Pizza Bianca with Various Toppings
Nov. 12th, 2008 08:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coraaI decided to make the pizza bianca. (Not blanca. Bianca. Bad memory.) With garlic, leek, tomato, arugula and parmesan. No chicken.
It came out like this:
It's pretty darn tasty. Nice crisp-chewy crust. (I overbaked it a teeny bit, so it's a bit crunchier than I prefer, and a leetle bit too brown at the edges, but that's a really easy problem to fix, and it still tastes good.) Definite keeper.
Pizza Bianca with Various Toppings
Most of this recipe is courtesy Cook's Illustrated, with a few flourishes of my own. I made it the 'standard' way (ordinary AP flour and yeast) -- the next experiment, once I get the bake time down, will be working in some sourdough, or possibly adding some whole wheat flour.
As with most baking recipes, if you have a scale, use the weights. If you don't, though, the volume measures are fine.
It's quite simple -- there's only one hard step, and that's just labor-intensive, not technically difficult. It does require that you be around preparing it for several hours, though, so a recipe for a day when you'll be home most of the afternoon.
For the crust:
For the toppings:
First, make the dough. You'll want to start at least three hours before you want to serve.
Mix flour, water and salt thoroughly in a bowl. It will create a very wet dough -- really more like a batter. This is normal. When it's completely combined with no more dry spots, cover the bowl lightly (a towel is good for this) and let it sit 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, sprinkle the yeast over the top and mix it in. Then stir vigorously. This is the hard step -- which is to say, if you have something that can automate it for you, do! I use my bread machine for this step and pretty much just this step. A mixer with a dough hook would work great too. But you can do it with a spoon if you are determined enough, and hey, it's probably good exercise. Basically, you're doing the equivalent of kneading, except you can't knead because the dough's too soft. You'll want to stir very vigorously for a couple of minutes, then step it back and stir for another 8-10. If you don't have a mixer or something, I recommend listening to fast-pace rock music while you do it.
Anyway, once that's done, set it aside for a minute and get a clean glass bowl that's at least two times bigger than the mass of the dough. (If the bowl is too small, the dough might actually slop over the sides.) Use 1 tbsp of the olive oil to oil up the bowl, then scrape the dough into the clean, oiled bowl. Pour another tbsp of oil over the top. Flip it over so that the whole thing is coated with oil, and leave it alone to rise. It should more than double in volume -- it should nearly triple. This will take a couple of hours, probably.
This is a good time to caramelize the leek. Take the top and bottom off of the leek, then split it lengthwise so that it's two half-moon shapes. (If this is awkward, cut it in half widthwise first.) Then slice thinly, rinse thoroughly to remove any sand (leeks are infamously sandy), and then add to the warm butter or oil. Salt lightly and cook over low heat. You're going to be cooking for a while -- honestly, like forty minutes -- so I just let it cook quietly, stirring occasionally, while I do something else. When the leeks are very soft and somewhere between golden-brown and mahogany, turn off the heat.
When it's more-than-doubled, break out a rimmed baking sheet. Use a tablespoon of oil to grease the baking sheet -- don't underdo this; the places where I skimped, the crust stuck. If you have to use a little more oil, do. Then pour the batter-dough-stuff out into the pan. It's going to be, well, quite frankly it's going to be glop. It's almost as wet as pancake batter while still having the gluten development of bread dough. This means it will want to stick to everything. This actually is kind of nice, because it means it's about a million times easier to spread out in the pan than other kinds of pizza dough, which snap back at you. It does, however, mean that it's going to stick to whatever you use to spread it. I just oiled my clean hands and used them, and that's what I'd recommend. Just spread it out -- not so thin it tears, and it's okay if it doesn't totally fill the corners, but it should spread to fill most of the pan. Leave it alone and let it rise a teeny bit for 20 or so minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Peel the cloves and sliver them very thinly, then sprinkle lightly over the dough, along with the black pepper. (You can do this while it's still rising, just don't push it down into the dough and deflate it.) These are the only toppings that are going to go onto the pizza when it goes into the oven initially.
The rest, you'll prep now, but not add to the pizza yet: Slice the tomatoes thinly and then quarter each slice. Chop the arugula. Shred the parmesan.
When the dough has raised just a bit and the oven is preheated, put the pizza in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes. It should be just getting brown -- if it's totally pasty, go ahead and cook it a few more minutes, but don't make my mistake and cook it until it's golden-brown, because you're still going to be cooking it more.
When it's just starting to brown, pull it out of the oven and drizzle with half the 'good' olive oil. Spread the caramelized leeks onto the crust. Scatter the tomato pieces and arugula on top, and sprinkle the other half of the olive oil on them. Finally, sprinkle with the parmesan.
Bake another 5 to 10 minutes, until the toppings are hot, the cheese is melted, and the crust is brown at the edges.
Cut in 6-8 pieces and serve hot.
(The picture only looks cheesy on one side because it only is cheesy on one side; the other half is for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ceph, who does not care for cheese.)
It came out like this:
 |
| From Food 2008 |
It's pretty darn tasty. Nice crisp-chewy crust. (I overbaked it a teeny bit, so it's a bit crunchier than I prefer, and a leetle bit too brown at the edges, but that's a really easy problem to fix, and it still tastes good.) Definite keeper.
Pizza Bianca with Various Toppings
Most of this recipe is courtesy Cook's Illustrated, with a few flourishes of my own. I made it the 'standard' way (ordinary AP flour and yeast) -- the next experiment, once I get the bake time down, will be working in some sourdough, or possibly adding some whole wheat flour.
As with most baking recipes, if you have a scale, use the weights. If you don't, though, the volume measures are fine.
It's quite simple -- there's only one hard step, and that's just labor-intensive, not technically difficult. It does require that you be around preparing it for several hours, though, so a recipe for a day when you'll be home most of the afternoon.
For the crust:
- 3 cups, or about 15 oz, flour
- 1 2/3 cup water, or about 14 oz
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp yeast
- 3-ish tbsp olive oil (don't use anything fancy for this)
For the toppings:
- 1 leek
- 1 tbsp butter or oil
- pinch salt
- black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tomato
- 1 small bunch arugula (this is a great use for arugula that's getting a bit elderly)
- 1/4 cup finely shredded parmesan
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil (here's where you break out the fancy green extra virgin stuff, if you have it)
First, make the dough. You'll want to start at least three hours before you want to serve.
Mix flour, water and salt thoroughly in a bowl. It will create a very wet dough -- really more like a batter. This is normal. When it's completely combined with no more dry spots, cover the bowl lightly (a towel is good for this) and let it sit 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, sprinkle the yeast over the top and mix it in. Then stir vigorously. This is the hard step -- which is to say, if you have something that can automate it for you, do! I use my bread machine for this step and pretty much just this step. A mixer with a dough hook would work great too. But you can do it with a spoon if you are determined enough, and hey, it's probably good exercise. Basically, you're doing the equivalent of kneading, except you can't knead because the dough's too soft. You'll want to stir very vigorously for a couple of minutes, then step it back and stir for another 8-10. If you don't have a mixer or something, I recommend listening to fast-pace rock music while you do it.
Anyway, once that's done, set it aside for a minute and get a clean glass bowl that's at least two times bigger than the mass of the dough. (If the bowl is too small, the dough might actually slop over the sides.) Use 1 tbsp of the olive oil to oil up the bowl, then scrape the dough into the clean, oiled bowl. Pour another tbsp of oil over the top. Flip it over so that the whole thing is coated with oil, and leave it alone to rise. It should more than double in volume -- it should nearly triple. This will take a couple of hours, probably.
This is a good time to caramelize the leek. Take the top and bottom off of the leek, then split it lengthwise so that it's two half-moon shapes. (If this is awkward, cut it in half widthwise first.) Then slice thinly, rinse thoroughly to remove any sand (leeks are infamously sandy), and then add to the warm butter or oil. Salt lightly and cook over low heat. You're going to be cooking for a while -- honestly, like forty minutes -- so I just let it cook quietly, stirring occasionally, while I do something else. When the leeks are very soft and somewhere between golden-brown and mahogany, turn off the heat.
When it's more-than-doubled, break out a rimmed baking sheet. Use a tablespoon of oil to grease the baking sheet -- don't underdo this; the places where I skimped, the crust stuck. If you have to use a little more oil, do. Then pour the batter-dough-stuff out into the pan. It's going to be, well, quite frankly it's going to be glop. It's almost as wet as pancake batter while still having the gluten development of bread dough. This means it will want to stick to everything. This actually is kind of nice, because it means it's about a million times easier to spread out in the pan than other kinds of pizza dough, which snap back at you. It does, however, mean that it's going to stick to whatever you use to spread it. I just oiled my clean hands and used them, and that's what I'd recommend. Just spread it out -- not so thin it tears, and it's okay if it doesn't totally fill the corners, but it should spread to fill most of the pan. Leave it alone and let it rise a teeny bit for 20 or so minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Peel the cloves and sliver them very thinly, then sprinkle lightly over the dough, along with the black pepper. (You can do this while it's still rising, just don't push it down into the dough and deflate it.) These are the only toppings that are going to go onto the pizza when it goes into the oven initially.
The rest, you'll prep now, but not add to the pizza yet: Slice the tomatoes thinly and then quarter each slice. Chop the arugula. Shred the parmesan.
When the dough has raised just a bit and the oven is preheated, put the pizza in the oven. Cook for 15 minutes. It should be just getting brown -- if it's totally pasty, go ahead and cook it a few more minutes, but don't make my mistake and cook it until it's golden-brown, because you're still going to be cooking it more.
When it's just starting to brown, pull it out of the oven and drizzle with half the 'good' olive oil. Spread the caramelized leeks onto the crust. Scatter the tomato pieces and arugula on top, and sprinkle the other half of the olive oil on them. Finally, sprinkle with the parmesan.
Bake another 5 to 10 minutes, until the toppings are hot, the cheese is melted, and the crust is brown at the edges.
Cut in 6-8 pieces and serve hot.
(The picture only looks cheesy on one side because it only is cheesy on one side; the other half is for
ceph, who does not care for cheese.) |
| From Food 2008 |