2008 August 28 | dinner with Julie

Archive for August 28th, 2008

Day 241: Pulled Pork Pizza

I don’t think I ate dinner tonight. I cooked dinner for 15 people at a private event in Red Deer (a class/dinner party at the Cooking Room) and before I left assembled a pulled pork pizza for the boys from a baggie of pulled pork I squirreled away on Tuesday morning before bringing the rest in to CBC.

The beauty of a pulled pork pizza is that the pork delivers the sauce as well, so all you need to do is spread it over the (whole wheat) crust and top it with some (part-skim, in this case) mozzarella and bake it. If you’re partial to cilantro, a bit is good on top once it’s out of the oven. I felt guilty enough about leaving for the evening that I couldn’t put something leafy and green on W’s dinner as well. (He will eat spinach, if it’s cooked and enveloped in pizza or pasta.)

I thought too much on the drive home, as usual, and got a little heavy-hearted upon realizing that a) it was almost midnight and although I was exhausted I still actually looked forward to writing a blog post before crawling into bed, and b) I only have 124 days left, and what am I going to do on January 1? After 365 days (and nights) of documenting dinner, will I even be able to stop? And do I even want to?

Mike suggested I continue on but with a weekly post, summing up the week’s eats and offering my few favourite recipes, but will that sour the real-time daily-news appeal? If I don’t do it every night, is there a point to it? And how can it possibly be the Labour Day weekend already? So much food, so little time.

Basic Pizza Crust

Pizza dough is a wonderfully versatile thing. I know you can buy pre-baked crusts at the grocery store for a few dollars, but pizza crust made from scratch is far better, costs practically nothing, and I find the process of mixing and kneading the dough by hand therapeutic. (Besides, Mike does it most of the time.) Once the dough has risen it can be twisted into bread sticks or pretzels, patted into focaccia, or topped with whatever you like and baked into a pizza or flatbread.

1 cup lukewarm water
1 pkg. (or 2 tsp.) active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar or honey
2 1/2 – 3 cups flour – all purpose, whole wheat, or any combination of the two (I usually use about 2 3/4 cups)
1 tsp. salt
a drizzle (1 tsp. – 1 Tbsp.) olive oil

In a large bowl, stir together the water, yeast and sugar; set aside for 5 minutes, until it’s foamy. (If it doesn’t get foamy, either your water was too hot and killed the yeast or it was inactive to begin with – toss it and buy fresh yeast or try again!)

Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour, salt and oil and stir until the dough comes together. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 8 minutes, until it’s smooth and elastic, adding a little more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat all over. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for about an hour, until doubled in bulk. If you want you can let it rise more slowly in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours.

Punch the dough down, cover again and let it rest for 5 minutes. Divide it in half and shape each into a circle (or make individual mini pizzas) and place on a cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with flour or cornmeal.

Spread the pizza dough with tomato sauce, sprinkle with desired toppings and bake at 450 F for 15-20 minutes, until bubbly and golden.

Makes enough dough for 2 – 9” pizzas, or one big rectangular one (I do these on a large rimmed baking sheet).

Per slice (based on 12 slices): 111 calories, 0.7 g total fat (0.1 g saturated fat, 0.3 g monounsaturated fat, 0.2 g polyunsaturated fat), 3.2 g protein, 22.5 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.1 g fiber. 6% calories from fat.

To make flavored pizza dough: add a generous pinch of chopped fresh or dried basil, rosemary or oregano, a clove of minced garlic, a few finely chopped olives or sun dried tomatoes (if they come packed in oil, use it in place of the olive oil) or 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper along with the flour. Flavored pizza dough makes great breadsticks – roll the risen dough into sticks as thin or fat as you like, sprinkle with coarse salt or grated Parmesan cheese and bake until golden.