Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Pizza Bianca

I'm stealing this recipe from America's Test Kitchen. I saw it on their show a few weeks ago and finally got around to trying it today. OH MY GOODNESS, it is the best pizza dough recipe ever! It is a much wetter dough than the other recipe that I usually use and takes much more time, but it is worth it. The dough ends up crisp and chewy and oh so good!Ingredients:
3 c. flour
1-2/3 c. water
1-1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 tsp. yeast
1-1/4 tsp. sugar
5 T. olive oil

1-1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
sauce of your choice

Place towel or shelf liner beneath stand mixer to prevent wobbling. Mix flour, water, and table salt in bowl of stand mixer fitted with dough hook on low speed until no patches of dry flour remain, 3 to 4 minutes, occasionally scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Turn off mixer and let dough rest 20 minutes.

Sprinkle yeast and sugar over dough. Knead on low speed until fully combined, 1 to 2 minutes, occasionally scraping sides and bottom of bowl. Increase mixer speed to high and knead until dough is glossy, smooth, and pulls away from sides of bowl, 6 to 10 minutes. (Dough will only pull away from sides while mixer is on. When mixer is off, dough will fall back to sides.)

Using fingers, coat large bowl with 1 tablespoon oil, rubbing excess oil from fingers onto blade of rubber spatula. Using oiled spatula, transfer dough to bowl and pour 1 tablespoon oil over top. Flip dough over once so it is well coated with oil; cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature until nearly tripled in volume and large bubbles have formed, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

One hour before baking pizza, adjust oven rack to middle position, place pizza stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees.

Coat rimmed baking sheet with 2 tablespoons oil. Using rubber spatula, turn dough out onto baking sheet along with any oil in bowl. Using fingertips, press dough out toward edges of pan, taking care not to tear it. (Dough will not fit snugly into corners. If dough resists stretching, let it relax for 5 to 10 minutes before trying to stretch again.) Let dough rest in pan until slightly bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes. Using dinner fork, poke surface of dough 30 to 40 times and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake until spotty brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Remove pizza from oven, spread sauce evenly over surface, and sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Return pizza to oven and continue to bake until cheese begins to brown in spots, 5 to 10 minutes longer.
Serves 6
Points: 4

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