Barefoot conTerra

1 | MeganP

September 29th, 2009 at 613 am

Hey Terra! I got here from your facebook status today and have enjoyed looking around. A lot of your recipes are easy for me to adapt to over here, or I don’t have to adapt them at all, so I’m looking forward to trying some of them.

As for Pizza crust, it’s something I’ve worked hard on the last couple of years, because pizza is expensive here, and not always available depending on where we live. Here’s the recipe I always use, and we LOVE it:

Pizza Hut Hand Tossed Pizza Crust
3/4 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
1-1/4 tsp. yeast (Solar brand works great, but keep it in the freezer between uses)
1 Tbs. sugar
2-1/4 cups bread flour (I always just use Maida)
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/2 Tbs. olive oil

Preparation for the Crust:

First prepare the dough for the crust. You might want to prepare the crust one day prior to baking the pizza. To get the best dough, you need to allow it to rise in the refrigerator overnight. This procedure will produce a great commercial-style crust.

Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl or measuring cup, and stir until the yeast and sugar have dissolved. Let the mixture set for approximately 5 minutes. Foam should begin building up on the surface. If it doesn’t, either the water was too hot or the yeast was dead. Throw it out, and start again.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and the salt. Make a depression in the center of the flour, and pour in the yeast mixture. Add the olive oil. Use a fork to stir the liquid in the center of the flour. Slowly draw in more flour, a little at a time, until you have to use your hands to completely combine all the ingredients into a ball.

Dust a clean, flat surface with flour, and with the heel of your hands, knead the dough on this surface until it seems to have a smooth, consistent texture. This should take approximately 10 minutes.

Rub a light coating of oil on the dough, then put it into a tightly covered container and in a warm place to rise for 2 hours or until it has doubled in size. When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down, put it back into the covered container and into the refrigerator overnight. If you don’t have time for that, you can use the crust at this point. Without the long rest, however, it won’t have the same texture as the original.

Ingredients for the Sauce:

One box tomato puree
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1 bay leaf (called Tej Patta here)
dash onion powder
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Preparation for the Sauce:

You can prepare the pizza sauce ahead of time as well, storing it in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pizza. Simply combine the tomato sauce with the spices and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat the sauce until it starts to bubble, then turn the heat down and simmer, covered, for 30 to 60 minutes until it reaches the thickness you like. When the sauce has cooled, store it in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container.

When ready to assemble, spread the dough out in the rectangle pan that came with your oven. You can grease the pan with butter, and if desired, throw a handful of sooji (which is semolina in the states) on the pan, which will make it taste a little bit like Uno Chicago Pizzeria pizza. Fork the dough after it’s spread out a few times to prevent air bubbles. Spread sauce on top. Spread one ball of shredded Amul PIzza cheese on top. Top the pizza with whatever toppings you want!

Bake at 225 for 15-20 minutes, till crust is golden and cheese is bubbling.

(If you want a thicker crust, make the recipe using 1.5 times the ingredients, or double the recipe, and freeze half, wrapping it in plastic wrap and sealing in a Zip Pouch to use next time for a really quick and easy dinner!)
Recipe taken from Top Secret Recipes by Todd Wilbur

2 | Terra

September 29th, 2009 at 631 am

Thank you so much Megan!!! We will definitely give this a try!

We have a minor problem when it comes to foods – my youngest can’t have wheat :-/ I just discovered a whole foods store near here and they had a great selection of GF foods. I talked with the lady and she told me which foods tasted great (b/c we’ve had GF stuff that tasted disgusting, lol) and so far, everything she recommended has been amazing! Pizza crust is up on the menu this week! Once I can get my feet wet with these, I’m hoping to be able to make stuff from scratch, but it’s pretty overwhelming at the moment!