Pizza with grilled fennel and anchovies

We can file this one under experiments - experiments of that truly classic kind: what do I need to use from the fridge today.

Ingredients:

- 1 portion pizza dough
- durum flour for rolling
- 1 portion tomato reduction^[1]
- 1 ball mozzarella, sliced
- 1/2 bulb fennel, sliced and broiled
- mushrooms, sliced
- 10-15 anchovy fillets (¹/₂ jar)
- oil from anchovies
- sprigs of fresh rosemary

The half bulb of fennel was sliced in 5 mm (¹/₅ inch) thick slices and broiled in the oven on maximum heat until starting to char.

The pizza dough was rolled out to fit my baking sheet using durum flour. After transferring to a baking sheet lined with baking paper, I spread out the tomato reduction, then slices of mozzarella, broiled fennel, some 10-15 anchovy fillets, mushroom slices, fresh leaves of rosemary and the oil the anchovies came in.

It was baked at 225 degrees C with the fan on for about 12-15 minutes.
It was quite good, but some of the fennel slices were quite hard to bite, so I need to work on that.

^[1] Made from cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, salt, pepper .. I really should write that recipe down.

Bacon & Egg (Spelt) Pizza

Here's a concept that might be somewhat controversial: eggs on pizza. I know Some people don't approve - even I wouldn't want it all the time, but when I do want I think it's absolutely divine.
I made it this time on a spelt dough, but obviously that is optional.

Ingredients:
- 1 portion frozen spelt pizza dough
- durum flour (for rolling)
- ~ 250 g (~ ¹/₂ lb) chunky tomato sauce with garlic
- 125 g (4.4 oz) mozzarella, sliced
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 3 thin slices of bacon
- 2 eggs
- dried oregano
served with a salad:
- mixed lettuce
- chickpeas


The rolled dough was topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella slices, onion rings and bacon pieces. It was baked in the oven at 225 C (450 F). This time I baked it for 15 minutes, before taking it out of the oven and cracking the two eggs on top of it and putting it back in the oven for another 5 minutes. This was perfect for cooking the egg-whites but leaving the yolks runny.^[1] After removing from the oven the second time, the pizza was sprinkled with dried oregano and served with a simple salad.


And how was it?? In the words of my muse: "Honey, this is the best pizza you've ever made!"

^[1] If you want firmer yolks, I'd try baking 10 minutes before the eggs, 10 minutes with the egg. If you leave the eggs on for the entire baking time they get too much.

Spelt Pizza Dough

Having discovered how easy it is to make pizza dough, I decided to start making variations. Following my previous recipe for 4 portions of pizza dough, and substituting about half of the ordinary flour with spelt flour gave a dough that was somewhat darker.

Ingredients:
- 5 dL (2 cups) lukewarm water
- 50 g (ca. 2 oz) fresh yeast
- 500-600 g (1.1-1.3 lbs) wheat flour
- 500 g (1.1 lbs) spelt flour
- 4+2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp salt

The yeast was crumbled into lukewarm water, which was then added 4 tbsp olive oil. The first 500 g of wheat flour was stirred in before adding the salt. The spelt flour was kneaded into the dough in portions - towards the end I added just a little more wheat flour to get the right texture. The dough was then kneaded for a couple of minutes more before adding 2 tbsp olive oil, covering and leaving in a warm place to rise for 1.5 hours.

The dough was parted in 4 portions - some was used immediately for a potato pizza and the others were frozen for later use. The final result is a bit different from the standard recipe, but still very good.

Stromboli

Stromboli - or 'pizza roll' as one might be tempted to call it - is nothing less than American addition to the palette of Italian food, supposedly named after a 1950 American-Italian film starring a Swedish actress as a Lithuanian on the volcanic island Stromboli (near Sicily). One month ago I hadn't heard of ANY of these, but that all changed when a colleague brought some stromboli to work for lunch one day.

Ingredients:
- 1 portion frozen pizza dough
- durum flour for rolling
- ca. 150 g (5.3 oz) tomato sauce
- 120 g (4.2 oz) thinly sliced smoked ham
- 200 g (7 oz) mushrooms, sliced
- 1 red onion, cut in boats
- 125 g (4.4 oz) mozzarella, sliced
- 1 jalapeño chilli, finely cut
- bunch of fresh marjoram
- egg for brushing

The dough was taken out of the freezer the night before and left in the fridge to thaw, then rolled with durum flour just as when making pizza.

The rolled dough was topped with everything - not getting to close to the edges is a good idea here. The dough was then carefully rolled and transferred to a baking sheet lined with baking paper, brushed with a beaten egg and baked at 200 C (400 F) for half an hour.

After baking served as slices with a little rocket (arugula) - looks quite pretty doesn't it..

Italian Sausage Pizza

Long time ago - when I was still living in California - I made a pizza with Italian sausages. Recently, I started thinking about this one again, and I thought I'd give it a go when I found some salcissia at the supermarket - although I was somewhat doubtful that these would be exactly like American "sweet Italian sausage".

Ingredients:
- 1 portion frozen pizza dough
- durum flour for rolling
- 285 g (10 oz) salcissia fresca
- ca. 150 g (5 oz) tomato sauce
- 1 onion, cut in thin boats
- 125 g (4.4 oz) mozzarella, sliced
- bunch fresh basil
- salt and pepper

While frying the sausages in a pan, the pizza dough was rolled out using durum flour for dusting. The tomato sauce was spread evenly on the dough. The onion was cut in boats by dividing into 16 pieces along the axis. The onion boats were laid out on the pizza.

When the sausages were done, they were sliced and placed on the pizza, followed by slices of mozzarella and leaves of fresh basil. The pizza was baked at 225 C (450 F) for 15 minutes.

Sprinkled with salt and pepper and served hot!

Onion Pizza

For testing my first batch of my frozen pizza dough, I let myself be heavily inspired by this recipe.

The night before I wanted to make the pizza I took out one of the doughs I had put in the freezer.

Ingredients:
- 1 portion frozen pizza dough
- durum flour for rolling
- olive oil
- mustard
- 2 white onions, sliced
- balsamic vinegar
after baking:
- salt
- pepper
- parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated
- rocket salad

The dough rolled out nicely, no differences to the freshly made variety. The rolled out dough was brushed with a little olive oil and mustard.

The onion rings were caramelised in a large pan and added some balsamic vinegar towards the end. The caramelised onion rings were spread on the pizza dough and it was baked at 225 C (450 F) for 13 minutes - when out out the oven, sprinkled with salt, pepper, freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and served with rocket.

Delicious. Now I have three more easy pizzas waiting for me in the freezer.

Frozen Pizza Dough

The next logical step after establishing that pizza dough can be made the day before and kept in the fridge until use was to try to freeze it. This would also allow me to make such a large batch of dough that I could use an entire pack of fresh yeast..

Ingredients:
- 5 dL (2 cups) lukewarm water^[1]
- 50 g (ca. 2 oz) fresh yeast
- 1050 g (2.3 lbs) wheat flour
- 4 + 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp salt

The fresh yeast was crumbled into the lukewarm water and stirred, then added 4 tbsp olive oil and half of the flour. The salt was stirred in before adding the rest of the flour in portions while kneading the dough. The dough is perfect when so much flour has been added that the dough is neither sticky nor crumbly when pressing it between your thumb and your index finger - after kneading it for some extra minutes, the ball of dough was coated with 2 tbsp olive oil, the bowl covered and the dough allowed to rise for 2 hours before parting in four (each portion good for a pizza some 30 x 40 cm (12" x 15")). They were then immediately put in the freezer.

^[1] Conveniently made by mixing 3 dL cold tap water and 2 dL boiling water - needed only to stand for a short while to cool to lukewarm.

Potato Pizza 2

We read about a variation on this concept .. and realised it was sufficiently different to merit a post on its own. I think the two are equally good - just different.

Ingredients:
- 2 portions pizza dough
- olive oil
- 4 yellow onions, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- fresh thyme
- salt & pepper
- 8-10 potatoes, thinly sliced
after baking:
- parmigiano reggiano, freshly grated
for serving:
- fresh arugula (rocket)

The finely diced onions were caramelized in a little olive oil together with crushed garlic, fresh thyme, salt and pepper - then set aside.

Each portion of the pizza dough was rolled aided by durum flour.

Each pizza was topped with a layer of caramelized onions, then potato slices and sprinkled with oil, salt and pepper.

The pizzas were baked in the oven at 225 C (450 F) for 20 minutes.

After baking the pizzas were sprinkled with more fresh thyme and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano - and served with a little fresh arugula.

Grilled Zucchini & Eggplant Pizza

Although I was quite happy with the recipe for pizza dough I picked up recently, one tiny detail did bother me: That the dough has to stand and rise for an hour makes for some rather late dinners if I make the dough when I come home from work.

So, I started thinking: what happens if I make the dough the evening before? Will it work? Or does yeast dough 'un-rise' if left for too long?

Well, only one way to find out.

The dough was mixed and kneaded just like in the other recipe, but after coating the ball of dough in a little olive oil and placing it in a bowl under film it was left standing overnight. The next morning the dough was parted in two equal portions, each wrapped in film and stored in the fridge until after work. The doughs were rolled with a little durum flour as usual - and the result was just as great as always. So, now the question is: for how long can I store pizza dough in the fridge?

Anyway - this batch was topped with:
- tomato sauce
- mozzarella, sliced
- black olives, sliced
- 1 eggplant, sliced and broiled
- 1 zucchini, sliced and broiled
after baking sprinkled:
- salt
- pepper
- dried oregano
- fresh rocket salad
served with:
a glass of Chilean Errariuz Pinot Noir - a very smooth red wine

Pizza dough

A certain kind of laziness has come to an end: in California, I always bought the pizza dough at Trader Joe's because it was good (and cheap too) and so never bothered to make the dough myself. This option was gone after leaving the US. In the stores in Switzerland, I could only get pizza doughs that weren't as good as those sold by Trader Joe's (and more expensive too) - but at least they were fairly convenient as they came pre-rolled and I didn't have to roll the dough.

Here in Sweden, I bought what looked to be a similar product exactly once - that dough was such a disappointment, that I decided to finally start making my own pizza dough. Thus, dug out my copy of Tyler Florence's Eat This Book and found his recipe. Below follows my description of how I converted the recipe to the use of fresh yeast (which I prefer, although here in Sweden one can buy both fresh and dry yeast).

Ingredients:
- 2.5 dL (1 cup) lukewarm water ^[1]
- 25 g (ca. 1 oz) fresh yeast
- 500 g (ca. 1 lb) flour
- 2 + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- durum flour (for rolling)

UPDATE:
Scaling everything up by a factor of 2 is more convenient - that way I use one pack of fresh yeast and get dough for 4 pizzas.


The fresh yeast was crumbled in the lukewarm water and stirred before adding 2 tbsp olive oil, and then the flour in portions. The first half of the flour was simply stirred in using a spoon, then 1 tbsp salt was added and the rest of the flour was kneaded in by hand - when all the flour was added the dough was kneaded some more. The resulting dough should be smooth and elastic, and when pinched neither crumbly nor sticky. The ball of dough was transferred to another bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil, coated with the oil, covered with film and left standing in a warm place for about 1 hour to rise.

The dough rose to about the double volume (or perhaps a little more) and was parted in two equally large portions, which were rolled using durum flour and placed on baking paper on baking sheets. This portion made nicely for two 25 cm x 35 cm (10" x 14") pizzas. Today I topped them with tomato-garlic sauce, dried ham, artichoke hearts, fresh basil, and mozzarella. After some 15-20 minuted in the oven at 200 C (400 F) they were delicious - I'm never going back to other doughs after this...


^[1] made from 1 dL boiling water and 1.5 dL cold tap water

Anchovy Pizza

Pizza with tomato sauce, red onion, canned anchovies, capers and mozzarella - no extra salt needed. The irony (considering how close to Italy we are) is that the pizza dough we bought in the store here isn't as good as the ones we used to buy in Trader Joe's...

White Pizza

Not quite unlike this other pizza, this white pizza was made with olive oil, fresh spinach, ricotta cheese, crushed garlic, salt & pepper.

Italian Sausage Pizza

Pizza with 2 Italian 'sweet' sausages, 1 red bell pepper, 1 shallot, mozzarella and tomato sauce.

Potato Pizza

This is a somewhat different type of pizza - but it's excellent nonetheless.

Ingredients:
- 1 pizza dough
- semolina
- 4 red potatoes
- 2.5 oz (70 g) chèvre
- rosemary
- salt & pepper
- olive oil
- (baby) arugula

As usual, roll out the pizza dough using semolina. On the dough place sliced potatoes (4-5 mm or about 1/5"), drizzle a little olive oil on top, then add the goat cheese in small pieces and lastly salt, pepper, and rosemary. Goes in the oven at 400 F (200 C) for some 20 minutes or so. Serve with arugula on top.

Blue Cheese Pizza

Not very different in approach from other pizzas mentioned here, but the combination works quite nicely.

Toppings:
- 8 oz (200 g) tomato sauce
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- 1/2 green bell pepper
- 1/2 medium onion
- 4 oz (100 g) mozzarella
- 4 oz (100 g) blue cheese

Baking time at 400 F (200 C) was at least 15 minutes.

Fiery Meatball Garlic Pizza

This was an attempt to recreate my favorite pizza from a certain Kurdish pizzeria I used to visit years ago (and 6000 miles from where I'm living right now).

Ingredients:
- 1 pizza dough
- semolina
- 8 oz (200 g) tomato sauce
- 4 oz (100 g) mozzarella
- 10 oz (250 g) ground beef
- salt
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 serrano peppers (finely diced)

First mix the ground meat with 1 clove crushed garlic, salt, and 1 serrano pepper, shape into small meat balls and fry in a pan. While the meat balls get done roll out the pizza dough with semolina. When the appropriate size place in baking pan on baking paper. Spread out the tomato sauce on the pizza, then add the rest of the garlic (crushed) and the other serrano pepper, the meat balls and finally some mozzarella. Bake at 400 F (200 C) for about 15 minutes.

Turned out pretty good - the taste was good, but I might have like the cheese a little more spread out over the whole pizza.

Pizza

As mentioned I recently moved to a new home. This home has a gas stove and oven, which I quite like for a number of reasons. Sadly, the oven doesn't have ANY markings on the dial except for where the OFF position is, so it'll take a little while to figure that one out. However, in this regard pizza is fairly forgiving, so in it went.

Ingredients:
- 1 pizza dough (I like the ones from Trader Joes)
- semolina
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 4 oz mushrooms
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- fresh basil
- mozzarella


The dough was rolled out with the aid of semolina rather than ordinary flour - I think this was particularly helpful getting the crust very nice. The tomatoes and mushrooms were sliced, the bell pepper and basil cut in strips - on top was added grated mozzarella. The pizza went in the oven on max heat, but after about 5 minutes we decided to turn it down a bit. Turned out really well.