Fallen Souffle

Nothing goes better with pizza than beer. In fact this is usually our Friday night menu. Whether it’s going out or making it ourselves, Evan and I love our pizza. So when I found this recipe on MarthaStewart.com (of all places!) I knew we had to try it. I whipped this up on a Friday afternoon, it took just an hour or so to rise and was easy to put together in the Kitchen Aid. I did forget to add the salt, which I quickly detected…oops! But we still inhaled it and didn’t miss a beat. I would suggest using a good quality beer because you can tatse it in the crust.

I topped my pie with pesto, fresh tomatoes, olives and mozzerella while Evan stuck to his traditional red sauce, cheese and pepperoni. We baked them on baking sheets with a little cornmeal underneath the crust. Bake these in a 400 degree oven until brown and bubbly, about 15 minutes or so depending on the crust thickness.

Beer Drinker’s Pizza Dough

MAKES ENOUGH FOR FOUR 12-INCH PIZZAS

1 cup warm beer (110° to 120°, I microwaved my beer for one minute)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt
1 1/2 ounces fresh yeast (I used one package of dry yeast)
2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk to combine beer, 2 tablespoons olive oil, sugar, salt, and yeast. Fit bowl on electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix until incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add flour, and mix until dough is fairly stiff, about 10 minutes.

2. On a lightly floured work surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Brush the inside of a large bowl with remaining tablespoon olive oil; transfer dough to bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

3. Punch down dough, and transfer to a clean surface. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, divide dough into quarters; keep covered with plastic wrap.

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Evan and I love pizza. You could almost say it’s what brought us together in Italy when we met…well not quite, but we did eat alot of pizza while we were there and I think it’s safe to say we have had it every week since then. We have a couple of our favorite pizza places, Big Apple in Greenville where you can get a huge, thin NY style slice for 99cents on Tuesdays , Brooklyn Sal’s in Raleigh which also has great NY style pizza, and our new favorite “gourmet” pizza place Lilly’s also in Raleigh which combines unusual toppings such as feta, zucchini, kalamata olives, and roasted tomatoes. Yum!

Every once and a while we do like to make our own at home. I don’t know if it’s due to laziness, our need for creative expression or just being cheap but we usually make pizza about once a month. I love making the dough, it is so easy and you really can’t mess it up, though a store bough pizza shell or dough works well too.

Evan and I make very different pizzas. His consists of the typical “manly” toppings of mozzarella, parmesan, pepperoni, sauce and some red pepper flakes. I must admit he makes a fine pie.

I on the other hand like to mix it up and add anything from the fridge. This week I started with a layer of olive oil, added chopped garlic, fresh basil leaves, prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes, parmesan, mozzarella and red pepper flakes. The prosciutto added a wonderful saltiness while the sundried tomatoes added some sweetness and just a hint of red pepper flakes added just a bit of heat. It was perfect, who says you need sauce to make a good pie!?

Here is a simple pizza dough you can whip up. This dough recipe makes 4-10 inch pizzas, I usually freeze half in a plastic bag sprayed with Pam, just pop it in the fridge for about 2 days to defrost before you use it. I also like to let it get to room temperature before I use it, just makes it easier to work with.

Pizza Dough
about 5 cups of flour (I like to use a combination of wheat flour and all purpose or bread flour)
1 tablespoon of honey or sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoon of yeast (if you are using the little packets, just throw the whole package in there)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cups of warm water

1. I like to add the yeast to about 1 cup of warm water. I never measure the water temperature, just run the tap and when you can’t hold your finger under anymore, that’s a good temp. Stir the yeast and water than add the sugar or honey to “feed” it. Let sit for about 5 minutes. I usually do this to ensure I have active yeast

2. Start with about 2 cups of flour. I usually start with 1 cup of wheat and 1 cup of bread flour. Add salt, olive oil and one more cup of warm water. When yeast has started to get foamy dump that in and stir. Add the flour a cup at a time until is starts to come away from the bowl.

3. Dump dough onto a floured surface and knead in flour until the dough is smooth. I usually don’t use all 5 cups, this is why I add about a cup at a time. Depending on the type of flour you use will determine the amount of flour you will use in total. For example, I find I use less flour when I start with wheat flour.

4. Spray a large bowl with Pam and plop the round of dough in the bottom and roll around the bowl to coat the dough in oil. Cover in a dish towel rinses with warm water and allow to rise for about 2 hours, or until doubles in size. You can also stick the dough in an oiled plastic bag and stick it in the fridge overnight to rise.

5. I like to use the back of a cookie sheet as my “pizza pan”, divide dough into 4 pieces and spread out onto a greased pan. Add toppings and bake in 426 degree over for about 20 minutes, depending on thickness of dough. Just keep an eye out and look for your cheese to start bubbling and for the crust to start to turn a golden brown.

6. Let cool for a bit to let the cheese set, or just be like Evan and dig in, drippy cheese and all.

Mangia! Mangia!

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