Pizza!
UPDATED: My abject apologies to anyone who attempted to make this recipe and ended up with gloppy gooey dough. The incorrect amount of flour was previously listed. All better now.
Requires the use of a food processor. This is a killer-good recipe adapted from Abby Mandel's Cuisinart Classroom cookbook.
Dough:
7/8 cup warm water (105° - 115° F.)
1 package of dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 cups (about 11 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour (can be half whole-wheat
flour)
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Topping:
12 oz mozzarella cheese, chilled
1 oz grated parmesan cheese
1 small green pepper
1 small onion, peeled
a few large peeled cloves of garlic (opt.)
sliced black olives (opt.)
1/4 lb fresh mushrooms (more, if you like)
about 24 slices of thinly sliced pepperoni
2 large Roma tomatoes (optional)
1 small can tomato paste
dried oregano
dried basil
freshly ground black pepper
Stir the yeast and sugar into the warm water in a small bowl, let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Use the dough blade in the food processor. Place flour and salt in the workbowl. With the machine running, slowly pour in the water and yeast mixture through the feed tube. Process until a ball of dough forms. If dough is sticky, add flour a spoonful at a time. If dough is dry, add water a spoonful at a time. Add the oil, and process for another minute or so. Dough should be smooth and elastic, and not stick to your fingers when touched.
Transfer the ball of dough to a large oiled bowl, and rotate it to cover the entire surface with oil. Preheat the oven to its lowest temperature for about 2 minutes, and turn it off. Cover the bowl with a damp towel, and put it in the oven, cushioning the bottom with a pot holder. Let the dough rise for an hour, or until double in bulk.
While the dough is rising, you can prepare the toppings.
Shred the mozzarella, set aside
Put the thinnest slicing blade you have in the food processor.
With a knife, cut the top off the green pepper, remove the seeds, place in the
processor feed tube vertically, and slice it. Cut the top off the onion, place
in the feed tube and slice it (if including the garlic, place in feed tube with
the onion to slice it up). Remove the sliced pepper and onion, set aside. Wash
and slice the mushrooms, set aside. Slice the tomatoes, set aside.
--Variation from original: Place the sliced mushrooms in a large bowl with a
couple of folded up paper towels in the bottom. Microwave until the mushrooms
are limp. The paper towels should be wet from the moisture that seeped out of
the mushrooms. Remove and throw away the paper towels, set mushrooms aside.--
Remove the dough from the oven when it has doubled in bulk. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third of the oven. Preheat oven to 425°.
Roll out the dough on a floured board until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer it to a large oiled pizza pan, the perforated
Airbake pizza pan is terrific.
Pinch up the edges of the dough to make a rim. Spread the tomato paste on the dough, and sprinkle with the oregano, basil and pepper. Evenly arrange the sliced green pepper and onions over the tomato paste. Place in the hot oven until the onions and bell peppers wilt, 10-15 minutes. The onion may start to brown a little. Remove from oven.
Add the sliced tomatoes, sprinkle with parmesan cheese to absorb the liquid from the tomatoes. Add the sliced mushrooms, top with half the mozzarella, arrange the pepperoni in a nice circular pattern, top that with the rest of the mozzarella. Layering the mozzarella helps "glue down" the toppings.
Return to the oven, and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until the bottom of the pizza is browned, and the cheese is melted and slightly browned.
Slice the pizza with a pizza wheel immediately upon removing it from the oven. Makes eight great big slices of pizza. YUM!
For a puffier crust, let the pizza stand for about 30 minutes before the first trip into the oven.
