Cookie Chick

But maybe it should be. We like pizza, as do most people. Our favorite is Angelo & Vinci’s in Fullerton, CA. A Z Pizza just opened up around the corner from our house. The Tuscan Mushroom is divine.

However, as I’ve been on my bread making marathon lately, it only made sense to try my hand at pizza. I’ve made it before and it’s fine, but nothing spectacular. I wanted to try baking on a cast iron pan. I read an article a month or so ago in the LA Times about this and thought it would be fun.

My best friend bought me a Le Creuset oval cast iron pan for my birthday last year. It’s a really pretty kiwi color, but I haven’t actually used it much. It’s kind of small for pizza, but I thought it was worth a try.

I made the dough recipe from the KitchenAid manual. It easy and quite tasty. After the dough had risen in my new dough bucket, I oiled the pan, spread some cornmeal and spread the dough onto the cold pan. It made quite a thick crust since the pan was small. I topped it with sauce, mozzarella cheese, veggie sausage and julienned sun-dried tomatoes.

Oh my was it good. I could have preheated the oven with the pan inside, but wasn’t sure how to get the pizza on without burning myself. It worked very well, even without preheating the pan.

With the success of the first experiment, I next tried a double crust pizza since the dough was almost too much for the small pan. Again, this was heaven. Even better, in my husband’s opinion. Now, however the gadget geek in me wanted a real 14″ cast iron pizza pan. The search was on. (To Be Continued..)

Pizza Dough Recipe
1 package instant yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of honey
2 1⁄2 - 3 1⁄2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal

Mix 2 1/2 cups of flour with the yeast in a stand mixer fitted with dough hook for 20 seconds at Speed 2. Add salt and mix for 30 more seconds to combine. Combine water, honey and olive oil in a 2 cup measuring cup with spout. With mixer running at speed 2, add liquids slowly at edge of bowl. If more flour is needed, continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, and mix about 1 1⁄2 minutes, or until dough starts to clean sides of bowl. You may not need extra flour.

Knead on Speed 2 for 2 - 3 minutes longer. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place (70 - 80 degrees), free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Gently punch dough down.

Brush a 14-inch pizza pan with oil. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Press dough across bottom of pan, forming a collar around edge to hold toppings.

Add toppings, as desired. Bake at 450°F for 15 to 20 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings (1⁄4 pizza per serving).

On the Cooks Illustrated Forums, I came across a lively thread about the No-Knead Bread phenomenon that has been sweeping the country. In November of 2006, the New York Times ran an article and video about an ingenious method to make hearth bread at home easily. You don’t need any special equipment or bread making skills. I was intrigued.

The only thing that might be considered special equipment is a covered vessel to bake the bread in. They used a cast iron dutch oven which I have. However they suggested a 6 -7 quart one and mine is only a 3 1/2 quart. Luckily as I read down the thread, this size actually works out better. The one problem is that the bread bakes in a hot oven, 450 - 500 degrees. The Le Creuset dutch oven that I have has a phenolic knob that is only oven safe to 350 degrees. Some people have covered the knob in foil or removed it before baking. I’ve experienced the catastrophe of baking plastic, so I wanted to avoid that mistake again.

There are a few options. You can remove the knob, cover it in foil and hope, or replace the knob with something that is oven safe. Luckily, or perhaps because of the new bread baking phenomenon, Le Creuset now makes a stainless steel knob that is safe at any oven temperature. It’s pretty too. I have one on order from Cutlery & More. In the interim, we went to the hardware store and bought a ceramic drawer knob. I’ve baked two loaves and this worked really well. It’s not as pretty as the Le Creuset, but it was only $1.69.

From what I understand, you can also bake the bread in Pyrex, stainless steel, basically any sturdy pot or lidded casserole that can withstand the heat.

I’ve been on this bread making kick lately. Blame Cooks Illustrated who had a two page spread last issue on bread making tips. They recommended stand mixers over hand kneading or bread machines. I have a bread machine. It works well, but is hard to store so is put away right now. I also have a KitchenAid 6 quart mixer, well I actually have two now, but that’s another story. It gets used often and sits on the counter. I wanted to try making bread this way to see if I still needed the bread machine.

For my first few loaves, I used a bowl covered with plastic wrap for the first rise. That worked out well, but I’m a gadget junkie. We were at a restaurant supply store (a candy store for foodies) to pick up a few flour scoops and I was drawn to the Cambro section. Cambro makes tons of stuff for restaurants including plastic containers. I use the square ones to store flour. They work nicely. Cooks Illustrated recommended using a straight sided container with a lid for the first rise. Their illustration looks just like the Cambro 4 quart, so of course I had to have one. They’re not expensive, about $10 - $12. I tried to talk myself out of it, thinking that I don’t have room. (I don’t.) Gadget geek that I am, I bought it anyway. I am really glad that I did.

The dough is rising much faster and more consistently and it’s much easier to tell when it’s doubled. The lidded container creates a nice warm moist environment for the yeast to do its work. The trick of using a rubber band to mark the dough is excellent too. Some gadgets are worth the price and finding the storage space. If you bake bread a lot, try it out. You can find them at Smart & Final stores in the Western US or restaurant supply stores. King Arthur Flour has a similar one online if you can’t find one locally.