Thanks go to Lauren from Coffee Muffins blog who chose May’s Fresh From The Oven Challenge.
It’s a Pizza Napoletana recipe from Peter Reinhart’s ‘The Bread Baker’s Apprentice’.
You need to plan ahead a little for this one as you make the dough the day before you need it.
Now I am not usually sure what I am going to want from one moment to the next, let alone 2 day ahead.
I just ate a spoonful of unbaked granola mix and a chunk of roast pork that I found in the fridge for lunch.
It may surprise you that that wasn’t planned.
Here is the result which, although photographed badly, tasted really good.
All started well. I made the dough on Day 1, stirring together the wet dough mix. It’s an unusual recipe as you use ice cold water then put the dough in the fridge. This goes against my instincts of thinking that the yeast needs warmth to grow.
Things went a bit wrong on Day 2.
Already in a flap as I was running late, I had a ‘mare with my plastic bags of dough. It stuck inside completely, even though I had oiled them. Perhaps my dough was too wet but I had to scrape it out. Then I made a hash of trying to make a pizza shaped base.
There was some sort of panic due to holes in the dough and I think I did some dropping on the floor things and shouting a bit.
The moral of this story is don’t aim to finish a bread baking challenge then fit in a pre-tea dash to Ikea. I came back tired, hungry and in a bad mood and my head wasn’t in the right place for baking and photographing.
I shall recreate this recipe soon when I am better mentally adjusted.
Or have had a glass of wine.
Preferably both.
Now – If you have a minute please enter our Blog Birthday Giveaway!
Memoria
May 28, 2010
I absolutely love the Reinhart crust. I remember making this crust for a long time. Hmmm, I need to start making pizza again. Lovely photos as usual!
Andrew
May 28, 2010
Hi Claire,
For a very reliable pizza recipe with considerably less trauma, try: http://www.danlepard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1812&p=10375&hilit=+pizza#p10375
This is the recipe we use for ‘Wednesday night is pizza night’ at the loaf.
Andrew
thingswemake
May 29, 2010
Thanks for that. How did pizza night no1 go? We’ll head over for one soon.
Lauren
May 29, 2010
Your photos look great! Sorry you had issues with the recipe, I’ll admit it is a very soft dough and not the easiest thing to move around or not tear. But in saying that I did think it tasted pretty good 🙂
thingswemake
May 29, 2010
Hey Lauren. Don’t worry about me messing it up! Was my fault. It’s not good to cook in a bad mood. It did taste lovely so I will try it again. Thanks for hosting.
Naomi
May 29, 2010
I had fun with mine too! Your photos are fantastic!
Nick P
May 30, 2010
Pizza looks great Claire 🙂 What topping combinations did you try?
I found the dough was a little bit more wet than I was used to – so handled the dough with well floured hands.
Nick P
thingswemake
May 31, 2010
Thanks Nick, Ooh yes I forgot to say what topping I used. I make big batches of homemade tomato sauce and freeze them in ‘pizza sized’ batches, so we just had it with that, cheddar cheese and some pancetta that I fried off in a pan. We like it simple.
sarah
June 2, 2010
It looked pretty good in the end. 🙂 I just stuck my bread in a plastic container instead of faffing with bags. It worked fine.