Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake

When I first envisioned this cake, I pictured the red blood orange juice mixing with the yellow eggs creating a cake with a golden orange crumb. Then when I cut open my blood orange, I was shocked to see it had a dark purple, nearly black flesh! It was a little scary looking! (After some Wiki research, I think I may have had a Moro blood orange.) Anyway, I soldiered on. I poured out my olive oil and realized that it was green. Now red + yellow = orange, but purple + green + yellow = ... ehh... not to be overly dramatic or anything but the grayish green-brown batter looked pretty darn vile. Looks aren't everything right? At least it still smelled nice with the addition of the orange zest and smelled even better after it came out of the oven. The cracked brown exterior was really lovely and even though the interior wasn't the color I was hoping for, it was really delicious. Who knew olive oil would be so good in a cake! The olive oil made the cake so moist, tender, and heart healthy too! :) I'm sure it would look much better if you use an olive oil that was more on the yellow side and a blood orange that's more red than purple.

Blood Orange Olive Oil Cake
Adapted from Pure Desserts by Alice Medrich

2 C all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
3/4 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp orange zest
3 eggs
1/2 C fruity olive oil
2/3 C orange juice (blood orange, cara cara navel, or you can even substitute ruby red grapefruit juice)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper or butter and flour the pan.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl rub the sugar together with the orange zest to release the fragrant oils.

In a blender add the eggs and orange sugar. Blend until it is light yellow and thick, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil as if you were making a mayonnaise. Then blend in the orange juice. Pour this liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and gently fold the batter together until no streaks of flour remain.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 deg F until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a metal rack for 10 minutes then remove from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

An Update and Strawberry Shortcakes

I can't believe it's been over 3 weeks since my last post. Eek! An update is long overdue and I want to apologize for my sudden disappearance. A combination of things led to my blogging hiatus like looking for an apartment, finally learning how to drive, my still-somewhat-brand-new camera being on the fritz (so sad... sooo very sad) just to name a few. I still have lots of things to take care but I'm back to blogging and I'll be returning emails, responding to comments, and visiting my other food blogging buds again. I'm sooo sorry if I haven't replied to your email, my inbox is a mess! So if you have an unanswered question, please send me another email. I also want to thank everyone who wished me a happy bday (now I'm finally old enough to buy alcohol for cooking!) and for leaving me so many nice comments during my absence. Y'all are so nice. :)

Okay now onto the food! Isn't that what everyone is here for?

I postponed my June Daring Bakers challenge and when I finally completed it, my camera had some issues and I wasn't able to take any pics, which was too bad. But man oh man was it tasty! At first the idea of making a laminated dough scared the crap out of me. I love yeast but working with a "butter block" is way intimidating. That's like the stuff for professional bakers ya know? "Oh god what if the butter spurts out, what if I don't get any flaky layers?!?! Nooooo..." This is when I make a face that looks like that Edvard Munch painting. But I had nothing to worry about because the dough was really easy to work with. Though, it's not something you can rush, so I watched a movie while making it and just paused every 20 minutes or so to take the dough out of the fridge and give it another turn. (Speaking of movies, everyone needs to go see Batman and Wall-E ASAP!) I filled one braid with strawberry jam and cream cheese and another with shredded coconut and cream cheese and made a little Danish roll with leftover dough scraps filled with Nutella. I have to say this was my favorite Daring Bakers Challenge so far. If you have any fears about making a laminated dough, you have to try this recipe, from Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking. Thanks for picking such an awesome challenge Kellypea! I'll go into more detail about making this dough another time because I have no doubts I'll be making this again and croissants too!

And now for a recipe too. :)

Every summer I eagerly await the opening of a neighborhood berry stand that have the OMG most amazing strawberries ever... EVER! Washington state's strawberry season was delayed this year due to the chilly weather back in June. People were afraid the berries would start molding on the plant! All that uncertainty, the crappy weather, June was just a sad and gloomy month. I waited, and waited, and waited for my beloved stand to show any signs of opening. Then, one day I saw it! "Strawberries, Coming Soon!" on the window. Summer was finally here! When the stand finally opened, you could smell it a mile away, okay, maybe not a mile, more like 20 feet. There's no resisting the combined fragrance of dozens and dozens of flats filled with 100% ripe organic strawberries. At first the berries look so unassuming, so tiny compared to the monstrous 5-headed strawberries you see in the supermarket (you know the ones I'm talking about, the ones that look like multiple berries somehow got fused together). Just one of these small, ruby red strawberries packs more flavor than a whole carton of totally forgettable supermarket strawberries. I'm guilty of eating a pound or more of berries in one sitting. Mmm... sunshine and ruby red fingers, isn't that what summer is all about!

Oh and if anyone is interested in the berry stand, it's on 35th and NE 80th in the parking lot just north of the post office. I think the stand is selling raspberries now or maybe they've moved onto marionberries and blueberries. They usually sell strawberries in late June to early July then raspberries, then marionberries and blueberries, and finally finish up the summer with blackberries in late August. Come Christmas time, the berry stand becomes a tree farm. Cute huh? :)

Strawberry season may be over but save this recipe for next year.

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberries
Sugar
Sweetened Whipping Cream
Shortcakes (recipe see below)

Wash and hull the strawberries and cut them in half or in slices. Depending on the sweetness of the berries add a few spoonfuls of sugar. Let them sit and macerate at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.

Split the shortcake in half and top with a generous scoop of berries and sweetened whipping cream.

Shortcake/Cream Scone
Adapted from Joy of Baking

2 C flour
1/4 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter, cold and cut into 8 pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 C cream (both heavy whipping and regular whipping cream will work)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, two forks, or pulse it a few times in the food processor.

In a separate bowl mix the egg, vanilla, and cream together. Pour this mixture, into the dry ingredients and gently fold the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.

Turn the dough until a lightly floured work surface and roll the dough out until it is about 3/4 inch thick. Using a 2 1/2 or 3 inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds. You will get about 8 to 10.

Optional: sprinkle some sugar on top of the dough.

Bake at 400 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Serve these at room temperature or slightly warm for shortcakes.

Linzer Torte

After weeks of backyard blackberry picking last summer, I ended up with 2 gallon-sized bags of berries in the freezer to tide me over until next August. I made muffins and jam, which I then used in cakes and cheesecakes. To make berry jam, you can either add pectin to help it thicken, a plant derived gelling agent, cook it with pectin rich fruits like apples, or cook the berries for a very, very long time until it's thick enough to set on its own. The third way is how I make my jams, pectinless freezer jams. I am too paranoid about botulism to can foods, so I opt to store them in the freezer. And I don't have or know (and a little lazy to learn) how to use pectin.

The benefit of pectinless jams is that it is cooked down so much that it is pure berry concentrate, one tiny spoonful is the flavor equivalent of a mouthful of berries so a little will go a very long way. But because it cooks down so much, the downside, though, is that a big pot of berries will yield only 1 or 2 cups of jam, and with seedy berries like raspberries or blackberries, the seed density becomes highly concentrated as well. Sure, seeds are rustic, but when they're so condensed like that, it's not too enjoyable. Some recipes give you the impression that you can simply push the berries through a strainer as if with a few smooshes with a spatula, you'll end up with perfect seedless puree in a bowl and the unwanted seeds left behind in the strainer. If you've ever tried this, you'll know that it's not the case.

blackberries + strainer = no go

I couldn't help but laugh when Jen wrote about the same thing. See? We food bloggers tell it how it is. What really happens is after about 10 minutes of pushing, smearing, and smooshing you end up with about a quarter cup of blackberry juice in the bowl in which you hoped would collect a bounty of seedless berry puree - half cup if you're lucky. And instead you get juice on yourself, the counters, and maybe even a few splotches here and there on the walls, and a strainer still full of mashed up blackberries. This is exactly why I dropped fifty bucks on a shiny new food mill. Gone are the days of stained wooden spoons and bent sieves. It still takes some elbow grease to crank the food mill but it's a helluvalot better than using a strainer. Plus, it's another sparkly toy to add to the kitchen.

I finally used up the last of my blackberry stash and made one last batch of seedless blackberry jam. The jam is sweet, without being cloying, with just the right amount of tart to make your lips pucker a bit and tastes like summer and sunshine. With the last of my 2007 blackberry jam, I made a Linzer Torte, a beautiful lattice topped tart named for the city of Linz, Austria. The buttery, crumbly crust is made from ground nuts (I used a combination of almonds and hazelnuts) and flavored with lemon zest and a hint of spices. It is traditionally filled with a currant or raspberry jam so blackberry jam isn't too much of a departure.

Or you can make linzer cookies.

Linzer Torte

1/2 C hazelnuts
1 C almonds (how to blanch almonds)
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 C or 4 oz.) unsalted butter
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp grated lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1/2 tsp almond extract)
1 C jam (any jam would work)
Powdered sugar for dusting

Toasting the hazelnuts:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the hazelnuts in an even layer on a baking sheet and bake until they're brown and fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes. Pour the hazelnuts onto a clean kitchen towel and cover them up in the towel and let them steam for a minute or two. Rub the hazelnuts together in the towel to get their skins off. Remove the hazelnuts and shake the towel out outside or carefully in the trash so the skins don't fly everywhere. Cool the nuts completely before using.

Pulse the hazelnuts, almonds, and sugar sugar in a food processor until they are finely ground. The sugar will keep the nuts from sticking together from the oils. If they are starting to stick together add a few tablespoons of the flour and continue to pulse.

Add the ground nuts to a large bowl with the flour, cinnamon, cloves, and salt, and whisk to combine.

Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Add the egg, lemon zest, and vanilla extract and continue to beat until fluffy. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients and continue to mix until the dough has formed.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Gather the dough then divide it into two equal pieces. Wrap each piece in a piece of plastic wrap, flatten in a round disc, and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or in the freezer for 20 - 30 minutes, or until the dough is chilled and firm but not too hard.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and adjust the oven rack to the lower middle position.

After the dough has chilled, remove one piece and roll it out into a circle large enough to fit into a 9inch tart pan. Press the crust into the tart pan. Trim the outer edge of the dough by cutting off the top 1/2 inch of the sides of the dough, otherwise the sides of the tart will be too tall. Spread the jam evenly in the crust.

The lattice top for this linzer torte is laid at an angle, not woven. Roll out the second piece of dough into a circle that's slightly larger than the diameter of the tart pan. Trim the edges of the piece of dough until it is a 9 inch circle. Cut the dough into 3/4 inch strips. Lay one set of dough strips across the tart in parallel lines. Then lay the second layer of strips at an angle on top of the first layer.

Bake at 375 deg F for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Let the tart cool to room temperature and can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days. Some sources say the tart is best on the day it's made while others say it is best after sitting for a day. Dust with powdered sugar or top with whipped cream before serving.

Cheesecake Pops

(clockwise from the top: Oreo, Butterscotch Coconut, Dark Chocolate with White Chocolate Powder, Graham Cracker, Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans)

They say food tastes better on a stick. It’s hard to improve on something as delicious as cheesecake but put it on a stick and sure enough, I daresay it might be tastier than the not-on-a-stick original. Not only are these cheesecake pops as creamy and decadent as a slice of cheesecake, but they get bonus points for being so gosh darn cute! They're so addictive it’s easy to lose count how many you’ve already devoured and if you make many different flavors, watch out because you may find yourself sampling each one!

Our lovely co-hosts for this month Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell chose this recipe from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor so that each Daring Baker could put their own personal touch on the cheesecake pops. I really loved this challenge because the pops were fun to decorate, absolutely adorable, and sinfully delicious - you can't ask for more! Be sure to check out all the creative ways other DBs decorated their pops by visiting Daring Baker Blogroll.

Dark Chocolate Pistachio Cheesecake Pop

Notes:
- Shaping the pops and decorating is quite messy. It's probably better to wear a pair of gloves so you don't get cheesecake all over your hands. I eventually got cheesecake all over everything, the counter, ice cream scoop handle, trays, the faucet, the cupboard (how the hell did that happen? I don’t really know). Then during decorating, I got crumbs all over the kitchen floor. But I still think the end result was worth it.


- I also found that the pops were too soft when stored in the fridge, so I kept them in the freezer. It might be because I pulled the cheesecake out too quickly from the oven but I didn't want to overbake it. They're delicious straight out of the freezer, like cheesecake ice cream, and they don't get too hard, still soft enough to bite through even after a few days in the freezer. Or you can let them warm up a bit before eating.

Cheesecake Pops
from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor

Makes 30 – 40 Pops (*I made half the recipe)

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 C sugar
1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks (I used bamboo skewers snapped in half)

1 lb chocolate, finely chopped
2 Tbsp vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Possible decorations:
Chopped nuts
Colored sugar
Sprinkles
Crushed peppermints
Mini chocolate chips
Chopped chocolate covered espresso beans
Cocoa nibs
Toasted coconut
Crushed graham crackers
Crushed Oreos

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Bring some water to a boil.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. Add the eggs, egg yolk, vanilla, and cream and beat until smooth.

Grease a 10 inch cake pan (or some ramekins if you made half the recipe). Pour the batter into the prepare pan(s). Place the pans into a larger roasting pan and pour water into the roasting pan until it comes up halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top. The recipe said 35 – 45 minutes but for a full recipe I’m guessing it will take closer to an hour since my half recipe baked in 30 – 40ish minutes.
Cool the cheesecake to room temperature then cover the cheesecake and refrigerate until it is very cold, 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is very cold and firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2 ounce balls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. I wore a pair of gloves and used a 1 tablespoon ice cream scoop since I have no idea how big a 2 ounce ball. Be warned, this step is pretty messy. Insert a stick into each ball and freeze until they are very hard, 1 – 2 hours.

First prepare all your desired toppings. When the cheesecake pops are frozen, prepare the chocolate before taking them out. First use only half the chocolate and shortening. Melt the chocolate and shortening in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until completely smooth. Do not overheat the chocolate; turn the heat down so that the pot of water is barely simmering.

Work with only a few pops at a time and keep the rest in the freezer. Quickly dip each pop into the melted chocolate and swirl to coat it completely, then immediately roll it in a desired decoration. The frozen pops will harden the chocolate very quickly so you’ll need to work fast. Set the finished pop on a clean parchment paper lined sheet. The recipe said to refrigerate until ready to serve but I think the pops store better in the freezer. Let them warm up a little bit before serving but they taste great straight out of the freezer too. For longer term storage, keep them in an airtight container in the freezer.

Cream Scones

One of the biggest events of the year here in Western Washington is the Puyallup Fair (Pew-allup not Pooyallup). For many, going to the fair is an annual tradition, but I've lived in Seattle for almost 10 years and have never gone. Steven says he can't remember ever going either and isn't particularly interested in it. I guess it's just not our thing, not to mention we have to drive nearly an hour, assuming there's no traffic, to get there. But last year I was really tempted to go, not because I felt like I was missing out on the quintessential fair experience, but for the scones. I had read an article in the Seattle Times about the Fair's most popular and famous food item, the Puyallup Fair scones. People will wait in line for almost an hour, maybe longer, for these buttered and jam smeared scones, and many buy a dozen or dozens to stock up on. So naturally, I wondered what the big fuss was all about. But Steven and I weren't gonna drive all the way down there, pay admission, and wait in line just for a scone.

In the end, we never did make it to the fair last year. Plus, Steven was skeptical, how can a scone be that good? Aren’t scones bone dry, tasteless, and usually served with tea because you need something to wash it down? Then the other day I found a half pint of heavy cream that had hit the sell by date. Don’t worry it wasn’t opened and it didn’t smell funky so I couldn't just let it go to waste. I thought why not try making some cream scones. So what’s the difference between a biscuit and a scone aside from shape (round vs. wedge) and country of origin (American vs. Scottish)? Well, to be honest, I don't really know. The lines are kinda fuzzy but for the most part a biscuit is eaten with savory foods like gravy or fried chicken (or both... mmm mm!) whereas scones are sweeter and paired with tea. Meh, technicalities don't matter, as long as it tastes good!

Oh man did the scones smell good when they were baking! When you think about it, how can something with heavy cream and butter not be delicious? After they came out of the oven, I couldn’t resist and immediately broke off a corner to taste test, you know, for quality control. They were so rich and tender and were hands down, absolutely the best scones I've ever had. After waiting anxiously for the scones to be cool enough to handle, I split one in half and smeared it with butter and homemade blackberry jam. Yummmm... Steven and I are now scone converts. Are these scones better than the ones from the fair? I can't say for sure since I've never had the ones at the fair. I'm gonna say yes because after reading the article more closely, the scones are made from a mix with water! Not heavy cream! On the other hand, the Fair Scones do come with the whole package, the mooing cows in the background or whatnot. But it's good to know I don't have to wait all year then drive an hour to get a good scone when I can make it in my kitchen.

Cream Scones

2 C all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2 in cubes
2 Tbsp honey
1 C heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 400 deg F and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, two forks, or your hands, rub the butter in the flour until it's pebbly (or you can use a food processor and pulse the butter in the flour a few times).

Whisk the honey with the cream and pour this into the dry ingredients. Fold the cream into the flour, at first it will be sticky, and bring the dough together with your hands without overworking it.

Lightly flour a work surface and turn the dough out. Form the dough into a round disc then roll it out until it is about 7 inches in diameter. Cut the dough into 8 pieces (first in half, then quarters, then each quarter in half into eighths). Transfer each wedge onto a baking sheet and bake for about 18 - 22 minutes, or until their tops are golden.

Let them cool for 10 minutes and spread with butter and jam. For an extra special treat, mix some honey into softened butter before smearing on your scone, just like the honey butter at the Fair.

Store in an airtight container and they're great the next day warmed in the microwave or toaster oven.

No Knead Pizza Dough

I used to hate pizza crust as a kid. I would dread getting to that barren outer ring of crust where there was no more sauce, cheese, or pepperoni to hide the dry and tasteless breadstick. As I got older, I realized the world of pizza extends beyond school cafeterias and nationwide pizza chains. I discovered specialty pizzas, where the crust is the best part! My attempts to make pizza at home never got very far until I got a baking stone about a year and a half ago. The baking stone transformed a flabby, limp crust into a crisp one. But the most important element of great pizza is the dough, and it is also the trickiest part. My idea of the perfect pizza crust is one that's crisp on the outside and has a good chew on the inside. The crust should be thin except around the edge where there should be big, bulbous air pockets. Oh how I love those giant air bubbles. I've made some pretty good doughs but I still wasn't satisfied. Then I had a stroke of genius. Why not use no knead bread for pizza dough. The high water content in the dough will create that really crisp crust and the long rise time means plenty of gluten development for the chewy interior and lots of good air bubbles, just what I was looking for. I started experimenting with this idea a few months ago. But as it turns out I wasn't the only one with this idea (a whole book about no knead breads? Now that's genius). What can I say, great minds think alike. ;) My recipe is based on Jim Lahey's original No Knead Bread recipe. This is by far the best pizza dough ever (and omigosh it requires no kneading!). It's taken time and practice, but I have to say, I make a darn good pizza.


mmm... look at that bubbly crumb

This is the original No Knead Bread Recipe:
3 C flour
1 1/2 C water
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt

For no knead bread, I use unbleached all purpose flour and that gets the job done. But for pizza dough, I want a really chewy finished product so I use bread flour, which has more gluten. Usually when I make No Knead Bread, I use a combination of 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 cup of white whole wheat flour (I like King Arthur Mills). Whole wheat flour is more flavorful to begin with (it's healthier too!) and the extra long rise and fermentation really brings out even more flavor. I wanted my pizza dough to benefit from the flavor boost of WW flour so I kept this ratio for the dough: 2 cups of bread flour (again I like King Arthur Mills) and 1 cup of white whole wheat flour.

I kept the water content the same, preserving the 2:1 flour to water ratio.

And I also kept the yeast amount the same.

The salt content of the original recipe fits my tastes perfectly. Because I would be adding sauce and toppings, I scaled it down a bit to 1 teaspoon. This also makes it easier to halve or double the recipe.

Now for some pizza dough additions:
I'm not sure if anyone else experiences this but it seems like No Knead Bread goes stale really quickly. After half a day the crumb, once moist and delicious, gets a little crumbly and funky (though a little toasting in the oven reverses the staling). I like to add olive oil to my pizza doughs, which adds a great flavor but also improves the texture and the additional fat protects against staling. I like to add 1 tablespoon for every cup of flour, which is a little more than most recipes, so in goes 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Next I also like to add honey, which helps boosts the flavor of the dough and works especially well with the whole wheat flour. 1 teaspoon for every cup of flour, 1 tablespoon total but you can go up to 2 tablespoons.

So here's my final recipe:

No Knead Pizza Dough
adapted from Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread
makes 2 medium sized pizzas

2 C bread flour
1 C whole wheat flour, preferably white
1 1/2 C water, warm about 100 degrees F
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt (if you use kosher salt you will have to use more)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 - 2 Tbsp honey

Dissolve the honey in the warm water. The water should feel tepid and slightly warm to the touch but not hot; hot water will kill the yeast. Whisk together the flour, yeast, and salt to evenly distribute. Add the warm water and olive oil and stir until the dough is well mixed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature (optimal temp about 70 degrees) for 18 hours.


I made 1.5x the recipe and it looked like it was going to take over my kitchen.

No knead bread rises anywhere from 12 to 18 hours for the first rise, and then 1 - 2 for the second rise. For this pizza dough, I like to go for the full 18 hours to get maximum flavor and gluten development, then I let it rise for 2 - 3 hours for the second rise. Typically when I want to make pizzas for dinner, I start the dough the previous day at around 10pm. Then it let it rise all night and during the day when I'm at work. I get home at around 4pm when I shape it, then let it rise again until 7pm and then pizzas are done by 7:30, just in time for dinner. (If this time frame doesn't work for you, see my note about retarding the dough)

After 18 hours, flour your work surface, hands, and a bench scraper. Cut the dough in half. Handle the dough gently because if you're too rough, you will push all the hard earned air bubbles out of the dough. Gather all of the edges of the dough together, almost like a little pouch, and seal the seams. You will have a ball of dough. Brush any excess flour off your work surface to the side. You don't want too much flour on your surface for this step. Flip the ball of dough over so the seam is on the bottom. Flour your hands and lightly flour the sides of the dough. Then cup your hands, and shuffle the ball of dough back and forth between your hands in a circular motion. The bottom of the dough will grab onto the work surface and the circular motion will help the exterior of the dough pull taut and form a smooth surface. If there is too much flour on your work surface the dough will not be able to grab onto the work surface. Repeat this process with the second portion of dough. After you have formed the ball of dough, use a bench scraper to lift it off the work surface since it will be stuck, and transfer it to a floured area to rest. Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rise again for 2 - 3 hours.



Take this time to make your pizza sauce and prep your toppings.

Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, set the pizza stone on the rack, and preheat the oven to 500 degrees F or as high as your oven will go and preheat for 30 minutes before baking. Do not add a pizza stone to a hot oven or it will crack. Place the stone in the cool oven before you turn it on and then let it heat up with the oven.

If you don't have a pizza peel, like me, you can use a cookie sheet with no lip. I place a square piece of parchment directly on the cookie sheet and form the pizza on the parchment. This way I don't have to deal with scattering cornmeal on the cookie sheet which always makes a big a mess and ends up all over my kitchen floor.

When it's time to stretch your dough, oil your hands front and back. The oil will prevent the dough from sticking to your hands and it will also get rubbed onto the exterior of the dough creating a nice crispy crust. Take one ball of dough and gently flatten it. Form two fists and drape the dough over your fists. Let gravity pull the dough down as you turn it over your fists. Once you get a rough circular dough, place it over your piece of parchment. Even out the dough with the heel of your palm, make sure to not thin it out too much otherwise the dough will tear. Top with sauce and toppings but don't overwhelm the dough with too much stuff or it will get soggy.

Take the cookie sheet or pizza peel and slide the pizza with the parchment paper onto the baking stone. Bake the pizza for 7 - 10 minutes or until the crust is a crisp and golden brown and the cheese is spotty brown. After 5 minutes the bottom of the pizza will be baked and you can slide the piece of pachment out from underneath. This way the crust will be in direct contact with the stone and will crisp up better.

After the pizza has finished baked, take your pizza peel or cookie sheet and slide it underneath the pizza or use a pair of tongs and gently grab the crust and pull the pizza onto the peel/sheet.

Cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.


*note:
Not everyone has the option of getting home at 4pm from work so if you want to make this on a weeknight, one possibility (I have not tried this yet however) is to refrigerate the dough after shaping but before the second rise. You will also need to start the first rise earlier around 5 - 6pm and let it rise until the next morning and then shape it for the second rise, cover well and refrigerate. The cooler temperatures will retard the dough and it will continue to rise at a much slower pace. You can shape it early in the morning, retard during the day, and take it out 30 minutes in advance to let it come to room temperature, cold dough will tear too easily.


Salami, kalamata olives, and artichoke hearts. nomnomnom!

Simple Tomato Sauce
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, packed in juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil, chiffonade or torn into smaller pieces (if you have it)

Drain the tomatoes and puree them in a food processor or food mill. Add the garlic and olive oil to a cold unheated saucepan and place over medium heat. Let the mixture slowly heat up together. When the garlic starts to smell fragrant, add the tomato puree. Cook until it has thickened. Season with salt and pepper. Off heat stir in the basil.


A final note: I love making my pizzas with fresh mozzarella. If you have access to a Trader Joe's, they sell 1 pound logs of fresh mozzarella for only $5.