I used to love pizza. When I was a kid I loved going to Pizza Hut, getting vegetable and cheese laden pizzas, and then later in high school ordering, with frequency, banana pepper pizza from Papa Johns. The last few years, though, not including my vegan lifestyle, I have grown to not really favor pizza that much. I’m not sure why, but I have a feeling it might have to do with my days in college where I’d get more gourmet versions of it: baby mozzarella, fresh garlic, tomatoes, and basil leaves.

Since being vegan, I have liked it even less because pizza usually equates a nice helping of melted cheese, and I’ll confess that cheeseless pizza can often (but not always) be disappointing.

This last month’s Daring Bakers challenge, however, reminded me that I need to try making it more often, experimenting with toppings, ingredients and flavors. The truth is – and I’ll contradict what I just said in the last paragraph (I’m so good at contradicting myself) – that the cheese that comes on a lot of average pizzas is low in flavor and mainly adds an interesting texture and unnecessary oil. I’m not knocking cheese entirely, but what really makes a good pizza is the other ingredients – the sauce, the toppings and last, but not least, the foundation of pizza – the crust.

Note that I’m pasting the recipe below as it was given to us on The Daring Bakers website – the pictures are mine, though.

Basic Pizza Dough
Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled – FOR GF: 4 ½ cups GF Flour Blend with xanthan gum or 1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup oat flour, 1 ½ cup arrowroot, potato or tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
• 1 3/4 Tsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Instant yeast – FOR GF use 2 tsp
• 1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
• 1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
• 1 Tb sugar – FOR GF use agave syrup
• Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

Method:
1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.

The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

Or

2. FOR GF: Add the oil, sugar or agave syrup and cold water, then mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour.

Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

Or

8. FOR GF: On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the number of desired dough balls from the refrigerator. Place on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a gluten free flour. Delicately press the dough into disks about ½ inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil. Lightly cover the dough round with a sheet of parchment paper and allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

Quick note from Samantha – good grief, this did not go as planned. What I wound up doing was rolling the dough out with a rolling pin which worked fine in the end.

Or

10. FOR GF: Press the dough into the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough).

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.
During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.
You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter – for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

Or

11. FOR GF: Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

Note from Samantha – I sauteed some mushrooms and onions, and topped as well with fresh basil and sliced black olives. The sauce was spaghetti sauce from a can.

Or

12. FOR GF: Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

Or

13. FOR GF: Follow the notes for this step.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.

If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

I think that this turned out well. The pizzas were fairly small (think individual size), but they still had a lot of taste. The crust was good, but I wouldn’t say it is the best I’ve had – but it’s a good basic standby. If I get into making pizzas more frequently, I’ll be sure to try other recipes.

I made a couple more pizzas yesterday from the leftover dough that I had in the freezer, and the dough still seemed fine even after three or four weeks. As an additional topping this time around I added fresh garlic, and it was really nice. I also made “cheese” which I promise I’ll share at some point soon.

Ah, summer. It seems that we’ve finally gotten there. With 100+ degree days in spring, it kind of makes wonder what to expect for the next few months. If it’s anything hotter than what we’ve had so far, I am not sure that I want to be turning on the stove – or at least for very long.

One of my favorite things to have during the summer is pasta salad. It’s both flavorful and filling, plus if you stick it in the freezer for a few minutes it can be really refreshing. We used to make it all the time, but somehow got out of the habit. I knew I had to revisit it, and now we’re both saying that we have to have some more.

Summer Pasta Salad

• 1 pkg. of pasta (I used tricolore farfalle, or three color bow-tie pasta)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 – 3 large cloves of garlic, diced
• 1 – 2 pickles, diced
• 1 can black olives, chopped or sliced
• 1 small jar artichoke hearts, chopped
• 5 pieces sundried tomatoes, diced
• 1 small can mushrooms, diced
• 3 – 5 Tbsp. Vegenaise
• 1 Tbsp. mustard (I used horseradish mustard)
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. dill
• 1 tsp. salt

Cook the pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking revert back to your childhood and throw some olives on your fingers.

Unfortunately, now that I am slightly bigger than a small child it doesn’t work so well. I probably should have put this one on my pinky.

Go back to being an adult, and prepare your other ingredients.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse it with cold water, and put it back into the pan you cooked it in or a large bowl. I personally like to not dirty extra dishes so I usually just put it back in the pan.

Dump the rest of the ingredients on top of the pasta and mix. Taste test it and adjust the seasonings and other ingredients like Vegenaise.

Once it is at a good combination of flavors, put it in the refrigerator for at least a half hour or more and then serve.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can pretty much dump whatever you want into it. We like ours with these ingredients, but we also like to play around a bit. Sometimes it is nice to add an extra kick with diced banana peppers (or pepperoncini), add green olives, or try other spices.

Happy summer…gotta go come up with some other recipe ideas now that it looks like it might start heating up again.