Pizza

The recipe for basic bread dough is what I use for my pizza dough. I cut the recipe in half. To the flour mixture I add various things depending on my mood- cumin, chili powder, dill seeds, garlic salt, curry powder- about a table spoon of the mood for the day.

As I did not have any red sauce left I made a quick tomato and spinache sauce (below) which was good with the crust (I had added chili powder). K-dog loves Hawaiian pizza, so she had a green Hawaiian.

The carmelized onions make their own sauce. And the fun new pizza was with the tomato sauce, pickled jalapenos, and capers- salty and spicy.

BASIC BREAD DOUGH

Ingredients:(for pizza I cut the recipe in half)

1.5 kg flour
30 g fresh yeast or tbsp dried yeast
1 tbsp salt
900 ml tepid water

Procedure:

Sift the salt and flour into a bowl. For pizza dough add about 4 tablespoons olive oil and the extra dry spices (curry powder, corriander seeds, etc. and mix- should be dry). Mix the yeast with the water; if you are using dried yeast, leave it to soften in the water for about 15 min. pour the yeast mixture into the flour. Mix the flour and liquid together into stiff, sticky dough. Put the dough on to a floured board and knead it thoroughly, until it is elastic and glossy-about 10 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball and return it to the bowl- I put a couple tablespoons of oil in the bottom of the bowl and roll the dough around. Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave the dough to rise until doubled in bulk-1.5 and 2.5 hours, depending on temperature and humidity. (For pizza I ususally only wait an hour, unless I am a day ahead- then I just let it sit in the fridge).The dough is ready when a finger pressed into it leaves a dent that does not immediately smooth itself out.

For pizza: After the dough has risen, divide it up into 4-8 balls depending on the size of your pizzas. If you are not making pizza till much later, place balls in a strong container and place into the refridgerator until you are ready to use them. Other wise you can begin rolling them out and letting them start rising on the pan as you put all the stuff on top.

For bread: Put the dough on a working surface and divide it in half. Knead each half into a ball, cover it with a cloth, and leave it to rest for 10 to 14 minutes. Reshape the dough into two balls. Lay the loaves on a board sprinkled with coarse semolina and cover them with a cloth. Leave them to prove until doubled in bulk again, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. With a razor blade or sharp knife, cut a cross about 1 cm. Deep in each loaf.

Preheat the oven to 230degrees C (450 deg F)HA! I have yet to get my oven to do that 180 is okay (350 just cooks longer and finishes rising). The rest of this paragraph is for bread, not pizza-Put an ungreased baking sheet in the centre of the oven. Lay a wide dish on the oven floor and pour hot water into it so that steam is released into the oven as the water heats. Slide the loaves off the board and on to the baking sheet. Using a plant sprayer, spray water all over the inside of the oven. Bake the loaves for about 45 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the wide dish containing water. Bake for a further 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200deg C (400 deg F)for the rest of the baking time. The loaf is baked if it sounds hollow when rapped on the bottom with the knuckles.
Cool the loaves on wire racks. Do not slice them until they are cold, preferably the next day.

Optional: Add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil when mixing the liquid with the flour and salt.

You can use this dough for pizzas! I add about 4 tablespoons of olive oil and I try to use at least ½ the weight in whole wheat flour (that was before Turkey-I think my flour here is already mixed).

Quick Tomato Sauce for Pizza

I was rushed to make a quick sauce- and it was tasty and fairly healthy too.
I took:
5 smallish ripe tomatoes
5 gloves of garlic
2 cups of spinach (whatever fits into the food processor)

Put it all in the food processor (some tomatoes should also be on the bottom to provide liquid) and mix until saucy.