Happy New Year! Let's make pizza...

Just a quick note to start off 2010!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season.  We are all looking forward to 2010.  I will be posting recipes and tips throughout the year and welcome your input.  If you see something that doesn't make sense or would like to correct information that you see in my posts, please contact me via e-mail and I will be happy to address your questions or make corrections as necessary.  If you have any recipes that you need help with (i.e. they just aren't right and you can't make them work) or can't find a good recipe for what you are trying to make let me know.  I love trying to "fix" recipes and getting you back in the kitchen. 

My first recipe for 2010 is a really simple but very good pizza dough recipe.  This is adapted from a recipe I found in The Pizza Book by Evelyne Slomon. This doubles as a really good pizzeria style dough for either a hand tossed pizza or a deep dish pizza as well as an Italian style bread if shaped in a loaf.
This takes 1 hr 20 min - 1 hr 45 min depending on how quickly your dough rises.

3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast (not rapid rise)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups luke warm water (105-110) - just warm to the touch, too warm and it will kill the yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix all ingredients except the olive oil together.  Lightly flour your work surface and knead the dough until it is soft and smooth.  This will take approximately 10 minutes.  Yes, it's a work out if you are not used to kneading dough, but well worth it in the end.  Place the dough back in your mixing bowl and cover either with a clean towel or cling wrap and place in a warm draft free area.  Let the dough rise until double (approximately 1 hour).  If your room is too cool, heat your oven to 200 degrees F, turn off the oven, open the door and let cool for 10 minutes.  Place the bowl with the dough in the oven and shut the door (MAKE SURE THE OVEN IS OFF).  This will shorten your rising time so be sure to check in on it at the half way mark.

Once the dough is double, pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees F. Punch the dough down and add the olive oil.  You will knead the dough again this time for about 5 minutes until the olive oil is worked into the dough and it is once again smooth and elastic.  Cover and set the dough aside for another 20 minutes to let it rest before working with it.    

For a hand tossed dough, divide the dough into four equal portions for a thin crust or two equal portions for a thicker crust.  Work each portion out into a 12 inch circle, and build your pizza as you like.  Once you have all your toppings in place, put your pizza in the oven for 10-12 minutes.  Your pizza will rise nicely and toppings and edge of crust will brown.  Enjoy!

If you are using a pizza stone be sure to pre-heat it in the oven when you turn the oven on.  You will need a pizza peel or non-edged baking sheet to build the pizza on and transfer to the pizza stone.  Be sure to lightly flour your peel with either all purpose flour or semolina (I like this option the best) and keep in mind, not to overload the pizza with toppings or it may not come off of you peel onto your stone.

If you are using a pan (round or rectangle)  to bake your pizza in, the pizza will need to bake longer (15-25 minutes), but the end result will look and taste the same.