Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Dark Days Week 11: Pizza



OK, this is *almost* local pizza. The crust is made of organic whole wheat and unbleached flours. One of my friends and I are determined to use our local whole wheat pastry flour to make more than just quick breads. Back in the day, before trains began hauling hard winter wheat from the Midwest, settlers used the wheat they could grow here on the East Coast: soft wheat which is what pastry flour is milled from. But they certainly baked bread, the staff of life. So I want to figure it out too. Apparently the Smithsonian has colonial recipes; I'll keep you posted.

So, excepting the crust, everything else was local: my own pizza tomato sauce from the freezer, local organic goat milk mozzarella, local mushrooms.



Then we had a classic accompaniment: green salad, made with wonderful local organic lettuces and raw turnips, topped with 1000 Island Dressing. I explained my dressing in this post.




At the last minute, my husband and I had some wine from, um, California. As I write this, I realized there is local beer in the fridge. Beer and pizza - what's my problem? My memory? Apparently I'm still getting the hang of this local thing. . .

3 comments:

Christian - Modobject@Home said...

Yummy dinner! Care to share your pizza crust recipe, it looks like a good one and I've yet to find one that I absolutely love.

Shasta said...

exactly what I was thinking...wine & pizza?
:-) Wine goes with anything, in my book. But, if you have a good beer, beer trumps for a marriage with pizza.

Margo said...

Christian, that's funny because I consider mine a acceptable one, but not amazing. I'd be curious to hear what you've tried.

My recipe is from More with Less and I use a pan with small holes all over it. Sometimes I also just bake it without toppings (prick it first) and we tear it into chunks and dip it into hummus and other stuff.

Combine in large bowl:
1 c. warm water
1 Tbs. yeast

When dissolved, add:
1 Tbs. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. oil
1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
Beat well until smooth. Add:
approx. 2 c. additional flour (I use one more cup of whole wheat here)
Knead until elastic - 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl and let rise until double - 45 minutes to hour. Roll to fit greased pan. Cover with toppings. Bake at 450 for 20-25 minutes.