Wednesday, June 30, 2010

A New Pizza Dough Recipe

This was inspired by Jamie Oliver. He uses some semolina in his dough along with a bread flour. It has a very nice taste and worth trying!

His recipe was in grams so I tried it like this.

2 cups bread flour
1 cup semolina flour
2 T. Olive Oil
1 T salt
1 cup warm water
1.5 tsp of yeast or 1 packet
pinch of sugar or honey

Add yeast to warm water and add sugar or honey. Wait till it starts to bubble and add in the 2 flours, salt and olive oil. Mix till it goes together and then knead for a few minutes. Dough is a very nice yellow color because of the semolina. Let it rest in an oiled or sprayed bowl covered with a towel for at least 45 minutes and then you can make pizza!

If you want to see the video demo, refer to our "How to make Pizza Dough Video on the blog"

Grilled Pizza! My new summer favorite
































I have seen this done so many times and decided to try it this year. It couldn't be easier. You do need to have all your ingredients at the grill because it goes super fast. So far I have done it like this:

Basic Pizza Dough recipe ( I will post a new variation with bread flour and semolina that was inspired by Jamie Oliver)

Make sure to turn up your grill to high to preheat.

Cut dough in half if using 3 cups of flour for your recipe and roll it out on a board or peel.

Rub some olive oil on the top of the crust or spray with Pam.

Before you roll the dough or while it's sitting on the board cut up some really good tomatoes and toss with fresh basil and some extra good virgin olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Let them sit and the flavors will blend.

Have your cheese out of the fridge for about an hour if possible so it's not super cold when it hits the pizza. I use slices of provolone or mozzerella.. but you could be creative here. It is not a very cheesy pizza so use less cheese than normal.

I sliced some onions really thin and chopped up a clove or 2 of garlic really fine as well. Then I quickly saute them in a pan with a little oil or on a grill over the bbq till they get a bit soft.





You can also fry some bell peppers, mushrooms, and have some marinated artichokes, black or green olives.. use your imagination here.

Now get ready!

Lower your grill to medium to medium high heat. Put your pizza olive oil side down on the grill and leave it alone for at least a few minutes. Check the underside and continue to cook till you see some nice grill marks and it feels crispy underneath.
cooks note: This can be the tricky part. KNOW your grill. A too hot grill will burn the dough before it's cooked.. just experience this first hand last night at a friends house. It should be med to med-high..
Try this alone before you invite friends over just so you can make adjustments.

Turn it and immediately place your cheese on top. Close the grill lid for a few minutes. Then add your onion and garlic and cook a bit longer ( 1 to 2 minutes) and then top with your tomato mixture. You can also add peppers, olives or whatever else you want to put on. ( All ingredients must be pre-cooked as there is no time on the grill ) IT GOES FAST!



Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top before serving.

Get it off the grill and add some hot pepper seeds if you like them and start eating!

Try it and you will see how easy it is and no hot oven in the kitchen!