Here’s something totally random, ’cause someone asked about it on Twitter: my variation on my mom’s very delicious pizza dough recipe. After many years of refining her original recipe (and after acquiring a food processor, which saves a ton of time) I can now crank out some pretty healthy dough in about 45 minutes.

Software:

• 1.5 to 2 cups All Purpose (AP) flour
• 1.5 to 2 cups whole wheat flour
• Teaspoon olive oil
• One packet Rapid Rise or Instant Yeast
• 1.5 cups water
• Additional spices for the crust (garlic powder or oregano are good choices)
• Cornmeal
• Olive oil spray

Hardware:

• Food processor with dough blade
• Microwave-safe cup
• Spatula
• Mixing bowl
• Clean dishtowel

Spray the interior of the mixing bowl with olive oil spray. Microwave the water for about a minute. It should be just above body temperature (slightly warm) when done. While microwaving the water, spray the interior of the food processor with olive oil and combine the AP flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, and spices. Start up the food processor and slowly add the oil, then the water.

The trick to adding the water is to add about 1/5 of it at a time and let the processor spin for about a minute or two, evenly coating as much of the flour, yeast, and spices as possible. You may need to tilt the food processor to force the flour to drop off the sides, or you”l need to stop the food processor and scrape the flour off with the spatula if it gets too bad.

As you start to run out of water (about 2/5 left), the dough will start to form into a large sticky ball. Very slowly add more water, about a teaspoon at a time, until the majority of the dough is stuck together and still relatively dry. You may not use all of the water.

Dust a flat surface with cornmeal. Stop the food processor, remove the dough, place ithe dough on the cornmeal, and knead the dough gently for about a minute. Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover the bowl with the dishtowel. Let the dough rise for at least a half hour before using.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 10:04 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.