(photo by Mark Luinenburg)  If you’ve read any of our books, you know that this particularly photogenic fruit (or is it a vegetable?) seems to have captured our imagination.  After a year of perfecting the basic tomato/basil/mozzarella topping, I did (believe it or not) get tired of Pizza Margherita.  Enter the smoky and savory roasted red pepper.   Most people think if it as a pizza topping, sliced or roughly chopped, and I certainly use it that way, in place of mushrooms or other vegetable.  But it’s more versatile than that.  First, let’s quickly go through how to get this smoky, colorful result:

1. Roast the red pepper:  Remove the seeds and core, then quarter the pepper so it can be flattened.  Char it under the broiler or on a gas or charcoal grill, with the skin side closest to the heat source.  Alternatively, you can roast the pepper whole on top of the stove, right over a gas flame, turning frequently so that it chars on all sides.  You are finished when the skin has mostly blackened (there can be some red areas).  With most heat sources, you’re done in less than 10 minutes.
2. Drop the roasted pepper (or peppers) into a bowl or pan and cover, so that the pepper steams in its own heat, for about 10 minutes.
3. Allow to cool so it can be handled, then hand-peel the pepper and discard the blackened skin.  Reserve the smoky brown liquid if you are making a sauce.

I use these a number of ways, in ajvar, a roasted red pepper and eggplant spread from Croatia (recipe in Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in 5), which is absolutely fantastic on hamburgers instead of ketchup.

But one of my favorites is a simple sauce that  you can use instead of tomato toppings on pizza.  Simply put a few roasted red peppers, with their juice, into the food processor and blend until almost smooth.  Reduce it a bit over medium heat if it’s too thin.  About two peppers and maybe a little salt makes enough sauce for a Pizza Margherita a la Peperone.  Smoked gouda makes a nice swap here for mozzarella.

Farewell to the mundane.  And soon, farewell to winter, despite Punxsutawney Phil’s recent prediction…

In addition to making pizza on superbowl sunday, I propose that you shake things up a bit with these Spiced Lamb Pitas. This is one of my favorite recipes in our new book. I love it for many reasons, but the story behind my first bite of Lahmacun is as rich as the bread itself.

I arrived in Istanbul with my husband and two sons (9 & 11 at the time), after a long trip from Minneapolis. As we entered into the city, with the sweetest cabby in the world, and the fastest driver I have ever seen, we realized we were not in the Midwest anymore. It was a feast of the senses. To say we were overwhelmed by the beauty, smells, sounds and traffic, would have been a gross understatement. No sooner had we put our bags down in the hotel, then the concierge called the room to say I had a “friend” waiting for me in the lobby. He whispered into the phone and said “Please, be careful of people who claim to be your friend in a new city.” His way of warning me about something. I didn’t know anyone in the city, and hadn’t made plans to meet up with anyone, so I heeded his warning and sent my husband to the lobby to find out who this mysterious “friend” might be. It was indeed a friend, a dear sweet woman named Serap, who I’d met in the States. She owns a delightful Turkish restaurant called Depot 62 in Manchester, Vermont. I had told her I’d be in Istanbul, asked her for tips on where to eat, but that was all I ever expected to hear. Here she was, the loveliest surprise in the world. She was visiting her sister in istanbul, and they took the day to give us a tour of the city. They fed us the most glorious foods and she introduced me to her favorite Turkish food; Lahmacun. I will never forget that day and this flatbread is forever linked with one of my most precious memories. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

This thin pita is topped with Spiced lamb, quickly baked, so it is still soft, topped with chopped onions, parsley and a squeeze of lemon, then it is rolled up like a crepe. 

Lahmacun:

Makes 1 pita, but enough toppings for 4.

1/4 pound dough (master recipe dough, whole wheat dough, gluten-free pizza dough or naan dough are some of my favorites from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day to make this with)

For the Lamb topping:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 white onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (add a bit more if you want a more intense flavor)

1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander (add a bit more if you want a more intense flavor)

1 teaspoon paprika

1 pound ground lamb

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Garnishes:

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup chopped white onions

1/4 cup chopped tomatoes (they are delicious, but I didn’t find any ripe ones to use this time of year.)

1 lemon, cut into quarters

To prepare the lamb:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, add the onions and cook until they are soft. Add the spices and ground lamb, cook until the meat is evenly browned, breaking it up as it cooks. Stir in the tomato paste, salt and parsley, cook for another minute. Set aside to cool. Can be made ahead.

To make the pita: Preheat oven to 500°F with a Pizza Stone on the bottom rack for at least 30 minutes.

Roll the dough out to 1/16-inch (see this post if you are having trouble getting the dough thin enough) round. Dust a Pizza Peel with flour and place the dough on it. Top with the lamb mixture. Bake for about 5 minutes. The crust should just be set, but still soft enough to roll.

Put 1/4 of the parsley, onions and tomatoes on the pita.

Squeeze a lemon wedge over the top.

Roll the pita up like a crepe.

I wrapped it in parchment to make it easier to eat and served it with Tzatziki (p. 209 Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day)

From the editors of Mother Earth News…

This pizza is so thin and crackly that light shines through it!  It’s much easier to achieve perfection with this Tuscan specialty than you might think.  Plus, our TV segment in Charlotte, North Carolina, with former Saturday Night Live cast-member Colin Quinn.   On TV with Colin, we threw pizza high into the air for Neapolitan thickness crusts (1/8-inch), but don’t try that with this much-thinner (1/16-inch) cracker-crust, or it will tear (click the image to view the segment).

Colin is about 10 times funnier than we are…

Everyone knows that cracker-crust pizza needs to be stretched really, really thin in order to get a crunchy and super-thin result.  But before you even start with that, two things to do:

1. Pre-heat your oven for 30 minutes or longer, with a glazed or unglazed baking stone in the bottom third of the oven, and use the highest heat your oven allows (for me that’s 550 degrees F).
2. Prepare all your toppings before you start stretching the dough:  Otherwise the dough will glue itself to the pizza peel while it’s waiting to be topped and you’ll never get it into the oven.  Today I used a smooth, plain tomato sauce (less than 1/4-cup), and about 1.5 ounces of fresh mozzarella.  Cracker-crust pizzas need very little topping– if you use lots, it won’t crisp and the whole thing may turn to porridge.

In Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, our cracker-crust pizzas call for a dough-round that’s only 1/16-inch of an inch thick.  Maybe there’s someone out there who can do that with their bare hands, but I can’t.  I need a rolling pin, and I’ve come to love the handle-less French milled rolling pins, which give you better control in this situation.  Use a small ball, about 4 ounces (peach-sized) of refrigerated dough from one of our recipes.  You need “lean” dough here (those not enriched with eggs and lots of sweetener) from our books:  white dough, or the whole-grain are just two examples, see the books for more.  Using some whole grain makes it easier to get very thin–plain white dough is the most difficult to stretch because of its gluten-strength.   If you use a large ball, you’ll have a very hard time getting it this thin:

(You don’t really have to weigh it, but it can be nice when you’re learning).  Briefly shape it into a ball as in our other posts, and if you have time, let the ball rest under plastic wrap or an overturned bowl at room temperature for up to 60 minutes; that will make it relax and be easier to roll out.  So start with the rolling pin and your fingers…

It’s pretty easy to get it to 1/4-inch thick, and then 1/8-inch.  But for my ball of dough today, it needed to get to a diameter of about 14 inches in order for the thickness to be down to 1/16-inch…

Use plenty of flour…

Getting it to 1/16-inch takes a bit of perseverance.  Some tricks:

1. If it just won’t “relax” and thin out, cover the partially-stretched dough-round with plastic wrap and give the glutens five or ten minutes to relax.
2. Use the dough’s own stickiness to force it thin:  although you’ll need to dust with lots of flour, allow it to stick to your work surface a little.  That pins it down and allows the work surface to oppose its natural tendency to shrink back into its thicker self.
3. Use a dough scraper:  It’s very difficult to make cracker crust without one, because this dough will try to stick miserably to the work surface, and as I say, you want a little of that.  But periodically “un-stick” it, like so:

As you gather it up in your other hand, you can see that the top surface is going to need lots of dusting flour.  Don’t be stingy with it; most of it will fall off as you work with it. You know you’re getting close when the dough is looking paper-thin, and draping your hands like a glove:

When you get to 1/16-inch thickness, place the dough-round onto a pizza peel dusted with flour.  Periodically shake the peel to be sure that you’re not sticking.  Start with the sauce; you can use a spoon, but a pastry brush is quite handy for the thin coating of sauce that’s called for here:

… OK, maybe a little more than that, but don’t overdo it:

In our pizza book, our cracker-crust pizzas don’t call for the big cheese chunks that work so nicely on Neapolitan-thickness pizza– go for grated cheese if you’re using commercial mozzarella, or small pieces of fresh mozzarella as in these pictures (you really can’t grate the fresh stuff, it just disintegrates).  And not so much– 1.5 ounces is enough here:

… so you’re spacing the cheese a little. Now slide it onto the pre-heated stone (more on that technique in the book).  Hopefully the 30-minutes preheat was enough, but if you’re not getting the crispiness you like, next time preheat for up to an hour:

In my oven, which runs hot (and I’m never getting that fixed), this was ready in 5 minutes.  If your oven runs cooler, you’ll need more time, but check early– this is thin stuff and you don’t want it burning.  Check your oven with a thermometer or it can be challenging to get the crispiness you want.  A little scorching is OK– see the blackened bits on the underside and at the edge, and yes, the light should shine through it:

Give my regards to Siena!

The beauty of a pullman loaf is the perfectly shaped slices. If you don’t want to take a chance on a loaf that has a slightly irregular shape, then this is the pan for you. It make for a perfectly square sandwich loaf or movie-worthy toast. Any of our bread doughs will work in this pan, but some rise more than others, so you will have to adjust the amounts. In this post I used a 100% whole grain oat bread from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, which will rise less than our recipes using only white flour from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. You may need to experiment a little, but I will walk you through the process below.

Jeff and I are back on the road to bake pizzas. We are teaching a few classes on the way and would love for you to join us. There are a couple of spots left in our class in Atlanta if you are free to join us on 1/14, for more information visit our events page.

What you will need:

1 to 3 pounds of dough: This will depend on the size of your pan and the type of dough. (Whole grain dough will rise less, which means you need more to fill the pan. Doughs made only with white flour will rise more, so it will take less dough to fill the pullman pan.)

Pullman Pan (this is the one I used in the post. It is 9x4x4. If you have a larger pullman pan then you will need more dough.

To make the loaf: Butter the loaf pan and lid very well. Fill the pan 2/3 full if using whole wheat dough (this took 3 pounds of dough for the 100% whole grain oat dough). Fill the pan just shy of 2/3 full if using doughs made with white flour.

Allow the chilled dough to rest for about 1 1/2 hours (unless your pan is much smaller).

Slide the cover on the loaf.

Bake the loaf for about 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the type of dough and size of pan. My 100% whole grain oat bread took 55 minutes.

Turn the loaf out of the pan and allow to cool completely.

Enjoy!

(photo by Mark Luinenburg) It has been suggested to me that the real reason I like to throw pizza dough into the air when I teach a class is not because throwing the dough improves the pizza, but because I am an incorrigible show-off.  I will neither confirm nor deny this beastly rumor.  But having now thrown a lot of dough, I truly can say how beautifully it thins the dough and relaxes the gluten.  There’s more on this in Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, but here are some photos a video that show how it’s done.  The toss does scatter a bit of fine flour into the far reaches of your kitchen, but even so, I usually do it when I make pizza at home.  If I’m outside making grill pizza, I always throw the dough — there’s no ceiling, and you don’t have to clean up (the latter is a dream come true for me).

The keys to getting a good toss (video link’s at the end of this post):

1.  Form a nice cohesive ball using the gluten-cloaking method we talk about in the books, and sealing up the ragged loose ends on the underside of the ball.  I do that in the video but there’s one other trick that doesn’t appear in the video:  if you have time, let the ball sit for 20 to 40 minutes, covered with plastic wrap or an overturned bowl.  It will be much easier to stretch when it’s warmed a bit.

2.  Balance the disk on the backs of your hands– the knuckles.  Use them to stretch the dough a little more before you throw:

Throw your hands upward and spin them around each other, extending your dominant hand’s forefinger and middle finger a little at liftoff (very challenging to capture this on film or video):

OK, here’s the video (yes, that’s me breaking Italian law by using a rolling pin):

Buon appetito!  There’s a much more video about pizza and all things bread on our YouTube channel (YouTube.com/BreadIn5).

This week is Chanukah and it is all about frying our food, which brings me great joy. I am constantly trying to come up with something new to add to our menu of latkes, jelly doughnuts and all the other traditional fare. These savory doughnuts were inspired by the fried pizzas I had in Naples. We ate them as snacks during the day, to tide us over to the next pizza. Most of the pizzarias sold them outside their front doors to people waiting in long lines or folks on the run. Pizza dough stuffed with ricotta and deep friend; simple, but perfect. My boys love them stuffed with a variety of fillings, so use your imagination and create your own savory doughnuts.

1 pound of dough (I used the Lighter Whole Wheat Dough on page 83 of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day)

2 cups ricotta

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Oil for frying

Tomato sauce for serving

To make the savory doughnuts:

Bring a pot of oil to 370°F on a Candy Thermometer. The oil should be about 3 inches deep and not come up more than halfway up the side of the pot.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4-inch thick rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 16 equal portions. (I used 1/2-pound piece for these photos, so your rectangle will be larger.)

Mix together the ricotta, nutmeg, oregano, salt and pepper. Put about a tablespoon of the filling onto the dough, placing it so that you can easily close the dough around it. Brush the edge of the dough with water.

Press the dough closed around the filling. Making sure that the dough is sealed well, so the filling won’t come out while it is frying.

Place the doughnuts in the hot oil for about 2 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Put only a few doughnuts in the oil at a time, they should not be crowded or they will not fry evenly.

Flip the doughnuts over and fry the second side for another 2 minutes. Make sure your oil is staying around 370°F.

When the doughnuts are done frying, use a basket skimmer to remove them from the oil and place them on paper towels to drain the excess oil.

Serve with the tomato sauce or pesto.

This has been such an exciting couple of months. Jeff and I have loved traveling around the country to introduce people to our latest book. We thank all of you who have stopped by our events to meet us. Now we are home with our families for the holidays, and will hit the road again in January to flip more pies and hopefully meet more of you. Please check our Events page to see where we will be next.

It was so much fun to talk to journalist Stephanie Stiavetti from the Huffington Post Food Blog about the journey of writing Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. Here is a link to our interview. 

We had a blast in Denver, saw some fantastic views near the town of Nederland, and did a great segment yesterday on Daybreak-TV-2 (click to view).  On to Salt Lake City today for more TV on KUTV-2 News (CBS in Salt Lake)!

(color photo above by Mark Luinenburg)  An interviewer recently asked me, “what’s new in your pizza & flatbread book that you didn’t already cover in “Artisan Bread…” and in “Healthy Bread…”?  My answer:  A lot!  Like how ’bout this Braided Challah Flatbread that requires zero resting time before it goes into the oven?  Braided enriched loaves like these are integral parts of many holiday traditions– Finnish Pulla, Swedish St. Lucia’s Bread, Jewish Sabbath bread, and others.  So this busy holiday season, you can be ready with super-fast festive loaves like these.  Detailed photos ahead…First, mix up some challah dough from any of our books.  Alternatives include super-rich brioche, or even plain white or whole-grain dough (though those won’t yield traditional challah results).  For Scandinavian treats like Pulla or St. Lucia’s Bread, add 1 teaspoon ground cardamom and 1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed to the liquids when you mix the batch.  Our challah and brioche store in the fridge for for up to 5 days; after that, freeze in well-wrapped loaf-sized balls for up to two weeks.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).  If you have a stone in the oven, you need 20 to 30 minutes of pre-heat, but if not, 5 to 10 minutes is enough.  While the oven preheats, cut off a half-pound piece (orange-sized), form a ball, and roll out into a 1/8-inch thick rectangle:

You can make bigger ones, but the half-pound size is easier to get thin.  Now use a pizza wheel or a sharp knife to cut the rectangle into three long strips:

Lay the strips out on a greased baking sheet that’s been prepared with parchment, a silicone mat, butter, or oil.  Pinch one end together and start braiding, keeping the strips flat on the table.  Don’t twist them and don’t apply tension to the strands or it will bunch– you want it as flat as possible…

This is the big advantage over challah braided with “ropes” of dough.  Those thick ropes requires 80 or 90 minutes or resting time after braiding; otherwise the result is dense.  By keeping things very skinny, you can go straight to the oven after the braid is finished.  Continue braiding…

… then pinch the ends together, again, trying to keep the “pinch” flat.

Using a pastry brush, apply egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)…

… and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds:

Immediately place into the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

One of the most popular recipes from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is our version of naan. It is a non-traditional way of creating the classic Indian flatbread, and it is incredibly fast and tasty. In Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day we decided to one-up ourselves and create a stuffed naan, made from a dough that has a slight tang from the addition of yogurt. This aromatic flatbread is filled with cilantro and onions, then baked until golden on a hot stone. When it comes from the oven we slather it in ghee and serve it hot. You’ll want to make several, because they go fast and they are as good hot as they are cold.Stuffed Naan:

1/2 pound Naan dough (page 88) or Master recipe from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day
Stuffing:

3 tablespoons finely chopped onions

3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

Salt to taste

Melted ghee or butter to brush on top of baked naan

To make the stuffed naan: Preheat the oven to 550°F or as high as your oven will go, with a Baking Stone on the middle rack.

On a well floured surface,

roll the dough to a 1/4-inch thick circle.

Place the onions, cilantro and salt on the dough, but leave a bit of the edge clear of the filling.

Pinch the edges together,

all the way around the circle,

to form a pouch.

Flip the pouch so the seam side is down on a well floured surface. Flour the top and roll the pouch into an 1/8-inch thick oval. Check for sticking as you go, and add more flour if you need.

The onions may break through the dough as you get it very thin, but that is just fine.

Bake the stuffed naan on the preheated stone for about 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately brush with the melted ghee or butter.

Serve warm and just tear pieces off and dip it into your curry, soups and stews. Try our other stuffed naan variations, which you will find on page 224 of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day.

This was lunch today.  If you want to get more vegetables into your diet (or sneak it into someone else’s), pizza is the way to do it.  Nobody ever turns down homemade pizza.  Here’s a vegetable pizza with lots of arugula baked right in, so this is different from what we did with arugula in the book (using it raw as soon as the pizza comes out of the oven)…… and you can really load it up with vegetables.

First off, preheat your oven to its highest setting (usually either 500F or 550F) with a pizza stone near the bottom of the oven.

First rule of successful pizza-making is to prep all your ingredients in advance.  Biggest risk if you don’t:  the pizza may stick to the pizza peel when you slide it onto the pizza stone, because you’ve wasted time prepping after the dough is sitting on the peel.  Here I’ve prepped a half-cup of ricotta cheese, a good handful of arugula, about 5 cherry tomatoes (halved), and about a quarter-cup of diced roasted eggplant:

Take a 1/2-pound ball of lean dough (“lean” means made without large amounts of eggs, fat, or sweetener) and stretch it into a 12-inch circle, 1/8-inch thick (see our Basics post or Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day for details).

Apply about a half-cup of ricotta cheese (part-skim is fine, but whole-milk is richer tasting); you don’t have to apply it evenly, just blob it on:

Put on the arugula, then the eggplant and tomatoes, finishing with two final touches:  a drizzle of olive oil, and a couple of teaspoons of cilantro chutney (nothing more than a bunch of cilantro food-processed with two teaspoons of sugar, a teaspoon of sesame seeds, and enough white vinegar to blend it into a smooth sauce).

Shake the pizza peel around before you try to slide it onto the stone.  If you see that the pizza is partially stuck on the peel, sprinkle flour next to the stuck side and dislodge it by slipping a dough scraper under it like so:

It may look like a salad now, but it won’t when it’s baked!  Slide it off onto the hot stone and you’re less than 10 minutes away from…

Other veggie options in Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a DayArtisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day:

Curried Sweet Potato, Lentil, and Arugula Pizza

White Pizza with Spinach

Greco-Roman Pizza with Feta, Honey, and Sesame Seeds

Pear Gorgonzola Pizza with Candied Walnuts

Thick-crusted Roman Eggplant Pizza

Leek, Herbes de Provence, and Garlic Focaccia

The big day is here and we’re expecting a World Wide Riot of Pizzas for our #PizzaPartyin5! We will be compiling a list of all the food bloggers’ pizza posts below, so come back through the week to see what people are baking.

My kids did the rolling, tossing, topping and baking, with just a little help from dad. The greatest result of writing this pizza book has been watching my sons take over the kitchen. Put out a bunch of toppings, some balls of dough and watch them create. My oldest son has even made pizzas, start to finish, for his friends. It is a gift to teach kids to cook and pizza is the perfect place to begin, especially for pre-teen boys who resist being in the kitchen.

It is not to late to join the #PizzaPartyin5. Just make a pizza, take a picture and post it on Twitter or FB. Use the hashtag #PizzaPartyin5 and let us know where you have put the picture. You can find us on Twitter and FB at @ArtisanBreadin5 and @zoebakes. If you have done a post about your pizza we will RT it and add the link to the bottom of this page.

For your party, just create balls of dough from your favorite Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day recipe. Make enough for each guest to make their own, or two.

Have all the toppings ready to go. Get creative!

Dimple the dough, so it is easier to roll out.

Use a rolling pin to help get the dough nice and thin.

Use the back of your hands to gently stretch the dough as thin as you like.

Then toss it in the air, because it is FUN and it helps get a nice, round, thin disk of dough. Try it, even my 10 year old was tossing like a pro!

We had a bit of an assembly line going. Charlie tossed the dough and placed it on a floured Pizza Peel, Henri topped it and

then everyone switched positions to make more.

Dad slipped the pies in the oven. We had two Pizza Stones in each oven, so the pizzas could all bake at the same time.

Then we feasted on their pizzas.

Pizza Equipment Basics (aka Stuff to put on your Christmas list!):

Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day - (of course!)

Round Food-Storage Container with Lid - (Any 5-quart lidded container will do, but these are our favorites)

Danish Dough Whisk - (Less resistant than a spoon, and way cooler looking)

Pizza Peel (Wood, Aluminum and even a sideless cookie sheet will get the job done)

Bench Scraper - (great tool if your dough is sticking to the peel and for cleaning hot pizza stones)

Pizza Stone – for a really crisp crust (see our post on all the different types we’ve tried)

Pizza Wheel (Kitchen Shears also work well)

Oven Thermometer (ovens are rarely properly calibrated, so it is crucial to have one of these to know the true temp.)

World Wide #PizzaPartyin5 Posts:

(video by White On Rice Couple)

Hawaiin Pizza – The Tamale Girl

Potato Rosemary – Crazy World of Cher

Lamb Flatbread – The Agony Column

Square pie – TJ’s Test Kitchen

Caramelized Onion Tarts – Cate’s World Kitchen

Tomato and Sausage Pizza – The Lipstick Cafe

Gluten-Free Pizza – Cook What You’ve Got

Veggie and BBQ Pizzas – Killer Bunnies, Inc

A Buffet of Pizzas from a Wood Oven! – The Feast Within

Gluten-Free Veggie Pizza – Non-Reactive Pan

Spelt, Feta and Honey Pizza – Muffin Egg

Spelt, Feta and Honey Pizza – A Dancer in the Kitchen

Mini Pizzas – Threaded Basil

Pizza Party – Lovehandles Chocolate

Pear, Prosciutto and Blue Cheese - Eat Little, Eat Big

(photo by Stephen Gross)

Where:  On Twitter and here on our website.

When:  November 15, 2011

Twitter Hosts:  @ArtisanBreadin5 and @ZoeBakes

Please come– bake pizza from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day and tweet about it on November 15, 2011 (and through the weekend).  Use the hashtag #PizzaPartyIn5 so we can re-tweet your pizzas.  Looking for pizza party ideas?  See our party video on YouTube?  Bloggers, please include a link to your pizza posts and we’ll let the world know where to find you.

Zoe and I aren’t gluten-free, but some of our friends are, so our Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Revolution Continues with Whole Grains, Fruits, and Vegetablessecond and third books have a nice sampling of gluten-free doughs.  The pizza above?  A gluten-free Pear, Prosciutto, and Blue Cheese Pizza that we featured in the article we just wrote for Easy Eats Magazine (click here for a free sample download of the article). Easy Eats Magazine (EasyEats.com) is brand-new, and it’s specifically for gluten-free folks– there’s no wheat in this magazine.  Our article isn’t just about pizza– there’s bread, breadsticks, pannetone muffins, and challah.  We’re thrilled to be part of the inaugural issue!

(photo Mark Luinenburg)  Growing up in New York in the 1960s and 70s, there were two options when you walked into a pizza place:  “regular” (thin-crust) baked right on the hearth, or “Sicilian” (thick-crusted), baked in a pan.  I’m fairly certain I didn’t know where Sicily actually was, and my parents were partial to “regular,” so that’s what we got.  Eventually I started going by myself and tried the chewier, thicker stuff.  It’s a hit with kids, and for many of our readers, a pan-built pizza is an easier trick than the traditional free-form pizza slid off a peel (see Zoe’s post on that). 

But first, we have a winner… of the pizza baking giveaway package from October 25.  The winner, picked randomly from among nearly 800 entrants is:  Dave W, who favors a soppressata, peppadew, and onion creation.  Dave, just answer my e-mail and we’ll ship out the package, which includes Red Star Yeast, King Arthur Flour, an Emile Henry Pizza Stone, and a Signed Copy of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day!

OK, here’s how to make the perfect Sicilian crust. 

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F (250 degrees C), about 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake— this assumes you leave a baking stone in your oven as I do (they take a long time to heat up).  But the pan we’re going to use makes the stone optional– you don’t absolutely need it with pan-pizza.  If you don’t use it, a shorter pre-heat is fine.  If you do use it, drop the pan right onto the hot stone.

Weigh two pounds (910 grams) of dough, or estimate (a small cantaloupe or a very large grapefruit).  Digital scales are very nice for the task.

Start the stretching process by dimpling with your fingers and spreading the dough out, being mindful of the need to eventually create a rectangle, not a circle.

It’s OK to use a rolling pin (I love the no-handle French milled style).  We joke in the book that it’s against the law in Italy to use a rolling pin… at least for Pizza Napoletana (Neapolitan-style thin-crust).  But maybe we’d be OK here since this ISN’T Neapolitan thin-crust?

Eventually, you need a 13 by 18-inch rectangle that’s about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick:

Generously grease an 13 by 18-inch heavy gauge rimmed baking sheet with olive oil (the Chicago-metallic plain un-coated aluminum is my favorite).  Thinner pans burn the bottom crust, and non-rimmed pans will leave you with an oily mess in your oven.

Drop the rectangle into the pan and take a little time to press it all the way to the edges and to the corners.  It’ll tend to spring back on the oiled surface but just be patient, walk away for 5 minutes and it’ll relax.

Sauce it up– it’s a big pizza, so we call for 3/4 cup of the tomato topping of your choice (see the book for options).

I tend to use my fingers for this part of the job…

Ready for the cheese and toppings– in the book, we built a traditional Sicilian Sfinciuni onion pizza like in the picture at the top of this web post, with 6 ounces of mozzarella, 3 ounces of grated pecorino Romano cheese, 2 large sweet onions thinly sliced (you can decrease to taste), and a couple of tablespoons more of olive oil for drizzling.

It bakes up in about 20 to 25 minutes.  You may need to turn the pan around while it’s baking.  When the crust and the cheese are browned, cool slightly, cut into squares and serve.

Another terrific variation is a thick-crusted Roman Eggplant Pizza; skip the onions and Pecorino and cover with grilled eggplant slices (photo Mark Luinenburg):

Is anyone ready for grilled eggplant from the backyard yet?  Winter’s just started here in Minnesota and running my oven’s the way I keep warm

Today our new book is finally available and we couldn’t be happier to welcome Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day into our happy family. We are so excited for you to get baking from it, so we’re posting one of our favorite doughs from the book. I have to admit it took us a while to decide which one to share, since our favorite seems to change with our moods. This Olive Oil Dough is fantastic for a thin crust, a thick crust and so many of our worldly flatbreads. No matter the technique you decide to try, you’ll love the results.

We like to make the classic Pizza Margherita, it’s the ultimate in Italian toppings. In fact, the colors resemble the Italian flag and the pizza was named for the Italian queen, Margherita, because she fell in love with it. Nothing but tomato, mozzarella, fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil. So pure and so tasty.

 To celebrate the book’s arrival we are doing an Amazing Giveaway with some of our favorite pizza making products. We have teamed up with Red Star Yeast, King Arthur Flour and Emile Henry to create the perfect Pizza Package. A lucky winner, chosen at random, will win everything you need to make great pizza; Yeast, Flour, a Emile Henry Pizza Stone and a Signed Copy of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day! See the bottom of this post for details on how to enter.*

We want to invite you to visit us while we are on book tour. To find dates and cities please visit our Events page. Hope to meet you!

Olive Oil Dough from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day:

3 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon Yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt

2 tablespoons sugar

7 1/2 cups (scoop and sweep) unbleached all-purpose flour

Toppings:

1/3 cup tomato (Sauce recipe p. 109 or drain diced tomato straight from the can)

3 ounces Fresh Mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

Fresh Basil

Olive oil for drizzling over the top before baking

Pinch of salt

Flour, cornmeal or parchment for the pizza peel

To make the dough: Use our dump and stir method of mixing the dough in a 5-quart Container with Lid, using a Danish Dough Whisk or wooden spoon. Then cover the container, not airtight and let it rest for about 2 hours on the counter. The dough can then be used right away, but it is much easier to handle once it has been thoroughly chilled. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks!

To make the pizza:

Preheat your oven to the highest setting, which will be 500 to 550°F, with a pizza stone in the bottom 1/3 of the oven. Depending on the thickness of your stone this can take between 20 and 40 minutes.

Pull out an 8-ounce piece of dough from your bucket and quickly form it into a ball, no more than 30 seconds of work. Let it sit on the counter while you gather your toppings.

Roll the ball out into a 1/8-inch-thick round. If the ball is resisting just let it sit for about 5 minutes and it will relax and allow you to work with it.

Sprinkle a Pizza Peel with flour. Spread the tomato over the dough.

Place the chunks of cheese over the sauce and drizzle with the olive oil.

Check for doneness in about 8 to 10 minutes, turn the pizza around if it seems to be browning on one side more than the other. It may take up to 5 more minutes.

Let the pizza cool slightly, so the cheese can set a little before cutting with a Pizza Cutter. This is best done on a cooling rack if you want to keep a crisp bottom crust.

*To enter the giveaway to win Red Star Yeast, King Arthur Flour, an Emile Henry Pizza Stone and a signed copy of Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, leave us a note below about your favorite pizza. Next week we will pick a random winner of the gift package. Due to large shipping costs the contest is only open to those in the continental USA. Thanks!

Click here to watch our video and join our #PizzaPartyin5!