Pizza-Day one

Morning, morning. Well lets get started. We're going to start by opening that five pound bag of all purpose flour. My mission is to show you what you can do with an amazing bag of flour. It is such an amazing ingredient that can satisfy everything from the sweetest sweet tooth to the most amazing entree. Be it a breakfast treat or Foccacia bread to make a fantastic panini, we're going to explore them all.

When my husband and I were traveling in Europe when we stopped in a small bistro two blocks from the Vatican, where no one spoke English We had a pizza, but it wasn't like anything I had ever had in the U.S. I wanted the recipe . Being I didn't speak Italian and the owner didn't speak English I only was able to watch as they prepared the pizza and put it in the open faced, wood fired oven. I wasn't able to get any direction on the dough preparation, but I had ideas. When I got home I worked on the dough recipe, looked at a lot of others and I think this is as close as I can come to the one we had in Rome.

There are thousands of pizza dough recipes out there and I'm sure this compulation isn't any great revelation to some, but I think it imparts the texture I wanted; tender to the tooth, not overly chewy, not cracker crisp. It is a great crust and I hope you enjoy it.

Remember I said you don't need to have any special skills to make the recipes I want to share with you. All you need is the motivation to try new things. Since I started attending culinary school I have been able to bake things that even amazed me. I am an adventurous spirit, always wanting to try something different, and having a desire to do it for the people I love. What better way to show that you truly care for someone than to take the time to cook for them.

After that being said let's get started.

PIZZA on THE GRILL

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups luke warm water (be sure it isn't above 110 degrees when added or you will kill the yeast.)
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of your favorite honey
4 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of a good olive oil
4 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour (I like King Arthur Flour as it is one that is naturally aged. They don't use bleach to age as lots of other flours do.) Any brand will work, this is just my choice.
2 Tablespoons + 1 tsp sea salt. There are a lot of sea salts out there. Various colors and flavors, pick one that you like.

1st. Put warm water and yeast in your mixing bow and add the rest of the liquid ingredients; olive oil, and honey. Mix with your mixer until all the yeast is dissolved.

Now put the flour in bowl and mix for 7 minutes on the losest speed on your mixer.

Add salt and continue to mix but put it on the next speed for two more minutes.

Oil a large bowl that will allow your dough to proof (to double in size). This can take up to an hour depending on the temperature in the kitchen.

You will need to think about heating your gas grill outside or if you are using charcoal you will have to start it ahead to get those great hot, white coals to cook with. I have a gas grill and I let mine heat for about 20 minutes on high to get the grill up to 500=600 degrees. Also I purchased a pizza stone made especially for a grill at William's Sonoma a couple of years ago and I absolutely love it. Cooking on the grates works quite well too if you don't want to spring for the $100.00 stone. I don't know if you could use your regular pizza stone that you would put in your oven, but it's worth a try; why not!

When it is double in size punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured board. Add enough flour to it that will allow you to knead it without it sticking. Also be sure to put a little flour on your hands to keep it from sticking everywhere. Divide it out into equal portions.

I will use my hands to stretch and pull the dough into a basic circular shape and let it rest on my counter for a few minutes to give it time to rest.

I gather the spaghetti sauce that I will use for the topping on the crust. Have your shredded cheese ready and any veggies or meats so that you can carry them all out to the grill. You can also do this in a 500 degree oven but you need a cast iron pan to put it on. If you choose this route put the cast iron pan in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes and then you will follow the same procedure as you would for the grill.

When you have everything put a little flour on a dinner plate and pick up your dough that has been resting and put it on the plate to transport it outside. Don't take more than one at a time if it is warm out as the dough will become gummy and sticky. If you are making a number of pizza's put the next piece on the counter before you go out to cook the first so it will be ready to go when you finish cooking the first one.

Now-at the grill. Take the dough from the dinner plate and stretch it a little before placing it on the grill. Once it is down take some sauce and spread it over the crust. I use my hands for this, but it gets messy. It allows me to spread the top of the dough a little and also to easily spread the sauce. Now put on the meat and veggies of choice, and finally top with shredded mozzarella cheese or fresh mozzarella cheese. I also like to put fresh basil strips on the top of the cheese.
Close the lid to the grill and in about 5 minutes or less you will have the perfect individual pizza. Remember the dough ball you put down will usually end up more than double the size when it cooks so beware. I use two wooden spatula's to lift the pizza off the grill. Lift the corner of the pizza and check the bottom for crispness and color. When it looks good to you go for it.

Enjoy.

Hope you'll come back for my second recipe from the five pound bag of flour you purchased for our journey. The week's just begun so hang in there.

Five Pounds of Flour

Five Pounds of Flour is intended to help families on a budget prepare outstanding foods. Are you one that is always loading your cart with expensive prepared foods? Well being a culinary student at the Culinary Institute of Charleston I have learned a lot, but have learned even more feeding my family for the past thirty-three years. When money's tight awe your family with unbelievably easy to prepare meals that will be a winning knock-out.

I thought this through and found that with just five pounds of flour you can feed your family quite well for a week. Does your family love Pizza, Pasta, artisan breads and even dumplings?
Well let me amaze you with your own skills of which you don't need any. If you can read you can do this. Give me a week and 30 minutes of your time and you are going to be the star.

My families favorite is pizza on the grill. Yep, I know, people are always dumpfounded when I say that you can make pizza better than anything you will every buy at the local pizza parlor, at home, in less than 30 minutes with less than 20 cents in flour, a dollar's worth of cheese and meat or veggie toppings. My family begs me to make this and our friends couldn't believe it. I learned the technique while we were on a trip to Rome. Check in tomorrow for recipe and instructions. I guess I'll have to make pizza tonight for dinner so I have a photo to show off on the blog tomorrow.

I'm in the process of writing a book and look forward to sharing it with my blog too.

See you tomorrow; get ready!