TIME FOR PIZZA!

Hey. Welcome to my blog and your first step into with weird and wonderful world of making pizza dough. I know the thought of making dough might seem scary for you noobs out there, but trust me, once you practice a bit it is easy as pie.

PIZZA PIE THAT IS!

So when it comes time for me to make pizza dough I usually start by googling "pizza dough" on google. I usually will check out the first few recipes, and if none of the google generated ones appeal to me I go check allrecipes or foodnetwork (or sometimes foodnetwork.ca... cause i'm patriotic like that).

Here are my greatest hits so far.

This one is from Ricardo and Friends. Ricardo is this lovely french Canadian chef who always finds ways to include back country Quebecois ingredients which are completely unnecessary. "Maple syrup again. Oh Ricardo...."

Pizza Dough

• 1/2 cup light cider or lukewarm water
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 1-1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp olive oil

This one is really good. You should mix and let it rise for about an hour (although I've made it without giving it rise time). Divide it in half and then take out your rolling pin, put a bit of olive oil on it, and go to town. After you roll it pretty flat you can toss it in the air and look all cool and stuff.... but to be honest most real pizza makers aren't into those showy tricks. you can do what you want but just know... it's really not as cool looking as you probably think it is (it SCREAMS nooob). Proove you're cool through your pizza, not your tricks.

Another recipe i've tried is this one:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

it was ok. i think i put some fresh rosemary in it which made it better. It wasn't as good as the top one though.

Other tips:
-Make sure you work the hell out of the dough when you mix it. Like give it a good 8-10 mins. Good dough comes from good glutens, and gludens are made by kneading. So if you kneed good pizza... heh heh
- Use a pizza stone. I mean you can get away with a pan but... come on.. they cost like 10 bucks.
- Use lots of flour on the place where you're making up your pizza and then on the stone itself. The dough should be able to slide with you shaking the board. I use a flexible cutting board which works great.
-Oh... for both of these recipes cook at like 400 for 20 mins or so. Whatever looks good.

Well that's all. After you practice these recipes for a few months, you should venture out onto the internet and see what you can find on your own. Who knows, maybe the new little Caesar's secret is only a click away.

Peace and pizza

dave