Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Sourdough Spelt Pizza Dough

So long turkey, bring in the pizza!

This is a great recipe for really good, authentic pizza dough. It takes a little time to prepare but it’s really fun for the kids to dress it with personal toppings.
Some of our favorite toppings are: fresh tomato, wild mushrooms, spinach or kale, prosciutto or turkey sausage, anchovies, olives or capers, various peppers, sun dried tomatoes, pesto sauce, thinly sliced potatoes, and a vast array of cheeses; goat cheddar or chevre, fresh grated parmesan, feta, Monterey or mozza .

And you must remember to add unrefined salt your pizza to bring out its natural flavour, as well as a nice drizzle of cold-pressed olive oil over top. Mmm…

Mix and match the toppings on different pizzas. It’s a good idea to make 2 or more pizzas, and then have leftover for lunches.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the perfect pizza is a HOT oven. We preheat our oven 15 minutes ahead to 500 F, turning down the heat to 375 just before putting in the pizza.

So get your crust ready tonight to have pizza tomorrow.

INGREDIENTS:
¼ cup sourdough starter
3 cups spelt flour
3 TBS olive oil
1 TBS salt
2 cups water
1 cups sprouted spelt flour (or you can use regular, if you prefer)
2 tsp olive oil

METHOD:
1. Combine starter, 5 cups spelt flour, olive oil, salt and water in a large bowl.
2. Cover loosely with a towel or lid and allow to stand in a warm place for 5-10 hours (overnight is best).
3. Next add 1 cup of (sprouted) spelt flour and work it into the dough, enough so you can handle it without it being too sticky.
4. Form the dough into a ball, and rub 1 tsp of olive oil all over it.
5. Place it back in the bowl and let it stand 20 minutes.
6. Then knead the dough with your hands until it is smooth and elastic, then place it back in the bowl, and allow it to double in bulk – about 1 hour. At this point you can use it to make pizza.
7. We bake our pizzas on cookie sheets, lined with parchment paper. This makes the crust super crisp and delicious. Pizza stones also produce good results. *Cook until your desired consistency and cheese is well melted.

This recipe makes about 1 large cookie sheet rectangular pizzas. If you are not going to use it all store in a freezer until you want to use it. Then, take it out to defrost, and roll out, and put your favorite toppings on and cook.

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