It's that time of year when there seems to be plenty of zucchini in the garden. While I don't have a big garden, for us it's just the right size for something fresh each evening. Right now that something fresh is zucchini!
Picked at the right time, these will be perfect for tonights dinner!
It's surprising to me as I look back at my posts that I don't have more entries on pizza, because we've been having it a couple of times a week for a while now. A thin crusted pizza with a few healthy ingredients or simply olive oil with a touch of sea salt, makes a perfect dinner or appetizer.
I started with fresh basil and garlic
After placing this in the bowl for the immersion blender, I added olive oil and goat cheese.
I could have left this a little chunky but I choose to blend until I created a smooth paste.
I placed this in the fridge for later in the evening and went about my day; an hour and forty-five minute walk, sipping champagne with a dear friend and swimming! It is because of this you will have to imagine chopping the zucchini thin, rolling out the pizza dough, speading it with the goat cheese, basil and garlic, then layering in the round on a perfectly rolled out pizza crust.
There are times when the pizza doesn't quite come off the pizza wheel as I would like it to, and of course this was one of those times when it messed up our perfect arrangement of zucchini. This was not due to too much champagne! But I still think it looks pretty darn good!
and it tasted devine!
I started making bread last fall out of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. It wasn't until I tried the Olive Oil Dough that I started making pizza with it. Since then I've felt a bit guilty for not sharing this fabulous pizza crust recipe, especially since it's the easiest part of making any great pizza. So I decided I had better share. Recipe follows!
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I'll be linking up to:
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
2 3/4 Cups Luke warm water
1 1\2 Tablespoons Yeast
1 1/2 Tablespoons Salt
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Place these ingredients in a 5 quart lidded (not airtight) food container and mix.
Next add 6 1/2 cups flour without kneading, use a spoon or you can mix this in a mixer with dough hook. I simply mix this with a spoon, cover it and place in the fridge to use at a later date.
This recipe will last 12 day and make about 4 pizza crust.
When you are ready to use take out the desired amount and place on a floured surface. I let this sit and come to room temp. while the oven and pizza stone are warming to 450 degrees. Then I roll it our thin on floured surface, place on pizza wheel (covered with semolina flour) and roll it our a bit more. I make sure not to handle the dough to much. Then place ingredients on crust and place in the oven until crust turns a light golden tan. I don't like my crust over done and this usually takes 12 - 14 minutes although I usually just stand there with a glass of wine waiting and checking it often.
I've found every recipe in this book to be easy and delicious. While my directions are vague, they go into much more detail which might be helpful.
Happy Pizza Making!
