Happy New Year!...and it's a big year for me. The year I've been saying around a thousand times... Class of 2013. Twenty Thirteen. Yep... the year when I leave my cozy student life.. for the real world. Terrifying. Exciting. Exhausting? I don't know what emotions to feel right now...I just don't know life will be... without having school always on my mind. So.. right now.. I'm on my mental vacation.. Nothing school related...just going to enjoy this freedom :) I've had an unusually long break, and am glad I had this time to myself. I had a few new years resolutions.. most of which .. for cooking... were to try new recipes... and redo failed ones. I also had a goal to cook more Asian foods. If you know me, you will know that Asian cooking is not my specialty. I actually don't make asian foods too often, and well... it's about time that I learned.. so get ready for some very Asian recipes coming your way... from a true beginner.
And now.. onto pizza. I've made pizza dozens of times.. since it's one of my absolute favorite foods (+ burgers and fries.) I had a craving for it today since I went and bought some Italian sausages (first time!) and mozzarella. I just wanted a simple recipe that didn't require a few days work. I'm still going to do the no knead pizza dough one day on a baking stone (if/ when I get one.) But this recipe had a crispy crust without that stone...... it was SO good. This pizza was better than a lot of the pizzas I've had at the restaurants.. probably because it's piping hot out of the oven, and I let it rest on the rack without making it soggy... and I knew my desired ratios of cheese to meats to sauce :) I made this for dinner but couldn't get the right lighting for it :/ I'll probably make it again soon since I have cheese, sausages, and sauce left over... just thinking about making it again makes me so excited.. hopefully I can share this with others the next time I make it.
Recipe:
Since I was just making it for one... I quartered the recipe, which still produced a pizza that was half of the baking sheet. That was enough for dinner and a snack the next day! I did use a scale for the flour. I'm getting into the habit of weighing things now.. and so far.. so good.... consistency is something I strive for in my cooking.
Pizza for ONE! Makes 1 half sheet pizza :) Perfect appetizer portion for 2... or meal for one :)
Adapted from Jim Lahey
125 grams of bread flour
1/2 tsp dry active yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water
Oil for pans
Toppings for Pizza
Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl until combined, add more water if needed but stop added until everything is moist. Shape into ball, and place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, move the rack to the second to highest position, preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spread 1 tbsp of olive or canola oil (it's almost like you're frying your pizza crust to get that crispiness!) onto a baking sheet to the area of your pizza ( mine was half sheet.) Place dough on oiled baking sheet and start pressing and pulling it out so that it is even and thin. Make it as thin as you want it to be without making holes.. if there are holes, pinch them together. Top with pizza sauce, italian sausages, cheese, parmasan, and crushed red peppers.
Bake for 10 minutes or until you see that the edges of your pizza is starting to be brown, and the cheese has melted. Mine didn't take very long because it was very thin, the cheese was finely shredded and the sausages were cooked already. Take out of oven and remove pizza from pan, cool on a wire rack for a few minutes. Transfer to cutting board and slice it up! If you're not eating it right away, leave it on the rack so that it doesn't become soggy.
No comments:
Post a Comment