Tuesday, December 22, 2009

"No-Vampire" Thin (Herbed) Crust Pizza



My first night home at my parents for Christmas break I made this for dinner for my mom and me.  We were both SO ravenous that we pretty much ate the entire pizza (save for 4 small pieces)... and use the full-size stove that the pizza is resting on for reference.  Because of the whole vampire craze that is going on right now, my mom and I thought it was funny that this pizza would be a perfect vampire repellant.  The dough has minced garlic (and other herbs) in it & we topped the pizza with garlic-y pesto, onions, garlic, spinach, blue cheese, and mozzarella.  I love how the strong flavors all complimented each other! And a note of the dough - it was a relatively short rising time (about 45 minutes) because I hot-boxed in the oven at 100 degrees until it was doubled in size.


For the Dough/Crust:
Ingredients: 


  • 1 packet of yeast (about 1 tbsp)
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Cup warm water
  • 3 Cups flour
  • 2 Tbsp Olive Oil, plus more to coat the pan and dough
  • 1 Tsp salt
  • 2-ish cloves of minced garlic
  • a few shakes of Italian seasoning, oregano, and rosemary


Directions:

  1. Mix yeast, sugar, and warm water. Stir gently until combined and no clumps remain. Let mixture sit for about 5-10 minutes. Add flour, oil, garlic, herbs, and salt, beating in with a spoon.  Using your hands, gently push the dough together until it forms into a ball. Kneed for 2-3 minutes. Brush a thin layer of olive oil over the dough and cover with Saran wrap. Let it sit and rise in an oven heated to 100 degrees for about an hour (it only took me 45 minutes), or until doubled in size.
  2. When your dough is ready to go, you can do one big pizza or two pizzas and roll until it is thin. Transfer the rolled dough onto a cookie sheet coated generously with olive oil. Brush a generous amount of olive oil on the top of the dough. Make sure that all parts of the dough is covered in olive oil- both top and bottom. (If it's not completely coated, you won't get an even golden and crispy crust). Poke the dough a few times with a fork (this prevents the dough from bubbling up while in the oven). Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
  3. For the toppings I used: pesto, mozzarella, blue cheese, garlic, onions, and spinach.
  4. Bake the topped pizza in the 425 degree oven for about 7-10 minutes, or until the cheese melts and becomes bubbly.

1 comment:

  1. Love the name of this pizza. :) I love thin crust pizza and all the ingredients on it look fantastic!

    ReplyDelete