Yesterday, I got home late in the afternoon–Jon and I were planning to go out for dinner since I’ve been cooking like a maniac all throughout the holiday weekend and beyond…. As soon as I got home I learned that Mango, my dog, had quite a hard day–Her birthday was the day before (her fourth) and, apparently, she was too much of a party girl!–To help her celebrate we (OK, I) gave her a HUGE beef knuckle (one of those gross dark-bony-crispy-smoked things that looks like it came from a dinosaur–a heavenly site to a dog).  Mango opened her jaws wider than ever before and, as she finally latched down on it and ran into the yard with a crazed look of glee–my intuition spoke–”we’re all going to pay for this.”   

Sheesh. I was right.       

Anyway, Mango ended up with a really bad case of the runs (which she had all day long, both IN and out of the house). Not a pretty picture. I tried to give her plain boiled rice but she wasn’t interested–Then I really got worried. Mango has NEVER refused food–ever. I called the Vet and was instructed: “don’t give her any food at all–wait to see what happens over night.”    

So, after spending A LOT of time with Mango in the back yard (over and over again) I knew I couldn’t leave her to go out to dinner. Jon was also somewhere “out there” at a golf tournament and called to say he was in the midst of a rain-delay–so I had no idea what (or when) dinner would be.   

I wanted something easy, cheesy (soothing) and flexible in terms of timing. I decided to make pizza. Since it was late, I thought I would go to the neighborhood pizza shop and pick up a dough–but, then it started to rain (I mean POUR–along with thunder and lightening–) So, I had to rethink things. It was now six o’clock.   

It’s certainly not that I was opposed to putting up my own pizza dough–It just never occured to me that I could, should, would make a yeast dough at 6 pm and end up with a great-tasting pizza crust–in such a short time. (Thus, the reason why I’m writing this blog…). My pizza was SO DELICIOUS!!   

It only took me 10 minutes, from start to finish, to make the dough. I divided it, and formed two taut rounds and placed each on it’s own shallow baking sheet that was first generously brushed with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled with freshly cracked black pepper. 

I covered one sheet with a kitchen towel (that one was to be for our dinner) and the other I covered with a towel and then plastic wrap (over the towel) and put it in the fridge (That one is for tomorrow’s dinner, when I’ll turn it into focaccia.  

I’ll bet you didn’t know you can do that!…   

Here’s what a Focaccia (made with pizza dough)  looks like before baking …   

Here (above) the chilled dough is allowed to rise on a bakers peel that’s heavily doused with a mixture of cornmeal and white flour (rubbed into the peel), then the dough was brushed with a fresh-herb-garlic-oil and allowed to rise until billowy (at least 2 hours for a well-chilled pizza dough). The oven gets preheated to 450F for at least 30 minutes (preferably longer) –I use the convection mode. 

(Note: This dough is on the sticky side–especially after having risen on the peel. If not experienced working with a baker’s peel, I suggest allowing the dough to rise on a square of parchment paper, first brushed or sprayed with extra-virgin olive oil and then sprinkled with cornmeal (and why not add some sesame seeds?!). Then, just slide the dough (with the parchment) onto the hot stone. By the way, when using parchment to bake artisan breads, use the unbleached kind–it’s darker color will encourage more heat retention by the dough–thus a darker color. Expect the paper to become charred.  Just discard it after baking.) 

Then, once risen, instead of poking the dough (to give a focaccia a traditional dimpled look) I just planted halved heirloom cherry tomatoes (cut sides up) into the dough. I gave the top a light application of Kosher salt and black pepper then slid the dough onto a hot pizza stone (with steam) for 18 to 20 minutes. Then, I opened the oven and carefully sprinkled the top with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and baked for another 3 to 5 minutes.   

Here’s the Focaccia after baking:   

Then, immediately upon leaving the oven, I brushed the top of the Focaccia with more of the herb-garlic-olive oil mixture (actually, I had added just a bit of lemon zest, which gave the finish a nice perky taste-but that’s optional and only one of a gazillion ways to flavor/season focaccia).   

Anyway, (so sorry to deviate).  Back to my impromptu pizza…   

I preheated the oven to 500F (I always keep a pizza stone in my oven) with a cast iron skillet on the rack underneath (this is how I create steam–just before shoving the raw, shaped pizza onto the hot stone, I place about 6 ice cubes with a tiny bit of water into the hot skillet–then shut the door, go get the peel with my pizza–open the door and slide the pizza into a steamy oven, on a very hot pizza stone).   

For my topping (on the pizza) I used some of the leftover marinara sauce from the night before.   

Anyway, with the pizza dough made and rising at room temperature, the sauce in a bowl, I went through the fridge to see what else I could use for my dinner. I found some sliced mushrooms, peeled garlic, marinated long-stemmed artichokes, roasted red and yellow peppers, cleaned lettuce, hot soprassata and (of course) a hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano–and some shredded cheese (muenster and mozzarella). Needless to say, I had more than enough to make a delish impromptu din-din: A big salad and a crisp, sizzling hot pizza.  

Here’s a completely hand-driven, homemade 15-inch pizza–made at the end of the day–using just what I had on hand.   

Baked at 500F for about 12 minutes or until it looks the way any great pizza should–golden, crispy and bubbling on top.   

The point: With all the talk lately of “no-knead” dough–with having to wait 18 hours before using it!–I thought I would remind you of how incredibly easy it is to make a yeast dough the old fashioned way–even spur of the moment!   

Oh–and the aromas from all my cooking made Mango feel MUCH better! She came to me with that oh-so-familiar look…   

"I'm SO hungry, Mama!..."

So, the food was great, Mango felt better and JON WON HIS GOLF TOURNAMENT!!! Life is good. To see me making a pizza dough (and learn a sane way to make pizza for a crowd), watch this video. And, to see the recipe for the dough, click here.

Tags: easy homemade pizza recipe, focaccia recipe, homemade pizza recipe, pizza dough recipe, pizza recipe, ways to use pizza dough

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1. Where are recipes given under “tags” given??? I clicked on them and Nada!

   Tags: easy homemade pizza recipe, focaccia recipe, homemade pizza recipe, pizza dough recipe, pizza recipe, ways to use pizza dough

   Comment by virginia — January 9, 2012 @ 5:34 pm

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