All stretched out and ready for action
Mushroom and basil and pepperoni
A thin and crispy pizza. Think I am getting the hang of this now. Thanks for the recipe Abby! I like this one. This one was made with dough that had sat in the fridge for 48 hours previously. Baked at a scorching 260 C in my little oven at the weekend.
Edit : Abby says it’s ok to post the recipe so here goes with my version of it: This makes enough for 5 225g pizzas.
680 g strong bread flour (I ran out of strong bread flour so added in some soft plain flour to make up the weight about 200 grams)
12 grams salt
3 grams instant yeast ( I used active instant yeast and I think I should have used a bit less as it’s more potent than regular instant yeast)
Sugar or honey or agave if you like (just a bit)
482 grams water, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
Combine all ingredients at least the night before you want to have pizza. Mix to a rough dough, leave for 20 minutes and then knead lightly either by hand or machine till you get a smooth dough which Abby describes as being somewhere between sticky and tacky.
Put a little oil on a work top. Move the dough onto it. Coat your hands lightly with oil and stretch and fold the dough. Divide the dough into 5 225 gram pieces and round into balls. Figure out how to keep them in the fridge till you need them. I put mine in little plastic pudding bowls with snap on lids, which I had lightly oiled. Abby used freezer bags which she misted with oil.
I didn’t use the dough for 48 hours, by which time it was pushing the lids of the tubs in the fridge.
I took the dough out about an hour before I used it. It was a very warm day, so you might need to take the dough out earlier if it is cooler.
I shaped the dough into pizzas using a floured worktop, some people do it with oil but I find flour easier, providing you use the minimum you need. I flatten the dough a little with the palm of my hand and then reshape it into a tightish boule. Leave it to rest for 15 minutes or so while I organise the toppings and put the oven on as hot as it gets and put the kiln shelf in ( my equivalent of a bread stone currently).
Then I start stretching the dough. I flatten the boule to a smallish circle and then drape it over my fist and see how far I can stretch it that way before I panic. Forgot to say, I use fine semolina on the peel so that when you shove the peel into the oven, the pizza should slide off as if it’s on ball bearings. So I carry on stretching the pizza dough out, leaving a lip round the edge. This dough got a bit too thin in the middle, so I sprinkled or shook the tomato sauce over the dough with one of those silicon pastry brushes, rather than drag the brush across the surface and risk ‘holing’ it. Then added toppings, mozarella slices, mushrooms, italian pepperoni, as above and baked for about 7 minutes. I added the basil and a drizzle of olive oil after the pizza came out. Apparently you can freeze the dough too and I will try that and see how it goes. I met Abby through Mellow Bakers, we are having a great time. If you fancy having a go at French bread or bialys or some heavy duty rye bread that’s what we might be doing this month coming… or not… depends how we feel :)
I’ve got one more pizza crust recipe to try as well that Oggi recommended… that one uses ice cold water.
Zeb Bakes 
Oh that looks deeeliiish! Did you put the basil on after it came out of the oven?
Yes, basil and a little olive oil on straight after it comes out. :) Must have been pizza weekend. This was Saturday night consolation pizza. I do love your breakfast pizza!
You are such a sweetheart, thanks for the crosslink! :D
It was a pizza weekend, but it’s 4C here – I don’t know how you’re doing it in the hot English summer!
Looks beauuuutiful! So glad you enjoyed it!! Did your sister ever try it? Curious about what you’ll think of the next one . . . .
I’m waiting to hear back Abby :)
Delicious looking pizza. The dough looks superb.
It was soft and quite stretchy and thought about going into holes. I would think it gets softer as the hours go by in the fridge. The recipe says you can keep it in the fridge for up to 8 days or freeze it. I haven’t tried freezing pizza dough yet.
Joanna,
I routinely make a giant batch and freeze the little 8 ounce balls. Then I just pull three out the night before we’re going to bake, let them sit in the fridge overnight, and proceed. Works beautifully and an easy way to have pizza whenever the mood strikes!
This looks fantastic. I usually put the basil on and cover it with some mozzarella before baking but I’m going to try putting it on after baking now. It looks so good. Homemade pizza is a revelation. We haven’t ordered pizza delivery in the past 2 years since perfecting our pizza routine.
You could do both Dan – in fact I think I will next time :) Trouble is, once you make your own you’re hooked. Have you tried making your own pitta? That was the moment the scales dropped from my eyes. For some reason I had thought it was difficult, how did they get those pockets in the bread after all, but flatbreads are probably the easiest of all :)
That is a pizza after my own heart – it looks really delicious Joanna.
Ok, so now for the begging bit – is it permitted to share the recipe ? (I’ve been hunting for a ‘thin & crispy’ pizza base, but all I’m finding in my books are soft, bready ones).
I’ve emailed you a couple of suggestions :)
Thank you very much!
I don’t know if you like your pizzas to have a little ‘hot’ touch but one little Italian place offered a drizzle of a very ‘hot’ oil after the pizza has been cooked. It looks simply like a bottle of olive oil which has several VERY HOT peppers in it (granny’s bonnets?). Gives a lovely little kick and would be very easy to do at home too.
Apologies in advance for words missing the letter ‘u’ but my keyboard is allergic to them and if I don’t re-read very carefully there are likely to be some bloomers!
Ooh I like the idea of that hot oil! I once had a very simple pizza that was covered with garlic and butter after it came out of the oven, that rated quite highly. I’ve added the recipe to the post now.
No, still haven’t made pizza….but wheat ripe for harvesting on the terrace, and saw this and thought of you….xxx http://unhappyhipsters.com/post/607499430/daddys-newest-experiment-was-nietzsche-esque
For some reason WordPress marked this as spam. They obviously couldn’t see the connection between unhappy hipsters and the blog. But I have unspammed it as I am very pleased that you have introduced me to the unhappy ones :)
hi Joanna, have to agree with everyone’s remarks about how gorgeous your pizza looks, and looks like you’ve got a great compromise between crusty dough and nicely done toppings!
Just wanted to mention that I tend to bake my own, however after getting fairly ‘cheesed’ (sorry!) off with the mess of using a peel and semolina flour, I’ve taken to heating a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan on the hob, whilst letting the grill heat up to max, then simply placing the shaped dough base into the red-hot pan, wait a minute then quickly put the tomato, cheese etc and stuff it under the grill until done to your taste.
Minimal mess, good dough finish, I won’t go back :-) (at least not until I get a proper baker’s oven… lol)
Welcome Marcus! I know exactly what you mean about the mess with the flour. The peel I use is a superpeel, the one with the rolling cloth, and you can get away with less flour using it. Your work around sounds excellent but I don’t think I have the right sort of frying pan, as mine have non stick coatings.
I was just making some dough and thinking we hadn’t had pizza for ages too!
Thanks for referring me to your lovely pizza. So symmetrical! I’m going to stash this recipe into my must-try folder. I didn’t know that pizza dough could be frozen. Brilliant! Did you try freezing any?
They usually look less circley and more ‘organic’ in form (heehee). Brian says the dough tastes better after a 24/48 hour rest in the fridge. To be honest I can’t remember what happened when I froze it. I know I used a ball of it in another bread I made somewhere, a rustic bread where I needed some pate fermentee I think. I’d have to hunt around on the blog and email you the link. I think a lot depends on the flour you use. I made 50/50 very strong/strong this weekend following these proportions and I couldn’t stretch it quite as thin as I wanted but it didn’t get holey either…. x
It’s good to know that the dough benefits from a 24-hour rest. That’s what yesterday’s dough had, and it certainly had a nice flavour.
I fighting back disappointment at the moment: Just made a large loaf shaped as a boule, and the silly thing blew out its side whilst baking. It looks like a tramps old shoe. Waiting for a taste test. Fingers crossed.