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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Best Olive Oil Pizza Crust

I've been trying to use more olive oil in my cooking.
This recipe calls for some olive oil in the crust.
Also more upon baking producing a very tasty crust.

Ingredients:
2 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 plus 2 TBL water
4 cups all-purpose flour, chilled
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Directions:
Put the dry yeast and sugar into a small bowl.
Add 3/4 cup of water. Mix it all up until the
dry yeast dissolves and leave it for about 5 minutes.
In the meantime, sift flour and salt into a large bowl.
Once the yeast is ready, pour it into the bowl with the flour.
Mix the flour / yeast until it’s not coming together anymore.
Add a little more of the warm water and some olive oil
and keep mixing until it starts forming into one mass.
Turn the dough out onto your work surface
and start kneading it by hand.
Make sure you make lots of pulling and tearing
motions to really break up the glutens in the dough.
If it’s still a bit dry and flaky,
add a bit more oil or water.
If it’s sticking to your hands sprinkle on a little flour.
You should end up with a smooth springy dough
after about 5 minutes of kneading.
Coat the dough ball with a thin layer of olive oil,
and place it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl
which has also been coated on the inside with olive oil.
Stretch a piece of kitchen film over the top
of the bowl and set it in a warm place.
Allow the dough to rise, undisturbed, for 2 hours.
The dough will have grown to at least
twice its original size.
Take the raised dough mass out of the bowl
and cut it in half with a knife.
Take the raw dough portions and separately
pat them down flat on a cutting board to press out
and release the air that has developed inside them.
Working with the dough at room temperature,
roll out each dough ball into a 3/8″ thick circle,
about 14″ in diameter. “Pan” the dough into a pizza pan,
then let the panned dough “proof” for 5 to 10 minutes
in the pan before adding your sauce, cheese and toppings.

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