Pizza crust (shulman)

6 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 teaspoon Active dry yeast
1½ cup Lukewarm water
½ cup Fine semolina
½ cup Whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon Salt
2⅝ cup Unbleached white flour; plus
½ cup Unbleached white flour; for kneading

Directions

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water in a large bowl or in the bowl of your electric mixer and let sit for 5 minutes, until the yeast begins to bubble slightly. Stir in the semolina.

Kneading by hand: Mix together the whole-wheat flour and salt and stir into the yeast mixture. Fold in the unbleached white flour, cup at a time, until the dough can be scraped out of the bowl in one piece. Add cup of the unbleached flour to your kneading surface and knead, adding unbleached white flour as needed for 10 minutes. The dough will be sticky at first but will become very elastic.

Using an electric mixer: Combine the whole-wheat flour, salt and the unbleached white flour and add all at once to the bowl. Mix together with the paddle, then change to the dough hook. Mix at low speed for 2 minutes, then at medium speed for 8 to 10 minutes. If the dough seems very wet and sticky, sprinkle in up to cup flour for kneading. Scrape out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or so by hand. Shape into a ball.

Rinse out your bowl, dry, and brush lightly with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, rounded side down first, then rounded side up. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise for 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven, with a baking stone or baking tiles in it, to 500 degrees. Punch down the dough. Line a lightly oiled 14- or 15-inch pizza pan or roll the dough into a small round that will bake directly on a stone. The dough should be rolled no thicker than ¼-inch.

If you are baking the pizza directly on a stone, transfer the dough to a baking peel that has been lightly dusted with semolina or cornmeal. Top with the garnishes of your choice and either gently slide from the peel onto the hot baking stone or place pan on the top of the baking stone. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Advance preparation: The dough can be frozen, before or after being rolled out. If you have rolled out the dough, do not thaw, but top and bake directly.

Nutrition information for one-sixth of crust: 198 calories, about 1½ grams fat, 368 milligrams sodium, 6 grams protein, 39 grams carbohydrate, 0 milligrams cholesterol.

>From "Provencal Light," by Martha Rose Shulman (Bantam, 1994).

>Recipes from "An evening in Provence," February 18, 1998, By ANN BURGER, Post and Courier Food Editor, 1998-Feb-18

Notes: The salt was adjusted: 2 tsp. were specified in the original.

>Edited by Pat Hanneman (Kitpath) 98mar Recipe by: PROVENCAL LIGHT, by Martha Rose Shulman Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by KitPATh <phannema@...> on Mar 24, 1998

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