Recipe for Herbed Pizza Dough-Secret Recipe Club

It's been a while since I made homemade dough of any kind.  I was making fresh bread every week for a while but events this year have had me away from home a lot, so no dough making for me recently.  It was therefore easy to pick the recipe from my Secret Recipe Club assignment this month!

Dee from On The Move is from Seattle but she and her hubby spend half the year cruising on their Motor Vessel Rhapsody.  Dee shares her activities in the galley on her food blog On The Move-In The Galley and this is where I found her pizza dough recipe, adapted from a Bonita Atkins recipe.

I had never made dough with semolina flour before.  It gave a nice structure and color to the dough.  I loved adding in the herbs to the dough for more flavor.  I did find the dough a bit persnickety when it came to shaping, but persistence paid off and we really enjoyed this new dough recipe.  I made one pizza that night and put the other dough ball in the freezer.  

Turkey pepperoni, mushroom, mozzarella, red pepper with some sprinkled Parmigiano-Reggiano and fresh basil; the raw crust brushed with a little olive oil and a little store bought red pizza sauce.

As per my usual routine, I made the pizza on a peel sprinkled with cornmeal, and then cooked on a preheated pizza stone at 500 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.

LOL, Mr. ELEB just walked by as I am typing this and said "That pizza was really good!" as he looked at the pictures.  And there you go.  What better endorsement?

Yield: 2 medium pizza crusts
Time: 65 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs dry yeast (each 1/4 oz)
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (115 degrees)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 cups AP flour plus more for shaping
• 1 1/2 cups semolina flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 TBSP EVOO (plus more for brushing dough before adding toppings)
• 2 TBSP mixed Italian dry herbs
• Cornmeal for sprinkling on pizza peel if using
• Pizza toppings of your choice

Method:

• Dissolve yeast in warm water in a mixing bowl (I used my stand mixer).
• Add the sugar and AP flour and beat vigorously for 1 minute (The dough is like cake batter at this point).
• Heat oven to 150 degrees and place mixing bowl on shelf partially pulled out, with oven door open. Leave to rise uncovered for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, stir the dough down and add semolina flour, salt, EVOO and herbs.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees with pizza stone inside.
• Using dough hook on mixer, knead for 8 minutes, adding more AP flour as needed to prevent sticking and so a dough ball forms (I had to add about 1/3 cup).
• Turn dough out on floured surface and divide and shape into 2 balls.
• Wrap one ball in oiled plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag in freezer.
• Shape other ball into about a 13 inch crust, place on cornmeal dusted peel, brush with EVOO then add sauce and toppings.
• Cook on pizza stone for 12-15 minutes until crust is nicely browned and toppings are cooked to your liking.

Thanks Dee for sharing the recipe and happy cruising!

Printable recipe

Recipe for Whole Wheat Pita

In my "to try" file are about a dozen naan recipes.  So, of course I can't seem to get going on making some-just keep looking at the recipes, thinking about the best attributes of each one.  Help!  I have naan paralysis!


However, I came across a recipe for pita and just jumped on it!  No messing around.  No saving many versions and trying to come up with "the best".  It is a recipe with mostly whole wheat which I like.  Is it "the best"? Who knows?  But it made lovely pillows of whole wheat goodness just begging to be stuffed with spinach, ham and cheese.  So different than the cardboard texture of the whole wheat pita I buy at the store.

I made very few changes!  The original recipe calls for a tad of OJ which I left out and adjusted the water accordingly. I also used white whole wheat flour because that is what I had. I brushed the tops with olive oil and sprinkled on some organic, no-salt seasonings (Kirkland Brand from Costco) to finish them off while they were still warm.


Yield: 8 pita (whole)
Time: 20 minutes plus 1 hour 40 minutes rising time


Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/4 cups warm water
• 2 TBSP olive oil plus more for brushing tops
• Organic no-salt seasoning (or other mixed herb/spice blend) for topping

Method:

• Combine flours and salt in a bowl.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook, add yeast and 2 TBSP olive oil to water.
• Start mixer on low and pour in flour mixture.
• Turn to medium and knead for 5 minutes (if by hand, 8-10 minutes).
• Remove bowl from mixer and cover with kitchen cloth/towel for 1 1/2 hours or until dough has doubled.
• About an hour in to the rise, place pizza stone on bottom rack of oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
• When dough has doubled, turn out on to floured surface and divide into 8 portions.  Re-cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Roll each portion into approximately a 6 inch circle.
• Using a floured pizza peel, slide pitas into oven, cooking 2 at a time (keep others covered).
• Bake for 3 1/2 minutes, then flip for an additional 2 1/2 minutes.
• Remove and wrap in kitchen towel to cool while others cook, adding cooked to pile in kitchen towel as they come out.  
• When cooled slightly, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning mix.

As I said, great texture and the taste is waaaaay better than store bought!

In to the oven

See how they puff!

Now, on to that naan.


Printable Recipe
King Arthur Recipe