Continuing My Education

As part of our monthly girls' night, my mom and I took another cooking class.  You'll remember in January we took one at The Kitchen Workshop in Paoli.  Even though we had a great experience, we thought we'd try another cooking class in our area.  This time we ended up taking 'Perfect Pizza at Home' at the the Sur La Table in King of Prussia mall.  For the relatively low price of $69, a participant gets 3 hours of hands on instruction and, best yet, the opportunity to eat as you cook!  Two of my favorite things combined.

David and I love pizza.  We frequently (perhaps too frequently) order from our favorite local pizza shop, Dimeo's.  Since I am on a quest to learn how to cook well and continue to write an interesting (I hope) food blog, I thought it was about time to learn how to make one of our beloved staples.  Surprisingly enough, homemade pizza isn't that hard to make and it is very delicious!  Warning: it just takes a long time.  I hope to create my own 'Oh my God' pizza moment sometime soon (paying homage to Jen's previous post)  Plus, a small investment in a good pizza stone will perfect any homemade pizza attempt.  While the toppings are endless, I thought I would pass along the crucial dough recipe for you to try at home with your family.  While it is not a quick undertaking, it's definitely something special to make once in awhile.

 

Neapolitan Pizza Dough
Yield: 4 (10 inch) pizzas or 8 individual (5 inch) pizzas

Ingredients

• 2 cups bread flour, plus more as needed for work surface
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
• 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl

 Directions

Place flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Mix on low speed for 30 seconds to combine.  With mixer running on low speed, add water and olive oil and mix for 1 minute to combine.  Increase speed to medium and process until dough form a slightly sticky ball, about 1 to 2 minutes.  If ball does not form, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue mixing until ball forms.  Coat a large mixing bowl with thin film of olive oil.  Transfer dough ball to prepared mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rest until doubled in volume, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Press dough gently to remove air bubbles and turn out on a lightly floured work surface.  Using a bench scraper, divide dough into 8 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a tight ball, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and allow dough to rest for 15 minutes.

Dust work surface with flour.  Flatten one dough ball to a thickness of 1/2 inch and roll to a diameter of about 5 inches, keeping the dough covered.  Transfer to a parchment paper lined rimmed baking sheet and cover with another piece of parchment.  Continue rolling dough balls and placing on the baking sheet, separating layers of rolled dough with additional sheets of parchment as needed.  Cover stack of dough rounds with plastic wrap and set aside.  

Roll out dough once pizza stone is preheated in a 350 degree oven for about 15 to 20 mins.  Load up your favorite toppings and cheese and baked until cheese is bubbly!