So as you may remember, pizza is not exactly a new challenge for us, but even so I was excited that a new pizza dough would be the recipe for this month, hosted by Rosa at Rosa’s Yummy Yum Yums. I’m always interested to try different takes on pizza crusts, and while my mom has gone through several iterations, I’m still not sure she’s found the perfect recipe.

This dough, from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, was decidedly different from the other pizza crust I or my parents have made in the past, not so much in the ingredients or proportions, but in its method. Instead of letting the dough rise after mixing all the ingredients together, it’s formed into balls and refrigerated for 1-3 days, then rested at room temperature for “exactly” 2 hours before forming into crusts. The result was a dough that we found very difficult to work with — as soon as we tried to lift up one of the disks, it just kept stretching and stretching and stretching, so that it often tore, and was very hard to get even. I tried doing the traditional “tossing” method, but for the most part, the dough just stretched too thin for that as soon as I picked it up, so it was more a game of picking it up as quickly as possible and laying it on the pizza peel before it got any holes in it. (My parents came over for dinner the night we made this, so I put her to work shaping dough as she’s much more practiced at it than I am. I’ll try to see if she’ll let me take some instructional pictures at some point.)

Even though it was hard to work with, though, this dough had a really excellent flavor. I think it might’ve been from the tablespoon of sugar, but it just seemed like it had a little more flavor than our normal dough recipe, and it was a nice balance between crispy and chewy. So I’m not writing it off yet. Next time I think I might try letting it rise a bit before refrigerating it to develop the gluten a bit more. I also think it needed more flour — the dough seemed kind of shaggy even after sprinkling a fair amount on top, so that might help as well.

On the topping front, we tried a new potato pizza inspired by this one at Smitten Kitchen, but changed around a fair amount. We also made a couple of our familiar favorites — caramelized onions with blue cheese; feta, bacon, pesto, and pine nuts; and margarita — tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and basil. For more topping ideas try here or here.

Pizza Dough

4 1/2 c high gluten flour (I used Giusto’s high performance flour)
1 3/4 t salt
1 t instant yeast
1/4 c olive oil
1 3/4 c cold water
1 T sugar
cornmeal

Mix together the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Ad olive oil, water, and sugar. Knead 5-7 minutes, until smooth. (However, the dough should still be pretty sticky, as well as springy an elastic.)

Cut into 6 pieces, sprinkle with flour and roll into balls, and place on an oiled jelly roll pan. Lightly spray oil on the dough, and then cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.

Two hours before you plan to make the pizza, remove from the refrigerate. Gently press each ball into a disk about a 1/2 inch thick, flour and spray lightly with oil, and cover loosely for 2 hours.

When ready to make the pizza, first preheat the oven as hot as it will go, with a pizza stone on the middle rack. (For me, that was 550 F.) Sprinkle a pizza peel (or the back of a pan) with cornmeal. Form the disk into a thin circle, either by hand or using a rolling pin. I actually think it’s easier to do it by hand, but I don’t really try to toss it. Instead, I kind of lay the dough over my fists and kind of move it around in a circle while gently stretching it. Or, I turn the disk vertically, and kind of turn it round and round while holding the top edge, to let it stretch itself with its own weight. At least, that’s what I normally do, but this dough stretched so much that all I had to do was carefully lift it up and then set it back down on the peel.

Top the pizza, then slide it onto the pizza stone. Cook a few minutes, until the crust is lightly browned and the cheese is melted.

Potato Pizza

crème fraîche
2 small red potatoes, thinly sliced
2-3 T herbs, such as basil, rosemary, parsley, thyme, chives, etc.
2-3 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 pizza crust

Chop the herb and garlic together. Add salt and pepper to the herb/garlic mixture and make into a paste. Let sit for at least a half hour or so if possible to let the flavors meld.

Spread the crust with crème fraîche. Top with the potatoes in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the herbs and a bit of extra salt. (Remember how much salt potatoes need and don’t be too cautious!) Bake a few minutes in as hot an oven as possible, until lightly browned.

Well, once again I’m far behind … The September Daring Bakers Challenge was supposed to be posted a week and a half ago. I made it on time, but with going out of town for the Biochemistry Retreat last week, I wasn’t able to get it posted on time, but here it is now.

Thanks to Shellyfish for hosting this challenge — Lavash Crackers. This challenge was a lot of fun, and while I’ve enjoyed all the sweets lately, I was really ready for a challenge not topped with buttercream. I’d been wanting to make crackers for awhile, so of course this was the perfect excuse to try it out. We could make this recipe either gluten free or not, and since I didn’t want to buy xanthan gum, I decided to stick with the conventional version. I topped mine with an assortment of seeds and spices, including poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, rosemary, sea salt, cumin seeds, and fennel seeds. I made one batch with stripes of different flavors and one batch with everything mixed together, which I liked better. All of them would’ve worked better if I had pushed them into the dough a little bit, as everything tended to kind of fall off when you bit into the cracker. Overall, I really enjoyed the crackers though, and would definitely make them again. They turned out deliciously crispy and crunchy, and were a great dipping vehicle.

I did also try a sweet version covered with cinnamon sugar. I think these would’ve been good, too, except that they were thicker than the other batch, and so they came out chewy instead of crunchy.

As part of this challenge, we were also supposed to make either a vegan or gluten-free dip to go along. (This was the first “alternative” Daring Bakers challenge.) Unfortunately I forgot about that part when I decided to make a caramelized onion dip. I’m pretty sure it’s gluten free, but definitely not vegan since it contained sour cream. I guess this obeys the letter of the challenge, though probably not the spirit, since I made a gluten-free dip to go with non-gluten free crackers. I’ll try to read more carefully next time. At any rate, I’ll put the recipe for the dip up sometime in the next few days, because it turned out really well.

And don’t forget to check out the Daring Bakers’ Blogroll to see how everyone else fared. You may have to scroll back a few posts since I’m so late, but it’ll be worth it!

If you want the recipe for the crackers, check out Shellyfish’s post.

I made this gluten-free quick bread for a brunch several weeks ago, and now I’ve finally found the time to write it up. This is my first foray into gluten-free baking, and it turned out surprisingly well. It seemed like a good breakfast bread alternative for those who for one reason or another have to stay clear of gluten. I can (and do!) eat as much flour as I want, but I really enjoyed this bread, too. It’s healthier than most breakfast breads since most of the sweetener comes from the fruit, with just a little bit of honey. And the nuts, while adding wonderful flavor, also mean that it will stick with you better than the normal carbohydrate only quick bread. It’s a winner all around!

Gluten-Free Raspberry Tea Bread

adapted from Straight into Bed Cakefree and Dried

1 ripe banana
6 T butter
2 t almond butter (or other nut butter)
2 t honey
juice of half a lemon
1 t lemon zest
2 t cream of tartar
8 oz almond meal (or other nut meal)
3 eggs
1 t baking soda
small handful of raisins
a couple handfuls fresh raspberries

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and grease lightly. Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a mixer, combine banana, butter, almond butter, honey, cream of tartar, lemon zest and lemon juice until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 T almond meal and then one egg. Continue alternating almond meal and eggs until all eggs are beaten in. Stir in remaining almond meal, baking soda, and raisins.

Spoon a third of the batter into the loaf pan. Top with half the raspberries. Spoon another third of the batter on top, and top with the remaining raspberries. Spread the remaining batter on top.

Bake for about an hour, until golden brown on top, firm, and a toothpick comes out somewhat clean. Allow to cool for 10 or 15 minutes, then use the paper to remove from the pan. Let cool the rest of the way on a wire rack.