Upon, returning from the store, I realized I had purchased arugula instead of basil. What? Oh, but I can now make a little arugula salad with the left over tomato and cucumber from last week's trip to the farmer's market. Lucky break. Pizza and salad, not a bad meal. My friend Amy taught me that fresh arugula on a pizza is a delightful way to jazz it up. Thanks Amy. My mistake is now a whole new opportunity.
So, I was off to make my dough. My husband, Rob, was standing around looking hungry so I put him to work. I taught him how to make the dough. This way, when baby boy comes this December, Rob's got no excuse to order pizza when he can make it himself.
I've made pizza plenty of times and I'm always trying to perfect the dough. Sometimes making mistakes actually is the best way to learn. I realized the water I was using was too hot for the yeast. This time around Rob and I used warm water from the kettle. I had forgotten about it, being sidetracked by something so by the time I got the water out it was warm and not hot. We left the yeast, salt, sugar, and water to sit for awhile. Again, I kinda forgot about it. But when I came back to it 20 minutes later it was nice and foamy. I had never seen it like this. Fantastic, this is exactly what the yeast package says it's supposed to do! So in goes our 2 1/2 cups of flour.
Rob seemed a little hesitant mixing the dough. I had to tell him to get aggressive with it. Show that dough who's the boss.
We added some dried oregano, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, and garlic powder all to my liking. I don't think you need to get exact on this stuff. It's just a flavor enhancer. I taught him how to kneed the dough. I'm no expert in kneading but from what I've read online I think we did a good enough job.
Back in the bowl it went with some o.o and plastic wrap to sit for awhile in the fridge.
We took a little evening walk around the neighborhood. Fall is setting in nicely.
Boy, were we ready for dinner by the time we got back. The dough has risen!!!! Wow. This was the best yet. I was so excited. In fact this dough recipe actually made 2 pizzas and a very large calzone.
Once we rolled it out, I made one pizza with green olives, mozzarella, chopped fresh garlic, chicken, and mushrooms. Rob made a sort of flat bread with mozz and olives. And then we attempted to make a calzone. We followed my mother in law's directions for calzones. However, I used a dutch oven instead of a frying pan. It was a mess. Major fail on that one. It ended up looking like lasagna. But it was tasty. I'll have to revisit that one at a later date.
My first pizza, I cooked the dough at 500 for 10 minutes then dressed it. Rob cooked his all at the same time. Now, I was following advice from friends about cooking the dough first. I now see that was a mistake. Rob's flat bread came out great. My pizza was slightly burnt. But we like it like that.
So, It was a night of experimenting. You can make the same thing over and over again and yeah, it does feel like a chore or a job. Or you can take a recipe and tweak with it indefinitely. What's the fun in perfection anyway? We had fun and I still have loads of pizza and salad left over. Now, next time, I'll make an even better pizza. We were happy with the process and the end result. So, whatever you cook, do it with a sense of adventure and an open mind.
Until the next meal,
KIM
