Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Daring Baker's October Challenge: Pizza Dough!

This month's Challenge was “Pizza Napoletana” from Peter Reinhart's “The Bread Baker's Apprentice”. You had to film or photograph your tossing attempt and you needed to use both a “sauce” (or something otherwise spreadable) and “toppings”.

I would NEVER have made this without the DBers, much less video taped myself doing it! Please excuse my disaster of a kitchen and remember that the camera makes you look at least 10 20 pounds heavier than you actually are.



What a riot!

My variations were

Pizza 1: Apple with Caramelized Onion, Walnuts and Cheddar on a dough primed with Basil Flavored Olive Oil. (In hindsight, I should have sauteed/swished the onions in balsamic vinegar before putting them on the pizza. One bite without and I knew something was missing. I spritzed it on afterwards and it made it so much better.).

Pizza 2: Blue Cheese with Toasted Pine Nuts and Caramelized Onions on a spread of Mashed Roasted Garlic. Oh my. Sooooo good!

Cook’s Notes:
-I made the “regular” dough, aka: not the gluten-free one
-I used my stand mixer to combine the ingredients and knead the dough.
-I froze 4 of the 6 balls of dough for a later date
-I used an offset spatula to get the pizza off the cookie sheet and onto the pizza stone and then again to shimmy it off the stone and onto the cutting board
-I will use flour next time as the ballbearing / dough movement vehicle – no question. I forgot how I don’t really care for the gritty feeling of the cornmeal.

These pizzas were so wonderfully good - I can't wait to make good use of the stash of dough in my freezer and maybe get the kids into the act!

Thanks to Rosa from Rosa's Yummy Yums for selecting this month’s Daring Baker Challenge. You can find the complete recipe for the pizza dough on her site.

To see what all the other DBer’s did, you can find the blogroll here and if you’d like to join the monthly party, info about that can be found on that page as well.



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15 comments:

  1. I looks like you had alot of fun. And they look delicious. The apple one would be my choice--not a blue cheese fan. Love Ya,Sis

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  2. I am totally impressed that you videotaped your tossing. I only got a still picture of me stretching the dough. Your pizzas sound delicious!

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  3. I love the video and the pizza looks like it turned out to be tummy. Great job! Stop by my blog when you can as there is an award waiting for you.

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  4. Love your blog! You've inspired me to start flipping my pizza. It looks like great fun!
    If you have a breadmaker, here is a wonderful recipe. http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/pizza/dough/pizza-dough03.html

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  5. LOL...I just saw you got an award--and I came here to tell you I threw one your way too! Do your best red carpet walk, its award night!

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  6. You are too cool - I don't even own a video camera so I had to settle for just a few pictures.

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  7. Love the video! It's the first one I've seen. I think our 'tossing' went about the same. I found it easier to just let the dough kind of fall over my hands and it did the work for me. Nice choice of toppings. Well done.

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  8. GREAT pizza combo - and the video is nice...your kitchen in fine!

    -DTW
    www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com

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  9. Oh, the video is a classic! Whoa, that pizza dough is slippery, isn't it? But your tossing form is perfect! And your pizza combos sound SO wonderful -- you had me at "apples & carmelized onions.

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  10. LOL! Hey you did an awesome job there. Very natural and exciting.

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  11. Great pizzas! But I really love the ding dong cupcakes. That was a great song from a funny movie:)

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. Your blog is great!

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  12. Videotape - fancy!

    Nice work on the challenge.

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  13. Lisa, I love your pizzas! I'm definitely trying the first one soon, apples and cheddar together is to die for.

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