Friday, August 8, 2008

Pizza!

My family was ready to move out because I made pizza for 15 days straight. Sometimes twice a day. I was searching for the perfect pizza dough recipe, and my family, unwittingly became guinea pigs. Happy, satisfied guinea pigs.

Well, I finally found it at Deb's Smitten Kitchen. I tried it for another week - yes, almost everyday - changing ingredients and quantities to see if I could improve on it. But no, it was just amazing as is. The only change I made was adding a 1/2 tsp of sugar, and some herbs to the dough (but that part is completely optional).


Perfect Pizza
recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Salt
3/4 tsp Fleischmann's RapidRise Yeast
1/2 cup warm Water + 2 tbsp
1 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp dried Herbs of choice (I used Basil)
1/2 tsp Sugar

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the olive oil and water and combine to form a ball. Knead just until it forms a smooth dough.

Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm space until the dough has doubled in size. Remove and gently press the air out while forming the whole into a smooth ball. Cover again and leave alone for 15-20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to the maximum temperature (I heated it to 220 deg C). Roll out the dough to required thickness. I like mine thin. Add the toppings. Bake for 10 minutes.


Eat. Enjoy.

This is off to dear DK for AWED: Italian. Can't wait for the round-up, DK!

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks to the owner of this blog. Ive enjoyed reading this topic.

Anonymous said...

looks fab!! i'm making this next.....but think i wont last as long as you did!!

Shreya said...

great.. awesome perfect looking pizza!:-)

michael, claudia and sierra said...

i'm going to try this recipe next

in your other dough trials, did you ever use 00 flour?

Arundathi said...

Philippine Lottery - Thanks.

Arundati - :) Let me know how it turned out. This is the best recipe yet.

Shreya - Thanks.

cook eat FRET - do let me know how it turned out. If I'm lucky I find ingredients I need in India - its a hit or miss. But I'm positive there's no way I'd be able to find such a specialized Italian flour! I've read extensively about it though, and it lends itself very well to bread and pizza dough.

A_and_N said...

you can say no to anything anytime in life...pizza is an exception :)
Yours looks pro Arundathi :)

Deepthi Shankar said...

pizza looks nice .. great patience you have, for getting it perfect arundathi

Priya said...

you are one persistent cook Arundhati! and good for us :)

mitr_bayarea said...

Arundhati-

kudos tu ur pizza making efforts for 15 days, you can now officially start an Italian restaurant.

Bhavani said...

all I can say is wow! I so wish you lived next door. sigh !

Srivalli said...

hey anu..bhavani says she wished she was your neighbour...I am right...so when am I going to be treated with this...you made for 15 days and you never asked me for being a guinea pig..I would've happily said yes!!!...bhooooo

Anonymous said...

I love to eat pizza for anytime of a day. Wish I was one of the family member!

sefa firdaus said...

pizza is my fav, but up to now I'm too lazy to make it from scratch

Bharti said...

Mm..yummy! I like that it has whole grains in it too. Looks perfect.

Rajani said...

that looks good!! also thanks for sharing yet another wonderful blog.

Nidhi said...

That is one tasty looking pizza! Pizzas for 15 days in a row...Pizza lovers paradise :)

Arundathi said...

Thank you everyone!

Bhavani, I wish you lived next door! Miss you girl!

Valli - Anytime, babe!

Sefa - do try it - its absolutely worth it!

bee said...

smitten kitchen is one fantastic blog. and one amazing pizza. your family was ready to move out? may i move in? i can eat this thrice a day.

Arundathi said...

My sentiments exactly, Bee!

Anonymous said...

i like ur "thin crust" pizza..i cudnt roll mine that thin!:(
n the olives look real nice !

Unknown said...

This is what they calls as "Tried and Tested". I mean who could have done a better job than you!!!!!!! This is fab anu..Love the pic and I am sitting out here feeling lazy to make lunch but hungry looking at ur pizza at the same time..Pass a piece over will you - i dont think anyone will mind at home!!! Not after 15 days of selfishly enjoying it all by themselves!!!!!!!!1 (although I dont mind the cutie pie nibbling your luscious pieces!)


DK
(culinarybazaar.blogspot.com)

Swati Raman Garg said...

15 days straight.. u r too much anu... but i know they wud not have complained much... when we meet pizza for sure....

Arundathi said...

those are jalapenos actually, churningthewordmill

DK - thank you dear! would happily pass some over. watch out for the fedex chap.

Swati - definitely, babe.

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow pizza looks yummmmmmmmmmy.

Anonymous said...

I love pizzas.... this variation sounds yummy........

Bhavani said...

hey how do you make the pizza sauce?

Sunshinemom said...

I made one yesterday with wholewheat flour and ragi for a healthy dough:) These look so good, Anu!

Arundathi said...

Kitchen Flavors - Thanks!

Hima - Thanks. I Love them too.

Bhavani - hmm... I'll email you the recipe - or you can get ready-made pizza sauce in the store. Or you could make it different and give it an olive oil or pesto base.

Sunshinemom - wow ragi! what a great idea!! do post about it soon!

Nidhi said...

I finally baked! I tried your Pizza recipe. I baked it in the Microwave in Convection mode. Is that the right mode to use for baking?

Arundathi said...

Nidhi - so glad you tried it! I don't have convection mode in my m/wave, but I'm sure that should work. How was it?

Nidhi said...

It came out well Arundhati, considering my first attempt. Had a lot of learnings from it as well...I did post the pics on my blog.

BTW how do u bake it then?

Arundathi said...

I have a toaster oven which I use for all my baking. They are very handy.