Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Pizza Time! Excellent!

As many of you will come to find out, I'm quite the fan of pizza. Seriously, when you think about it, what's not to like? Creativity and flavours shine when making your own pie - anything you want can go on it..brilliant!

As a result, one of my goals in life is to perfect the pizza crust. To me, the crust is as important as the quality of the ingredients on top. I've tried many different recipes and the one I'm playing around with the most lately, is one from the Panasonic bread maker that I inherited from my parents (they bought a new one). It's a very simple recipe that takes 45 minutes to knead together. (This makes two large pizzas).

I let the dough rest for about 10 minutes before having at it. It could be all in my head, but I think the rest makes it easier to shape. I then shape it and place it on my pizza pan. Now, I've tried the stones and I couldn't get a brown enough crust on them. I gave the pizza pan a go, and the holes in the bottom have helped me get a more brown bottom. I bought it from Crate and Barrel for about $15 I think. Best purchase ever!

Here are a couple of photos of the recent pie (olive oil and herb base, mozzarella (shredded and ball), goat cheese and tomatoes):
 

I have become rather consistent in replicating the dough and the results. I do pre-bake the dough before adding ingredients. This allows me to get a crispier crust by the time all the cheese melts and starts to brown. I pre-bake at 450* for 8 minutes and then add the toppings before baking for a further 10-12 minutes.

Everything turns out great, except that I find the crust to be a little chewy sometimes and not crispy enough. Although it looks crispy, there is a bit of a chew to it. I'm trying to figure out what to change, but I don't quite have an idea yet. Any thoughts out there??

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