Tuesday, October 16, 2012

My New Favorite Thin Crust Pizza

Sometimes I make something so good that I'm glad that no one else is home with me to make me share with them.  This was one of those meals.  I really wanted pizza yesterday when I got home, so I threw together some ingredients and prayed that it wouldn't require 10 hours of dough rising.  It was so delicious that I ate the whole thing even though I was stuffed after I ate half of it.
The dough was thin, crispy, chewy, and this was one of the more bubbly pizzas that I have made to date.  Yummo!
Ingredients
  • 1.5 cups warm water
  • 2 tsp yeast
  • 3 cups of all purpose flour
  • 1 cup of bread flour (or all purpose if you don't have it, but I won't be making the switch anytime soon)
  • 2 tsp sea salt
Mix the water and yeast together, mix in the salt, then add in the flour.  Knead until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky to the touch.  Place in a bowl and cover with a pot lid or a damp towel.
Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat oven to its highest setting- mine tops out at 500.
After about half an hour roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface. 
Place the dough on a pizza peel that has a light coat of corn meal on it, with the pizza placed as far away from the handle as possible to make sliding it off easier.  Before I had a pizza peel I used one of those flexible thin cutting boards.
Top the pizza with your favorite toppings- I like to brush on a 1 inch thin coat of olive oil around the outer crust, spread out a thin layer of salt-free tomato sauce, top it with fresh mozzarella balls and sliced tomatoes, I also hold my sea salt grinder high above the pizza and crank it a few times.
Slide the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone and cook until the crust is golden and the cheese has melted.
Top with fresh basil and enjoy.

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