Seven Days Without Pizza Makes One Weak

THUNDER BAY – LIVING- Pizza is a favourite for young and old alike. Thunder Bay has many amazing places that make amazing pizza. But there is something about getting your hands into the dough and making your own homemade pizza.

The key of course is a good recipe for dough.

After a lot of experimenting and searching, here is a simple recipe that works really well.

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

Dough:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 cups pizza flour, plus more for dusting

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 to 2 teaspoons sugar

Prepare the yeast by mixing it in 1 cup warm water with some sugar dissolved in it.

When it’s frothy, add it to the flour and salt in a mixing bowl.

Combine until smooth. That usually takes about eight to ten minutes. Knead or turn the dough to a nice texture, a marble countertop or marble tile is perfect for this.

Portion the dough into four balls and let the dough proof or rest for at least twenty-four hours. That is key, it helps make a far nicer and chewier crust. Perhaps a little like a sour-dough?

When you are ready to bake your fresh pizza, some simple tips.

You don’t need a brick oven, or a fancy pizza cooker. What can work is putting ceramic 12”x12” tiles in the oven, and then heating it up to 425f.

If you have a pizza paddle, that is perfect.

If not, a simple solution is make your pizza on a ceramic tile, and have other tiles hot in the oven. You put in the tile with your pizza, and then after a few minutes, slide it over with to the hot tile. With the pizza paddle putting some corn meal or flouring the slide makes sure the pizza slides off easily.

For sauce, you can use pizza sauce from a can, you can make it your self, or use spaghetti sauce and add a little oregano, and fresh minced garlic. Be creative.

For toppings?

You can top your pizza with whatever you wish. Thin sliced pepperoni, bacon, salami, caribou meat, fish, whatever you like. Be brave, think out of the box.

The process

Roll out your dough to make a pizza about 12 inches in diameter. Then poke the flattened dough with a fork all over, that prevents it from rising up in the oven.

Put your sauce on the pizza, then a generous amount of cheese. Some like sliced mozzarella, others shred the cheese themselves to cover the top,

Next, put down your toppings, and cover with some more cheese.

Put your pizza into the HOT oven, and in about ten minutes, you are set for pizza heaven.

In the kitchen, be willing to experiment, and try new things, and for homemade pizza, new toppings. What’s in the fridge, well try it out.

Enjoy!

James Murray

Do you have a favourite recipe you would like to share? Contact us newsroom@netnewsledger.com