Pizza Night!

One food I really missed when I was dairy-free while nursing Samantha was pizza.  I had heard most soy chesee was terrible and found that most rice cheese contained casein.  At some point, probably about a year or so ago, I decided to try some soy cheese at Whole Foods.  It wasn't too bad, and after almost two years of no cheese, I found it to be acceptable. 

Now, with Patrick, I can't eat dairy OR soy, so no more pizza for me . . . or so I thought.  A few weeks ago, while grabbing some soy cheese to make Samantha a pizza, I found Daiya at Whole Foods.  Dairy-free, soy-free "cheese" in cheddar and mozzarella.  Might as well give it a shot; I figured it couldn't be any worse than the chemical-laden processed dairy cheeses out there. 

It's not bad.  It melts well and is kinda stringy like melted mozzzrella.  It doesn't really taste like cheese, but it has a similar mouth feel.  I declare it a winner.

And so I decided we should do a weekly pizza night.  It was supposed to be Saturdays, but forces conspired against us last weekend and pizza night was on Monday.  I made pizza dough from scratch and baked up three different pizzas.

Pizza Dough (courtesy of Tyler Florence):

• 2 1/4 tsp. instant dry yeast*
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 c. warm water (not too hot or the yeast will start to die)
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 3 c. flour (I use half whole wheat, half white)

* The original recipe calls for 1 packet of active dry yeast.  I buy instant dry yeast in bulk, so I use that.  Usually, one packet of active dry yeast contains 2 1/4 tsp. of yeast.  Most things I've read say to decrease the amount of yeast by 25% when using instant in place of active, as instant is more potent.  I don't because 2 1/4 tsp. is stuck in my head when I read a recipe.  I don't think it causes a problem. 

To make:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water and let sit for 5-10 minutes, until the yeast starts to foam.  This is called proofing - making sure the yeast is still live.  If it doesn't foam, the yeast is dead and the dough won't rise. Some people skip proofing with instant dry yeast but I don't like to take any chances.
• Attach dough hook to stand mixer (if using; otherwise you can mix and knead by hand, which is what I used to do)
• With mixer on low, add olive oil and salt
• Slowly add flour (depending on the humidity of your kitchen, you may need a bit more or less than 3 c. - I usually add in 1/2 c. increments and start assessing the stickiness of the dough after 2 1/2 c.  I stop adding flour when the dough is no longer sticky.)
• Turn mixer to 2 and mix until dough starts to form a ball
• Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic
• Place ball into lightly oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen)
• Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 450 (sadly, my pizza stone cracked and I haven't gotten a  new one yet, so I place upside down cookie sheets in the oven
• When doubled, divide dough into three equal balls and let them rest covered for 10 minutes
• Roll a ball out to desired thickness (I can't for the life of me roll it out to a 12" circle like Tyler suggests)
• Place dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal (helps the pizza slide off the peel into the oven)
• Top pizza, slide into oven, and bake for 12-15 minutes, until crust is golden brown

Now for the toppings!  I haven't yet tried to make my own pizza sauce - Whole Foods' sauce is yummy and I haven't had the chance to replicate it. So on this, the second weekly Winter Pizza Night (two days later than planned), I made three pizzas:

1.  Just sauce and "cheese" (for Samantha)

2. Sauce, fresh minced garlic, cooked diced pancetta, cremini mushrooms, shallots, and "cheese" (mainly for John)

3. Olive oil, fresh minced garlic, chopped spinach (thawed and all water squeezed out), cremini mushrooms, shallots, and "cheese" (mainly for me)

Yum!  Look for more combinations in the coming weeks!