pizza experimentations

A few weeks ago I finally got around to implementing a policy I've been pondering for years: Taking a quarterly inventory of everything in my pantry and using it up. This seems like a straightforward idea but once you put it in to implementation it's actually quite an interesting challenge, because one ends up with the oddest things in one's pantry sometimes.

One of the less odd items was a jar of pizza sauce. So I dug out my old pizza stone, acquired a round pizza pan, and decided to have at. Now, I've posted a dough recipe before, but that one always came out a little fluffier than I'd like. Good when you're making long rectangular pizza that never leaves the cookie sheet, but not ideal for my purposes. So I dug up this one, which seemed ideal for my thin-crust desire (to say nothing of my impatience with dough rising in general).

The first attempt was a wet messy flop. The middle was undercooked and ripped and there was schmutz all over my pizza stone and blah. So I whined on Facebook and got some excellent advice from the always-awesome Hanne, who suggested par-baking and a much hotter oven. So I tried a ten-minute par-bake in a 500° oven, and while I won't claim perfection, the results were a lot better than I've ever gotten before. So, without further ado:

Basic Pizza Dough
1 pkg yeast
1 c warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 c flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

Give yeast & water ten minutes, add to other ingredients. Mix until dough forms, let rise 30 minutes, knead on floured board until you're bored with it.

Now, the recipe wants bread dough. I didn't have any, and I can't seem to find this pure wheat gluten that you can supposedly add to all-purpose dough to make bread dough, so I just went with it. I don't know if this is a factor in this next note, but: This dough was really wet after rising. I used a lot of flour on the board. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but hey.

Anyway, at this point you'll want a lot of cornmeal on your pizza pan, then spread the dough out, poke it with a fork a few dozen times, and bake 10ish minutes at 500. Bring it out, apply olive oil all over, then some minced garlic, then your sauce, mozzarella, and toppings. (Last night I went for chicken, cheddar, and bell pepper. Previously I've used meatball and broccoli. I was pleased with both.)

Bake for a few minutes until the cheese starts to melt, then cover your pizza stone in more cornmeal and slide the pizza from the pan to the stone. Give it another few minutes, and boom. Quality 'zza.

Finally, a note on pizza pans: I know one is not supposed to slice one's pizza on the metal pan because wah wah wah calamity. But my pizza pan cost $3. And the pizza cutter didn't even scratch it. And even if it had, my pizza pan cost three dollars. I consider the convenience worth the risk.

For the future: Experimentation with better dough recipes (several were provided by my friends) and eventually, on to deep dish.

Inception Cookies

Some time ago, a friend of mine linked to a post about Oreo-stuffed chocolate chip cookies. Which I thought was interesting. Then she referred to them as "Inception cookies" and I knew I had to make them.

The recipe is below, but I'm going to say right up front that I wasn't hugely impressed. They were awesome as an oddity, and everybody loved the idea, but they wound up being really dry.

On the other hand, they were delightful when they were still warm. So, thought one, use them for microwaving & covering with sundae stuff. Thought two, dip them in fudge shortly after they've cooled to seal in the moisture.

Of course, WE NEED TO GO DEEPER. The aforementioned friend wants to peel one cookie side off two Oreos, slap the creme/cookie remainders around a Thin Mint, then cover that in chocolate chip and dip the result in fudge. I'm having a hard time saying no, of course.

(And yes, I actually did print out that photo of Xzibit and write "Yo dawg I heard you like cookies so I put some cookie in your cookie so you can snack while you snack" on it, to put out with the cookies. Reactions were mixed.)

At any rate:

Inception Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 oz bag mini chocolate chips
1 pkg. Double-Stuff Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar. Add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to wet, alternating with chocolate chips, until barely combined.

Add teaspoon of dough to each side of Oreo, seal along sides. Try to keep them as small as possible. These things get HUGE if you let them get out of control. Here's a picture for perspective:

(If you were not aware, my fist is very large.)

Cookie sheet, parchment paper, you know. Bake until golden brown. These took close to 17 minutes in my oven; your results may vary wildly, because that seems excessive. Let 'em cool for a bit before putting on a wire rack.

Makes about 2 dozen.