Saturday, February 20, 2010

Pizza Dough

I've been working on making a good wheat pizza dough. I find it's inferior to white flour mainly because there is a lack of gluten and it doesn't rise nearly as much. My second attempt recently came out quite well and it was a tasty dough too. I'll update as I get it better, but for now it's something to try.

Ingredients:
1 c wheat flour
1 c white flour
1 c semolina flour
1/3 c flaxseed flour
White flour to knead with

3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups hot water
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 packets yeast
1/2 tsp salt

Putting it together:

Sift together all the dry ingredients (not the yeast or sugar though) onto your working surface. It should get mixed that way better than just putting it all in a bowl. It's lighter too. You can put it all through a strainer too if you don't have a sifter device. Make a cavity in the center of the flour for the liquids.
In a bowl, mix all the liquids together with the sugar and the yeast. Wait for the yeast to bloom, which should be obvious. When this happens, start pouring it into the pile of flour. Mix this up as you go until most of the liquid is integrated. When it gets close, start to knead your dough ball with the white flour on your surface. The dough should feel light, poofy, and springy. You'll know it if you have it right. When it's pulled together well and forms a nice ball, spread olive oil over the surface and place the ball in a bowl.
Underneath this, put a heating pad to help the dough rise. After it has doubled in size, punch it down and you can use it, cut it up and save it, or I even have freezed it, though it might not come back as good as when it's fresh.
This will make a lot of pizzas. Roll it out on a floured surface and cook it on a pizza stone, or press it into a big pan with some oil and cook it that way. Either way, do it at about 475 degrees and don't skimp on the cheese.

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