While I work on my bread page (which is coming, really) I thought I’d put up this easy variation, which also represents the first meal I’ve cooked in a week. It felt good, and doubly so because it coincided with my amazing discovery of a new form of locomotion somewhere between hobbling and limping.
To make pizza dough I add a little bit of olive oil to my regular bread recipe and substitute spelt for the rye that’s usually there. That’s about it, though I also knead it some more so that it gets extra stretchy after it rises and ferments. I made four pies, each with different stuff on top: bacon and shiitake; pesto, artichoke and goat cheese, olive, onion and caper; and plain cheese for the clamoring small person.
A longer fermentation in the fridge would have added some more sourness, and I still need to work on my stretching technique, but these were pretty damn good: chewy around the edges and crisp under the toppings. Someday I’ll get that wood oven built outside, but soon enough I can start cooking these on the grill and that’s something else to look forward to as the snow slowly melts.
What is it with kids and cheese pizzas? One day our girl wants capers, chevre and chanterelles, the next time she just wants mozz. (Homemade mozz, but still.)
Have you ever tried throwing a little cider vinegar in with the dough to give it that sourdough knockoff zing?
And some day I will get the roof built on my wood oven so I can actually cook in the damned thing all winter.
Yum!!! Only recently will my 3.5 year old even touch pizza. He loves pepperoni and bell peppers on his, nothing else. All your pizzas sound divine. I love pizza and try to throw it in the mix at least once every couple weeks.
This is some damn good-looking pizza crust. I need to come up there and pick your brain on how to master the perfect dough. Mine kind of sucks compared to this.