anchovies, capers, and chilis pizza

pizza #2: fresh mozzarella, artichokes, spanish olives, and sauce

artichoke and olive pizza

pizza #3: gruyère, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and turkey bacon. um yeah, just forget about that first comment about meatless pizzas! this one was definitely my favorite, so damn tasty. i loved having the gruyère instead of mozzarella, it's more flavorful and such a good contrast to the earthy mushrooms and onions.

mushroom, gruyère, and bacon pizza

16 comments:

  1. You make me laugh! Letting things set overnight I'm not too good about doing, if the deadline was really on Monday like I originally thought I'd have been late with my post since I made my dough on Sunday. Nothing like leaving things to the last minute. Sigh.

    I'm really liking the look of that last pizza. Hmm... I DO have another ball of dough in the fridge...

    Great job!

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  2. What gorgeous pizzas! You did a great job here, wow!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. Great photos! I did the same as you, and was happy with the pizzas I ended up with, but I do want to try it again, the proper way :)

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  4. the two day thing snuck up on me too! glad everything worked out well for you...they look great!

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  5. Fantastic topping combos!

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  6. I must admit those pizza look delicious. However, as a pizza lover (which I think you know I am) I have some SERIOUS qualms with the dough recipe.

    Sugar? Olive oil? No no no no no (or is it n-n-n-n-n-n-n-no).

    Real neapolitan pizza dough should have nothing more and nothing less than flour, water, salt and yeast. Olive oil can be used to coat the bowl in which you let the dough rise, but you don't mix it in to the other ingredients while making the dough.)

    I actually use a blend of all purpose flour and non-self-rising cake flour. This mix more accurately reflects the amount of gluten in Italian flour.

    Either way, though, I think I'm more upset that you didn't bring me any pizza!!! Grr. :-)

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  7. mr. sheep!! there was no sugar or oil in the recipe, what the heck are you looking at??

    only flour, instant yeast, cold water, and salt. oil to be used if and only IF a high-gluten bread flour was used. but such a dilemma is not even a factor in "real" pizza because italian flour is perfect.

    and no pizza for you is what you get when you ditch us for cold play!! ;-)

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  8. DROOL!!! Really...my salad planned for lunch sounds terrible right about now. I love these combos and they look amazing!

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  9. So does that mean I get pizza tonight if we bowl?

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  10. I love your topping combinations. YUM-E!! Here's my same day dough recipe for next time:

    Mix 1 env. of yeast in 1 1/3 cups warm water. Let set five mins. In mixing bowl, mix 4 c. flour, 1 T sugar, 2 T olive oil, 1 t. salt and yeasted water. Mix and knead with dough hook or by hand for 10 mins. Put in a lightly oiled bowl turning once, cover and leave in a warm place about 1 1/2 hours until doubled. Punch down (my favorite part) and separate into 3 balls. Rest covered another half hour. Makes 3 large pizzas. I freeze two balls and make 1 usually.

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  11. those pizzas are so beautifully done, so irressistable, i wish can have a slice!

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  12. Great great job on the challenge. I think everyone loved this month's recipe - it's one of those I could make it over and over again type recipes.

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  13. Oh I can't wait until you try the pizza dough after you have let it rest in the fridge.. you are just want to make more and more pizza trust me!!!
    Gruyere onions and bacon... looove that pizza!! Congratulations on your challenge!

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  14. I'll take a slice of each, please!!

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