NO-KNEAD 18 HOUR PIZZA DOUGH

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Mildred Murphy
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NO-KNEAD 18 HOUR PIZZA DOUGH Makes 4 to 6 pizzas. By Dennis W. Viau; modified from a recipe in bon appétit magazine. Eliminating the kneading doesn t make for an easy pizza dough.

1 NO-KNEAD 18 HOUR PIZZA DOUGH Makes 4 to 6 pizzas. By Dennis W. Viau; modified from a recipe in bon appétit magazine. Eliminating the kneading doesn t make for an easy pizza dough. Nonetheless, if you don t mind waiting 18 hours for the dough to rise, the resulting pizza crusts are delicate and light. The pizzas cook quickly on a hot pizza stone. Some people like a thin pizza crust; I like thick. Some people go light on the toppings; I go heavy. The great thing about making your own pizzas is that you can make them the way you like best. Ingredients: 36 ounces (2¼ pounds/1kg) all-purpose flour 4 teaspoons fine sea salt or kosher salt ½ teaspoon active dry yeast 3 cup (710ml) water Directions: In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, and yeast, using a whisk to mix thoroughly. Add about ¼ of the water and stir with a wooden spoon until most of the water is incorporated. Add more water and stir. Continue until all the water is added and the mixture starts to come together. Flour your hands well and mix the dough a little with your fingers until it forms a rough mass. Transfer to a clean large bowl, cover with plastic, and set aside for 18 hours to rise at room temperature. Transfer the dough to a clean, floured surface. Dust your hands well and shape the dough into a rectangle. Divide into 6 equal portions. Form each part into a ball by bringing up the four corners and pinching together and shaping into a ball. Dust a baking sheet well with flour and arrange the 6 balls on the sheet with plenty of room between. Cover with plastic and let rest 1 hour. Heat your oven to between 500 F and 550 F (260 C to 290 C) with a pizza stone on a rack in the upper third of the oven. If you do not have a pizza stone a baking sheet will suffice. Heat the stone at least 30 minutes in the oven. Dust the dough and your hands well with flour and gently shape each dough ball into a pizza crust by pulling and stretching the dough with your hand, not by pressing the dough flat with a rolling pin. Try to maintain as much air and loft in the dough as possible. If you have a pizza peel, prepare it with plenty of corn meal dusted on top. Carefully rest the dough on the corn meal and top with pizza ingredients. Change oven from Bake to Broil and carefully slide the pizza onto the pizza stone. (Or arrange on a baking sheet and place in the oven.) Cook pizza until the dough browns well around the edges, 5 to 7 minutes. Repeat with remaining pizza doughs. 1 The Step By Step guide begins on the following page

Although the original recipe called for fine sea salt, we found kosher salt to be a good substitute.

2 1 STEP-BY-STEP 2 The mise en place for this recipe is as simple as you would expect for a yeast dough flour, water, salt, and yeast. The small amount of yeast, only ½ teaspoon, is unusual for this volume of flour and water. However, during the 18 hours rise time, the yeast will multiply in the dough, providing adequate rising. Although the original recipe called for fine sea salt, we found kosher salt to be a good substitute. 2 Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and then begin stirring in the water, about a quarter of the volume at a time, until all the water is incorporated. Then transfer to a floured surface and use your hands to bring the dough together into a single mass. It does not need to be kneaded until smooth and elastic. The long rising time will improve the texture of the dough.

You can use the long wait time to prepare your topping ingredients.

3 3 3 Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or clean the mixing bowl) and cover with plastic. Let sit at room temperature for about 18 hours. You can use the long wait time to prepare your topping ingredients. 4 After 18 hours the dough will rise to more than double its original volume and be moist and bubbly.

5 4 Flour a work surface liberally and shape the original dough ball into a rectangle by stretching it rather than rolling it, which would press the air out of it.

dough loaves. Place on a dusted surface, dust liberally with flour, and cover with plastic. Allow to rest for at least an hour while you heat the oven and your pizza stone.

4 5 4 Flour a work surface liberally and shape the original dough ball into a rectangle by stretching it rather than rolling it, which would press the air out of it. Divide the rectangle into 6 pieces, roughly square in shape, and form each square into a ball by bringing the four corners up, pinching together, and then turning over the ball, shaping into round dough loaves. Place on a dusted surface, dust liberally with flour, and cover with plastic. Allow to rest for at least an hour while you heat the oven and your pizza stone. These loaves are resting on a wood cutting board. I recommend using a sheet of parchment paper, as this cutting board was difficult to clean afterward. 6 After an hour, shape a dough loaf into a thin pizza crust by carefully stretching it and spreading it without pressing the air out of it. Prepare a pizza peel by dusting it liberally with corn meal. The person with whom I worked on this day wanted to dust the peel with flour and durum wheat semolina. This didn t work, as you will see in Step 8 below. Use corn meal. It works much better.

two types of salami, prosciutto, roasted tomato sauce, fresh pesto, and lightly sautéed tomatoes.

5 7 5 Here are most of the ingredients we gathered/prepared for making six pizzas (or is that pizzi?). Chicken breast, roast garlic, Italian sausage, Feta cheese, buffala mozzarella, regular mozzarella, Romano cheese, pepperoni, fresh basil, sautéed mushrooms, meatballs, spinach, caramelized onion, two types of salami, prosciutto, roasted tomato sauce, fresh pesto, and lightly sautéed tomatoes. Your choice of ingredients might be very different, as there is a very wide variety of toppings used on pizzas. 8 This was the first pizza sautéed chicken breast meat, pesto, buffala mozzarella, and feta. The odd shape happened because it was difficult to slide the dough off the peel into the oven because the peel was prepared with all-purpose flour and durum wheat semolina. Corn meal works much better, as was evident with all the subsequent pizzas.

Placing the basil under the tomatoes and cheese might have allowed for a longer baking time.

6 9 6 This is a classic Pizza Magherita, made with lightly cooked chopped tomatoes, buffala mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves. The crust is only lightly browned because the pizza was removed from oven as the basil started to brown. Placing the basil under the tomatoes and cheese might have allowed for a longer baking time. I ve also seen this pizza made by putting the basil on it after it has baked in the oven. 10 This was our least favorite roasted tomato sauce, mozzarella, and meatballs. These meatballs were cut in half and placed on the pizza with the flat side down.

This one and the vegan pizza were our favorites.

7 11 7 This is a classic American pizza tomato sauce, pepperoni, Italian sausage, salami, mozzarella, sautéed mushrooms, and caramelized onion. This one and the vegan pizza were our favorites. 12 Vegan pizza made with stewed tomatoes, steamed spinach, mushrooms sautéed in olive oil, and caramelized (also in olive oil) onions, with a little fresh pesto added. The balance of flavors was excellent.

13 8 Here are our five pizzas and one focaccia bread (made with cheese, roasted garlic, and prosciutto), at right. Not shown is the bottle of red wine we consumed while sampling all these pizzas.

8 13 8 Here are our five pizzas and one focaccia bread (made with cheese, roasted garlic, and prosciutto), at right. Not shown is the bottle of red wine we consumed while sampling all these pizzas. Conclusion Many years ago I was asked to host a pizza party. I made plenty of dough and assigned individuals to bring toppings. To make certain everyone didn t bring cheese, each person was told to bring one, two, or three of the needed items, depending on cost. The dough was ready and the oven was hot when the guests started to arrive. Pizzas were assembled as the guests mingled, enjoying conversation and a little wine, and sampling each of the pizzas as they came out of the oven. It made for a very enjoyable evening. This pizza dough could be an excellent beginning for such a pizza party. One issue we ran into with the pizzas prepared above was the buildup of corn meal on the pizza stone, which began to smoke. We regularly cleaned the stone by clutching some paper towel with a pair of long kitchen tongs, and sweeping the corn meal onto a cookie sheet.

CHICKEN POT PIES Copyright 2012 The Mobile Home Gourmet, MobileHomeGourmet.com, all rights reserved.

CHICKEN POT PIES Copyright 2012 The Mobile Home Gourmet, MobileHomeGourmet.com, all rights reserved. CHICKEN POT PIES Makes 6 to 8 single-serving pies By Dennis W. Viau; modified from several recipes. I grew up with chicken pot pies. However, my mother bought them pre-made and frozen. One important ingredient