A Daring Baker’s Pizza

This month, our Daring Baker challenge was to make Pizza.  Who doesn’t like pizza??   Rosa’s Yummy Yums hosted, and had a few special instructions.  She left the toppings to our imagination, but we had to use both sauce and toppings.  And she challenged people to toss their dough and take photos.  Being that mine is gluten-free, there was no tossing.  Kind of sad, because I would have found that amusing.

We really like smoked salmon on pizza, but I wanted something a little different.  I made a “sauce” by combining cream cheese, minced red onion, lemon peel, and horseradish.  (She never said it couldn’t be a cheese sauce.)  Then I topped the pizza with smoked salmon and capers.

I made a second pizza that was a bit more “traditional.”  I made a tomato sauce using fresh herbs from my garden.  Topped that with grated mozzarella, followed by Italian sausage, sauteed onions, and mushrooms.

I really liked the flavor of the crust, but found it to be a bit too dense.  It just didn’t rise as much as my standard crust recipe that I use.  But I asked a few others who made it, and I think I needed to have added a lot more liquid to it to make it more batter-like.  It’s definitely something I will try making again.  I’ve only included the gluten-free recipe below.  Check out other daring-bakers for the regular recipe, plus photos of their exceptional dough-tossing skills!

~ BASIC PIZZA DOUGH ~
Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients: 
4 ½ cups GF Flour Blend plus 1 Tbsp xanthan gum
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Instant yeast
1/4 Cup Olive oil
1 3/4 Cups Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tbsp sugar or agave syrup
cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2.  Add the oil, sugar or agave syrup and cold water, then mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.

3. Flour a work surface or counter.  Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them.  Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespoons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8.  On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the number of desired dough balls from the refrigerator.  Place on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a gluten free flour. Delicately press the dough into disks about ½ inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil. Lightly cover the dough round with a sheet of parchment paper and allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven.  Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10.  Press the dough into the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough).

11.  Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

12.  Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.
If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.