Here's how we have a really easy and low-calorie Pizza Party with this Thin Crust Dough recipe from the kitchn and the contents of the refrigerator and store cupboard. Everyone joins in making the dough and selecting their own toppings and as the dough doesn't need to rise we can make the whole thing from scratch in half an hour or so, which is quicker than delivery here.
Home-made Thin Crust Pizza
Makes 4 pizzas
Dough:
11/2 cups (12 ounces) of water
1 teaspoon of yeast
4 cups (20 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it oven to heat
Heat the water until it's lukewarm. Add the yeast to the water and whisk to stir. Set aside for a few minutes to allow the yeast to dissolve. Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add salt, whisk to combine. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the water-yeast mixture. Combine everything together.
When it forms a ball, sprinkle a little flour onto a board or countertop and knead the dough on this. Divide the dough into four pieces.
Tear off two pieces of parchment paper roughly 12-inches wide. Work one piece of the dough in your hands and form it into a large disk. Lay the disk of dough on the parchment paper. Use a rolling pin or your hands to make a rough circle approximately the size of the parchment. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
The dough will stick to the parchment paper, making it easier for you to roll out. Bake the pizza right on the parchment paper. As it cooks, the dough will come away from the parchment, and you can slide it off the paper before serving.
Toppings:
I use either homemade tomato sauce if I have any left over from a pasta dish, but more usually I open a can of Glen Muir Tomato Sauce and spread a couple of tablespoons over the dough, smoothing it over the base to the edges.
On top, there's peppers in olive oil, artichoke hearts, capers, a few asparagus stalks and some sliced green onions with a sprinkling of grated mozzarella on mine (above); anchovies, sauteed onions, capers and black olives on another, bacon and mushrooms on a third, and tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and extra virgin olive oil for a classic Pizza Margherita on the last.
Depending on the size of your oven bake one or two pizzas at a time (on the parchment paper) on a baking sheet or pizza stone for about 5 minutes, then rotate the pizza 180-degrees and bake for another 3 minutes, rotate 90- degrees and bake for another 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle a little extra cheese over the top, turn 90-degrees again and bake for just 2 more minutes until the edges are golden brown and crispy.
Remove your pizza from oven and let it cool for five minutes or so while you bake the remaining pizzas. This is the difficult part as they look and smell so good. In fact there is no after-baking shot of this pizza because it was devoured before I could get to my camera.
Deliciously light and crispy, they require only a large salad and a glass of Chianti to make a perfect supper party with very little clean up either.
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