pizza...failure

In Japan, it is Golden Week. Most people are on the freeways and stuck in major traffic. Others have gone abroad to destinations like Bali, Hawaii and Guam.

Since Satoshi has to work in between of this Golden Week, plus the airfare, hotels and transportation fees have skyrockted during this time, oh and we also don't want to deal with the crowds, we are just hanging around our area.

Tonight's dinner....pizza!

I decided to try the pizza dough recipe in "The Silver Spoon". It was really easy to make and didn't take many ingredients.

I topped it with roasted veggies like onions, eggplants and tomatoes. And also salami and mozzarella. I heated up the salami to take out some of the oil.

Here's the recipe:
Impasto per la pizza (Ricetta Base) Serves 4
1.25 cups all purpose flour, preferably Italian type 00, plus extra for dusting
.75 teaspoon salt
.50 ounces fresh yeast
.50 cup lukewarm water
olive oil for brushing (optional)

Sift the flour and salt into a mound on a counter and make a well in the center.

Mash the yeast in the water with a fork until very smooth and pour into the well.

Incorporate the flour with your fingers to make a soft dough.

Knead well, pulling and stretching until it becomes smooth and elastic.

Shape into a ball, cut a cross in the top, place in the bowl and cover.

Let rise in a warm place for about 3 hours until almost doubled in size.

Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a round about .25 inch thick.

Brush a cookie sheet with oil or line it with baking parchment.

Put the dough round on it and press out until it covers the area.

Make sure the rim is thicker than the center.

Sprinkle with the topping ingredients, leaving a .75 inch margin around the edge.

NOTES: I couldn't find fresh yeast, so the book says to use half the amount of dried yeast and to follow the dissolving instructions for it. The dough was quite sticky, but keep using flour and it eventually came together nicely. It was still a bit sticky after the proofing, so I should have used some oil on top of the parchment. Plus, I didn't read the directions too well, it says to bake at 425F (225C) for about 20 minutes, the result was that it didn't brown and stuck to the parchment. Still, it tasted pretty good, although we had to use our teeth to scrap the crust off...

Gotta try this recipe again...have a great week!