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Kaleea BS: Favourite homemade pizza recipe (53* d) RE: BS: Favourite homemade pizza recipe 11 Sep 06


Many many moons ago, as a GI wife, I lived in South Korea & there were no pizzarias. Back in those days, I had the time to cook almost entirely from scratch, which I still prefer to do. I experimented until I found a crust & sauce I liked. Since I had to use what was available in the military commisary or in the local market, I used the old fashioned basics.    Most folks tell me that this is the best crust they have ever tasted. I used to make it the day or evening before having folks over, or put the extra pizza pan with crust in it into a giant baggie & freeze for a day when I needed it.

This makes a couple of big pizza crusts:

1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 Tablespoon honey
2 2/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole-wheat or rye flour
1 tablespoon coarse salt or 2 teaspoons fine salt
1 or 2 tablespoons of corn meal
extra olive oil

Proof the yeast for 5 to 10 minutes in 1 cup of warm water, the honey & and the sugar, until the yeast dissolves and the liquid begins to appear creamy.
Add the remaining water and 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour, including the whole-wheat or rye flour. Beat this really well (a hundred strokes) until it's smooth and soupy, and then let it stand for 10 to 15 minutes, until it's bubbly and swollen. Add the salt and olive oil and proceed to stir in the rest of the flour by the cupful until the dough is stiff but still slightly sticky. Tip: Stir the dough in the same direction so that the gluten strands retain a smooth, consistent pattern.
Knead the dough for about 5 minutes on a floured board. Put a couple of teaspoons of olive oil inside each of a couple of 2 gallon ziplock baggies, zip, & smush around till the inside is completely coated with oil. Place the dough in baggie, don't squeeze out extra air. OR: Place in an oiled bowl with a fitted cover, or in a kitchen sized trash bag coated inside with the olive oil.
Let the dough rise in a warm (but not hot) spot, like on top of the fridge or in an old fashioned gas oven with the pilot lit but the oven not on. Let it rise for at about an hour. You can make the crust at this point, or put it in the fridge for a day, then punch it down & let it rise again in a warm spot.
Sprinkle the pan or board with a little cornmeal, then toss, roll out, or can even smush the dough out in the pan with your hands.

Top as you like. I used to get a Hunts tomato sauce that had some herbs already in it (they didn't have all the varieties of spaghetti sauces then), & add this & that to it for the pizza sauce.
Sometimes, I used to top with thin slices of ham, pineapple tidbits, & sections of oranges I got at the local market in Korea. Yummy!


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