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Quick & Easy Pizza Crust

This is not the thin, chewy-yet-crunchy pizza crust from Naples. This is a hearty, homemade pizza crust that is home-y, slightly bread-y, with just the right amount of crunch around the edges. It does not require any planning ahead, because the dough just needs to rest and rise for as little as 15 minutes before baking. Therefore, it is my go-to for those nights when I have some veggies that could easily become toppings, and I can’t be bothered to do much more than throw everything into the oven and have a hot and delicious meal come out.

The other day I made it with cherry tomatoes and asparagus, and dotted the top with garlic and herb Boursin cheese. Today, I’m making it with torn up pieces of prosiutto and asparagus, to take on a picnic with us later this evening – for the outdoor screening of The Artist! Life is hard, isn’t it?

  

Pizza Crust Recipe – makes a 10-12″ pie, or a 15″x10″ rectangular cookie sheet

  • 6g (1 tsp.) dry yeast
  • 120mL warm water
  • 10g (2 tsp.) honey – substitute with sugar if you don’t have honey
  • 135g all-purpose flour
  • 70g spelt flour
  • 15g good quality olive oil
  • 5g salt
  • 3-5g (1 tbsp.) dried herbes de provence or mixture of herbs

  1. Dissolve honey into the bowl of warm water, and sprinkle yeast in the bowl. Let sit for a few minutes until the water gets all foamy and yeast-y.
  2. In the mean time, weigh out the flours and salt, add in the dried herbs, and stir it together.
    Add the yeast mixture and the olive oil to the dry ingredients, and work into a dough. If it’s a bit wet and tacky, sprinkle in extra flour about 1 tbsp at a time. The dough should not be dry!
  3. Once everything comes together, knead the dough for a few minutes until smooth and velvety. Put back into the bowl and cover with plastic or a towel. Let the dough rest for anywhere between 15 – 60 minutes. (Really. There’s no science to this, apparently. I’ve been so hungry that I waited 15 minutes, and I’ve made the dough and left it to rise for hours while I went grocery shopping. Anything goes.)
  4. When you’re ready, take the dough out of the bowl, and knead a couple of times. Sprinkle your work surface lightly with flour, and roll out dough into the shape of your pan. You can roll out a rough shape and just stretch and press with your hands – the dough should be elastic and easy to shape.
  5. Sprinkle a bit of corn meal, flour, or wheat bran onto your baking sheet before putting the dough down. Make sure the dough is stretched to all corners.
  6. Let the dough rest again while you prep your toppings. I chopped up the asparagus stalks and cherry tomatoes roughly, tossed them with a bit of olive oil, and arranged them on the pizza in a single layer. I also sprinkled some grated parmesan underneath the veggies to prevent the cheese from browning too quickly.
  7. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 – 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the veggies are cooked. Let rest for a few minutes on the baking sheet before cutting and serving.

Enjoy your dinner!


{ 1 comment… add one }
  • Kasia Thursday 20 September 2012, 19:42

    Looks yummy!

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