Flatbread Pizzas
There are few things that make me happier than making doughs. Pasta dough, bread dough, pizza dough, it goes on. There’s something about mixing all of the ingredients together and making something completely different than another dough by adding egg or yeast. And I’m usually a very clean person, obsessively wiping down countertops and washing my hands while cooking, but when making dough, it’s just too fun to worry about the flour getting all over your floor and jeans, or the dough getting stuck between your fingers. The tactile sensations in cooking really make cooking more of an experience than an action, and when you can appreciate these sensations and understand the language in the process, you take cooking to a different level - a personal level.
Pizza Dough:
25g (.8oz) Dry Yeast.
8.45 oz (little more than a cup) warm water.
13 oz Tipo “00” flour (not all-purpose/bread).
2 tbl Olive oil.
pinch salt.
Dusting Flour.
To begin with, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. You’ll want to dissolve your yeast in about 1 oz of the warm water, just to make a loose paste out of it, then add about 2 tbl of “00” flour and mix, adding just a touch more water to keep it as a loose paste. Let that sucka sit out for 30 minutes.
Place all of the remaining flour in the fitted bowl of a stand mixer. Make a small well in the center of the dough and add the yeast mixture, the remaining water, olive oil and salt and mix at a slow incorporating speed for the mixer (once the mixture is incorporated and a dough seems to form, switch to the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer).
Knead for about 10 minutes, and keep your hands well-floured if mixing by hand, folding the dough over itself over and over. Be certain not to over-work the glutens in the dough, or it’ll become too dense.
When the dough is elastic and silky form it into a large ball and leave in the stand mixer bowl with a damp cloth covering the bowl. Let it rise for 1 hour; it’ll double in size. If you cut an “X” on the top of the ball, after an hour has passed, it should disappear, indicating that it should be ready.
Knead the ball again in the mixer for another few minutes and let it rest for another 15 minutes, then divide the ball into 4 sections. Roll each section into a ball and, with a rolling pin and well-floured countertop, roll the dough into long, narrow strips of dough - long/wide enough to make the flatbread pizza, but short enough to fit on a grill. Be sure to keep the other dough balls covered with a damp cloth, so they don’t dry out.
Take the dough to a hot grill, lightly oil each side and grill it. It’s awesome. It’ll grow before your eyes, get puffy and charred. Cook just long enough to get the grill marks on the dough. Assemble the flatbreads how you would a regular pizza (sauce, cheese, meat, etc) and then throw that thing on a sheet tray back in the oven, long enough to melt the cheese and cook your toppings.
Papa John’s has got nothing on you.
Best,
Bobby
