We had some friends over for wine and cheese last night, and there were requests for a couple of my recipes, so here they are….

Pizza Dough
3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon yeast
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve the yeast in the water, and let sit for a few minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well (I use a KitchenAide with a dough hook, but you can do by hand). You can let it rise for 30 minutes or so, but I’ve also used it immediately with good results. Be sure to measure the flour and water well, as it makes a huge difference.

Italian Peasant Bread
2.5 cups warm water
2 packages yeast (roughly 4.5 teaspoons)
6.5 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Unlike the pizza dough recipe, the measurements here can be less precise (in fact, the recipe calls for you to measure out the flour by weight instead of using measurement cups — if you’ve got a good kitchen scale, let me know, and I’ll send you the weights). Put roughly 4 cups of the flour and the salt solution in the yeast/water mixture and mix (I use a mixing paddle on the KitchenAide). Mix til the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Add the remainder of the flour (and use a dough hook if you’re using a mixer) and knead well. Add more flour and/or water as necessary. Cover the bowl with a towel, and let it rise for 2 hours, then punch down the dough, and let it rise for another 2 hours (you can also just let it rise all day, and push down the dough every so often).

When you’re getting ready to bake it, preheat the oven to 450 degrees (btw, it’s absolutely necessary that you have a pizza stone/baking tiles in the oven). Cut the dough in half, and make round loaves (or batards, for you cooking geeks). Don’t worry too much about the shape. Lightly flour a dish towel, and put the batards on the towel. Dust the tops with flour, and cover with another dish towel. Let rise for another hour. After that hour, put a bit of cornmeal on your pizza peel (paddle), take off the top towel, and flip (yes, flip) the batards on the peel (downside is now up). Slide the batards off the peel and onto your cooking stone. Now comes the fun part. Get some water, and sprinkle a few teaspoons of water on the bottom of the oven — this will create some steam, which leads to a nice crispy crust.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown, and the batards sound hollow when you tap the bottoms.

Posted on 3 October 2003