Experimenting with pizza dough is not something I do often. Why? Because one has to be willing to run the risk of sacrificing a pizza in the event it doesn't work. Let's put it another way, one has to be of the mindset to experiment with a new dough or a variation on an existing one, and (chuckle if you want to but it's really not a laughing matter if you're wed to eating pizza), for a few short hours, one must throw caution to the wind and live dangerously. I did this today, and, I gotta say, I came through it victorious. So victorious, this is my new favorite pizza dough recipe.
It's worth mention, nine-out-of-every-ten-times, I mix and first-proof my pizza dough in my bread machine. The bread machine, in 55 minutes from beginning to end, does a superb job with pizza dough, and frees up my hands to prep ingredients for the toppings. Feel free to proof your yeast, mix, knead and proof your dough in the traditional manner, but, don't tell me it's better. It's simply a different method producing the same result.
Crispy on the outside soft & tender on the inside:
Light as a feather w/a to-the-tooth, New-York-style chew too!
3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons at-room-temperature beer
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons barley malt syrup
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina flour
1 packet granulated yeast
1 1/2-2 additional tablespoons olive oil, for preparing pizza pan
~Step 1. Place the beer, olive oil, barley malt syrup and sea salt in the the bread pan of the bread machine. Add the all-purpose flour and semolina flour. Using your index finger, make a well in the top of the flour and add the yeast to it. Note: When making any type of bread machine dough, always add the wet ingredients first and the dry ingredients last.
~Step 2. Insert the bread pan into the machine. Close lid and push the "select" button. Choose the "pizza dough" cycle. Push "start". When the machine signals the dough is done (it will have risen once too), remove pan of dough from the machine. In my machine this takes 55 minutes.
~ Step 3. Place 1 1/2-2 tablespoons of olive on on a 12"-round or 13" x 9"-rectangular pizza pan and use a paper towel to oil the inside surface of the pan. Use a few drops of olive oil to lightly oil your fingertips and use your fingertips to turn the ball of dough out onto the prepared pan. Allow the dough to rest on the pan about 15-20 minutes. Note: This 15-20 minute rest will make dough easy to pat onto pizza pan.
~Step 4. Using your fingertips and a light touch, pat and press dough evenly across bottos and evenly up sides of pan. I do this in 3 parts taking 10-15 minutes, allowing dough to rest 3-4 minutes each time before patting and pressing again. Top your pizza in your favorite way, and, while today's subject is not toppings, FYI, this pizza is topped w/6 slices provolone cheese, 3/4 cup pizza sauce, 2 cups shredded mozzarella and a sprinkling of dried oregano. Cover the topped pizza with a lint-free cotton (flour-sack-type) towel. Set aside to proof the pizza a second time: one, two or three hours -- one hour is good, two hours is better, three hours is best.
~ Step 5. Place pan of pizza on pizza stone on center rack of preheated 350° oven for 12-14 minutes. Using a spatula, lift a corner of the pie up and using your other hand (via a pot holder or mitt), tilt pan and slide pie off the pan onto the stone. Continue to bake for 2-3 more minutes. Crust will be lightly-brown and cheese will be molten. Using a pizza peel, transfer pizza to a wire rack to cool for 3-5 minutes.
Slice, grab a piece, eat, repeat, repeat again & again:
Beer in the Pizza Dough & a Semolina Pizza Crust: Recipe yields dough for 1, 12" round, or, 1, 13" x 9" rectangular pizza.
Special Equipment List: 1-cup measuring container; bread machine; paper towel; 1, 12"-round pizza pan, or, 1, "13" x 9" baking pan; paper towel; lint-free flour-sack-type towel; pizza stone; large metal spatula; pizza peel; large cooling rack
Cook's Note: Wouldn't it be great if the moment the smooth, round ball of pizza dough was kneaded we could slap it on the pan, pat it out, slather it with sauce, layer it with toppings and pop it in the oven? It sure would, but, unfortunately, we can't -- well, we can, but the end result is somewhat less than palatable. "Proofing" pizza dough, meaning, "the time it takes for the dough to rise after it has been kneaded and initially proofed", it's the most important step in the pizza making process. Sadly, it's all-too-often not taken seriously. Great crust comes to those who wait. ~ How and Why to Proof Pizza Dough Two Easy Ways ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2021)
#EasyPizzaDough #BeerAsAnIngredientInPizzaDough #BeerInPlaceOfWaterInPizzaDough #SemolinaPizzaDough #19)JustKid-Friendly&Family-StyleFood
