There may just be a new Top Crust in town, ladies and gentlemen!
We've loved and cherished our thin crust pizza dough for years, but that doesn't mean we can't have a little variety!
Last night we needed to use up leftover dough from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day master recipe and we thought we'd try something just a little different.
Curious? Read on!
We took a big fist-size piece of dough straight from the fridge and cut it into two individual portions. On a piece of parchment, we flattened the dough into rough pizza shapes. (We like to think of the shapes as 'rustic'!)
We covered the doughs with plastic wrap and let them proof for 1/2 hour or so while we assembled the ingredients.
The dough didn't stick as tenaciously to the parchment as our original thin crust recipe and shrunk a little while it was coming to room temperature. After letting it relax for 10 minutes, we reshaped the dough and let it finish proofing. After this second shaping, the dough stayed in shape.
We baked the pizzas in a pre-heated 450-degree oven on top of a pizza stone for about 12 minutes--just until the crust was a golden brown. Like our other thin-crust recipe, we started the pizza with just the sauce and toppings, and then added the cheese in the last few minutes of baking.
The result was completely delicious. The crust puffed up in the oven, giving us a crunchy outside and an airy, chewy interior. In contrast, the middle stayed crispy and 'thin-crust' with the toppings weighing it down. It's the best of both worlds!
This is a good stand-by pizza dough recipe if you already have a batch of the master dough in your fridge. Since the master dough initially takes 2 hours to rise before you can use it, it's not as convenient to make "on the spot" as the other recipe.
We estimate that you could get 6-8 individual pizzas (this size) or 4-5 full-sized out of an entire batch of the master recipe.
Related:
Read our review of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois HERE.
Their master bread dough recipe is available through the New York Times, HERE.
Buy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking, $18.45 at Amazon
(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
I started making pizza with dough from the Artisan Bread book almost as soon as I started doing it--I always have dough in the fridge, and it's such an easy dinner...I've used the Rustic dough as well as the Broa (Portuguese corn bread) dough. I actually just used the latter yesterday night, for a pizza with garlic scape pesto, a little goat cheese, figs from the farmer's market and smoked scamorza. I've found that rubbing a tiny bit of olive oil on the parchment before you lay the dough out, then a little scattering of semolina, prevents any sticking.
view jooleeyet's profile
I've also been making (and loving)the pizza with dough from the Artisan Bread recipes. Although I'm kicking myself jooleeyet, because last night I made pasta with garlic scape pesto and now I wish I had made pizza with it instead!
view J-fer Rose's profile
I tried Heidi Swanson's favorite white whole wheat pizza dough last night, and it was great. Uses the kitchenaid mixer, but perhaps I will try hand-kneading next time. it's on her 101cookbooks.com website, and she does attribute it to someone else. A nice, thin, 12" round, topped with homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, kalamata olives, and grated romano.
view Susmita's profile
Thanks for the idead for Friday night supper.
view jaudre's profile