We live in zone 6a and I have been gardening and cooking for years. This blog is an opportunity for me to share with you my success and those failures that come about on occasion. Plus, I want to hear from all the gardeners and bakers and cooks out there and learn from you. Feel free to share your ideas.







Monday, May 28, 2012

Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough




 Saturday I made Jim Lahey's No Knead Pizza Dough, which we will make pizza with tonight. It really was incredibly easy to make the dough, and  it doubled in about 18 hours. I have just enough basil from the garden  to use on the pizzas tonight, and my husband has made homemade sauce.Pictures to come later.

There is a great video at serious eats that can take you through it step by step.



Recipe


Makes 4 balls of dough, enough for 4 pizzas, active time 10 minutes, total time 8 to 18 hours
  • 500 grams (17 ½ ounces or about 3 ¾ cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping the dough
  • 1 gram (1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast
  • 16 grams (2 teaspoons) fine sea salt
  • 350 grams (1 ½ cups) water

Procedures


  1. In a medium bowl, thoroughly blend the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and, with a wooden spoon or your hands, mix thoroughly.

  2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow it to rise at room temperature (about 72°F) for 18 hours or until it has more than doubled. It will take longer in a chilly room and less time in a very warm one.

  3. Flour a work surface and scrape out the dough. Divide it into 4 equal parts and shape them: For each portion, start with the right side of the dough and pull it toward the center; then do the same with the left, then the top, then the bottom. (The order doesn’t actually matter; what you want is four folds.) Shape each portion into a round and turn seam side down. Mold the dough into a neat circular mound. The mounds should not be sticky; if they are, dust with more flour.

  4. If you don’t intend to use the dough right away, wrap the balls individually in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Return to room temperature by leaving them out on the counter, covered in a damp cloth, for 2 to 3 hours before needed.

    Here are further directions from Bon Appetit for baking the pizza. I used pizza pans and have not tried using my pizza stone yet. I did not preheat the oven for an hour, but preheated it for about 15 minutes


To Make the Pizzas

  • During the last hour of dough's resting, prepare oven: If using a pizza stone, arrange a rack in upper third of oven and place stone on rack; preheat oven to its hottest setting, 500°–550°, for 1 hour. If using a baking sheet, arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°. (You do not need to preheat the baking sheet.)
  • Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough generously with flour and place on a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a 10"–12" disk.

If Using Pizza Stone

  • When ready to bake, increase oven heat to broil. Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless (or inverted rimmed) baking sheet lightly with flour. Place dough disk on prepared peel and top with desired toppings.
  • Using small, quick back-and-forth movements, slide pizza from peel onto hot pizza stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway, until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, 5–7 minutes.
  • Using peel, transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat, allowing pizza stone to reheat under broiler for 5 minutes between pizzas.

If Using a Baking Sheet

  • Arrange dough disk on baking sheet; top with desired toppings. Bake pizza until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat with remaining pizzas.


4 comments:

  1. What a great pizza dough recipe. I like that it makes more than you need. Thanks!

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  2. This would be fun to do with with guests who were game for making their own pizza. You could prepare the dough and toppings in advance and invite them over for a pizza party.

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  3. OH MY GOSH! I keep telling 2nd Man to make some pizza dough and he has the idea it will be a bit complicated (and of course he makes complicated artisan breads all the time, so go figure, ha). Heck, I'm no baker and I think I could do it. Thank you for sharing it, I'm going to see if we can tackle it this coming weekend. I'll let you know how it goes,

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    1. 1st Man you can easily make this. Gardening is more difficult than this dough. You don't even have to have warm water for the yeast which can be the tricky part. You just mix all the ingredienta together and that is it. I cannot imagine how anything could go wrong with the dough. I know you can do this.

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