Pizza craft

Here's a few shots of my pizza craft. The basic recipe is from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, with the addition that I add 4 tablespoons of parmesan cheese to the dough, and I replace half the unbleached all-purpose flour with bread flour. And I just can't get the yeast to proof without adding sugar, no matter how hard Deborah has tried to convince that it is not necessary. So I use equal parts yeast and sugar.

Here's a basic Sunday night attempt. While the yeast proofs, measure out the whole wheat, bread, and unbleached flours. Combine the parmesan, olive oil, and salt in the mixer's bowl.

After about 10 minutes, the yeast should be foamy. This yeast in the picture below (at least, I hope it looks like below to you) is not quite as foamy as I would like, the water was a little on the cool side, and I think my yeast is starting to get old. But, it did proof, so it is good enough.

Combine the remaining water and the flours, and get the mixer going. It is done once the dough makes a nice ball on the mixer's dough hook. After taking it out of the mixing bowl, knead for a few cycles by hand. For a thin crust, the dough should be moist, but not sticky. The drier the dough, the more bready and high-rising it will be, in my experience.

Shape the dough into a ball, and put it into an oiled bowl to rise. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth, and let it rise in a warm spot for an hour.

The dough is done after it has doubled in size. Punch it down; if it stays dented, it's ready.

Shape the dough into two balls, and cover with a cloth to rest for about 20 minutes. While the dough is resting, get the toppings ready! Prep the veggies. If using hard veggies like broccoli or fennel, blanch or saute them now. Tonight's pizza is going to have onions, prosciutto, roasted red peppers (from a jar!) and Wegman's awesome tasty hot banana pepper rings. There will also be cheese and sauce. Our favorite sauce is Wegman's chunky pizza sauce. It's like $1.29 a jar, and one jar makes two pizzas. Preheat the oven. Deborah says the crispest crusts come from the hottest oven, so I go for 500 degrees.

Also, prep the baking pans if you do not have a pizza stone. I don't have a stone, but I like the flavor of the corn meal on the bottom. So I prefer to use corn meal, as opposed to semolina flour. I also like to bake two pizzas at once, which I couldn't do with a stone.

Roll the dough out to match the size pizza you want. I like to use a rolling pin, as opposed to stretching or flattening by hand. It's a texture thing.

After the dough is rolled out, let it rest for 10 minutes before topping it. I think this is a good step, and if I am short of time, this is not the step I skip, because I think this keeps the crust from being soggy. If I'm short of time I'll do the first rise for 40 minutes, and practically eliminate the second rise.

Once it's topped, it's ready to bake! In my convection oven, two pizzas will bake for 13 minutes at 500 degrees. Peppers are kind of juicy, so you definitely need to make sure it is baked long enough.

And that's it! Enjoy!