 Pizza is always a beautiful dish which can be created accordingly to your taste and to what you have available in your refrigerator. The process of making pizza is always the same and is very easy. The secrets are good ingredients...and a good dough. Let's work on it.
Ingredients for the dough:
Compressed yeast (almost 2 cakes) or active dry yeast according to the producer
4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of hot water
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Ingredients for the topping (For each pizza):
1 big Herloom Tomatoes
6-8 Artichokes Hearts marinated in oil
Dried Oregano
Semi-Soft Mozzarella Cheese (quantities vary with personal taste)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
A Pinch of salt
Prepare the Dough
In 1/2 cup hot water dissolve the yeast and add 4 tbsp of flour. Mix all together until you reach a very smooth texture and set apart for 40 minutes covering the bowl with a cloth. After 20 minutes start to preheat the oven to 450°F - 475°F (according to the quality of your oven). Lay the remaining flour on a wood board (best) or on a cooking worktop. Make a hole in the middle, add the salt, the mixture of yeast, water and flour and start working with the hands the dough. While working the dough, sprinkle some flour on the worktop to avoid sticking and add hot water until you reach a smooth, elastic and firm texture. When the dough reached the optimal consistency cut 4 equal pieces and give them a ball shape. Sprinkle with flour. Grease a Pizza Cooking Pan with Extra Virgin Olive Oil or, even better, just use a Pizza Stone (In this last case lay the pizza on a baking sheet sprikled with Olive Oil). Spread the dough forming a round or a square (The round shape is the best one) and top the pizza with grated Mozzarella first, sliced Herloom tomato, artichokes, Oregano and some salt (if you like). Bake for 15-20 minutes. Before serving drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
The Pizza just baked
Wine Recommendation: Ideally Pizza is the same thing of a Pasta dish which in which we are using the same ingredients (with the only exeption of the cheese). Obviously also the way of being prepared and cooked is different, but still the taste is more or less the same. At this point the wine that we want to choose should pair well with the ingredients we are using. Moreover it should also be able to "cut" the greasyness of the cheese. Therefore, generally speaking, young fruity red wines seem to be a perfect pair for Pizza. By this period of the year Beaujolais Nouveau should be available in every Wine Retailer (including grocery stores). Give it a try. I've personally eaten this pizza with the 2002 Seven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon from Columbia Valley and I thought that worked pretty well. |
