3 Pizzas and a Calzone

Sure is hard to top live blogging during the steak grill-out recently!  Wow, such a memorable and delicious meal. H’mm, this may erupt into a feverish food fight!  Well, pizza always offers limitless creative opportunities and the easy style fits into camp life at any time of the year.  Everyone gathers and wants to lend a hand layering the toppings and then just a quick 10 minute bake.  

Super crust is the key to great pizza, and this is the one to use  - bakes up extra thin and crisp. We started the dough early, and let it retard in the fridge until dinnertime, giving us the afternoon to do fun camp things. And when we returned, a slow rise in a warm spot was effortless on our part. The dough is billowy, soft, and stretches easily. The full recipe follows and is done almost entirely by your mixer.  End result – dough for 4 perfect artisan pizzas or calzones.

Basic Pizza Dough – can’t be beat!
From Wood-Fired Cooking, by Mary Karlin

Makes enough for 4 individual pizzas
 2 t. active dry yeast
4c. all-purpose four
2 t. kosher salt
1.5 c. water, or more as needed
Olive oil, for brushing

Mix with dough hook attachment flour, salt, and yeast, 2 minutes on low. Then gradually add 1.5 c. water; increase speed to medium and mix for 5 minutes.  Return to low for another 2 minutes to build gluten.  Add up to ½ c. more water, as needed, to make a dough that pulls away from the walls of the bowl and is slightly tacky to touch.

On floured surface, knead until smooth and then into a ball; put into oiled bowl, flip over so that the entire ball is lighted coated with oil.  Cover with cloth and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours. (For additional flavor, put flour into a sealed contained and let rise overnight or for a few hours in the refrigerator. Allow about an hour for the dough to come to room temperature before punching down and forming into a ball.)

Punch down dough in the bowl, and then turn onto a lightly floured surface. Cut into 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. Stretch skin and roll, gently tucking the dough under on the bottom (making the “breads belly button”).  Set each ball onto a well floured baking sheet and lightly brush the tops with oil. Two balls will fill a cookie sheet. Cover loosely with a towel or plastic wrap, and then let rise for at least another hour or until double in size. Handle lightly when stretching onto your pizza peel or board dusted with cornmeal.

Another option is to place each ball of dough into an oiled zip block bag and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month. Allow refrigerated dough to stand at room temp for 1 hour before using. Thaw frozen dough in the bag at room temp, until dough warms up and has risen to almost twice its size.

Some of our toppings tonight – Dinosaur BBQ Pizza – honey roasted, garlic sauce on grilled chicken, topped with extra sweet carmelized onions, crisp local bacon pieces, gorgonzola, mozzarella (and a sprinkling of parm, just for good measure on the cheese side).  This was the favorite of the chefs!

Meat lovers, or our version of the 3 little pigs pizza, prosciutto, italian sausage, bacon with sautéed shiitake and portobellos.  And the cheeses – just smoked gouda, grated parm, local smoked and reg. mozzarella. Outrageously over the top!!! And the final pizza,  smoked mozzarella, prosciutto, roasted red pepper, fresh tomato and tomato sauce. 

We snuck in a grilled Buffalo chicken calzone with local gorgonzola and mozzarella..spicy and delicious, so saucy! Just to mix is up a little…

Dessert – Claufoutis – with pear, blackberry and local rhubarb confit, and it wouldn’t quite be over the top without Giffords, the local ice cream.

Warm from the oven...sorry no pizza pictures!

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