Pizza and Movies

I know I should be doing my research.  Somehow, knowing this seems irrelevant when my dear friend Jane calls.  These Thursdays with lunch, knitting, gin-gins, and movies seem much more important and meaningful.  Yesterday, we ate delicious, homemade pizza with pesto, vegetables and goat cheese (sorry Naseem)  while watching "Julie and Julia" and one of my personal favorites, "Monsoon Wedding".  Julia Childs always reminds me of my mother, and the "Bon Appetite" we'd be  blessed with before each meal.  And the irony of watching a film about a food blogger was not lost on me, but don't worry, I don't expect the New York Times to be knocking on my door, or a book deal.  The scene in 'Monsoon Wedding' where the father confronts the 'uncle' about his inappropriate behavior with his niece simply tears my heart out.  Is that guilt and sense of loyalty unique to Indian culture?  I don't know, but I can actually understand the father's dillema there, as angry and sick as the uncle's behavior makes me.  I cried and cried.  Not just because of the abuse, but because of the conflict for the father.  It's a brilliant film by filmmaker Mira Nair, who is one of my favorite directors.

Making pizza is a daunting task, but it is so worth it.  Well, it's worth it if you live in a good pizza desert as
I do.You know there is trouble when your foodie friends suggest Dominos for dinner.

You'll need a few tools for this.  I suggest you go to a local restaurant supply store and get yourself a wooden pizza peel.  Also, do yourself a favor and forgo the expensive and prone to break pizza stone, and go instead to your local mega hardware store. In the tile department should be unglazed quarry tiles.  Usually, they are about 6 x 6 inches.  I'd suggest you buy a box so that when they break (which they will), you can replace them.  In Champaign, they cost me 43 cents a piece.  My oven can fit 6, you'll have to figure that out for yourself.  The nice thing about unglazed quarry tiles is that they are more thin than most pizza stones, so they heat faster, and for me, that is nice, because it means I use less energy.

To make pizza dough that tastes like that amazing pizza crust from your favorite restaurant (imagine that slice now), you need one very important thing....time.  You need to plan to make pizza one to two days in advance so that the dough can "retard", or rest.  That helps to develop a more complex flavor and trust me, it's worth it.

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups tap water (cool )
1 t. yeast
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
All purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Directions for the Dough:  Put water and yeast in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.  Mix.  Add whole wheat flour and about an equal amount of all purpose flour.  Mix to form a thick batter.  Let stand for 1 hour. 
With mixer on low, add salt and enough flour so that a ball is formed and the dough no longer sticks to the bottom of the bowl.  Your dough will be sticky.  Remove the paddle and put on the dough hook.  Put the mixer on low-medium (for my KitchenAid, that is #2).  Let the dough knead for 5 minutes.  Let it rest in an oiled, covered bowl until doubled.  Put in the refrigerator (or on your cold porch) until 2 hours before using, at which point you should put it in a warm place. The dough is best when used 1 to 2 days after being made.  You can freeze the dough after this point.  (This whole thing can be done by hand, or even in a food processor.)  This makes enough dough for 2 very thin 14-16 inch pizzas or 1 thick crust and an individual pizza.

Topping
For this pizza, I used pesto (that I made this summer and froze), carmelized onions, sundried tomatoes, spinach, kalamata olives, fontina and goat cheese.  It is a delicious combination, but I also enjoy a simple tomato sauce (made with a 28 oz. can of good crushed tomatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, pasted, 1 t. salt, 2 t. good dried oregano (I like to get it on the branch at the local international store) and 3 T. good extra virgin olive oil,) mozzerella, thinly sliced red onion and thinly sliced crimini mushrooms.

4 oz. Italian Fontina (or good mozzerella), shredded
1/4 cup pesto (I make mine with 4 c. fresh basil, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 t. kosher salt, 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and 1/2 cup parmesan)
1 cup thinly sliced red onion that has been carmelized with 1 t. olive oil and a pinch of salt
1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced (I suggest buying them with pits)
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, sliced (not packed in oil)
5 oz. frozen spinach, thoroughly dried out and chopped
1/2 cup chevre

Directions:
One hour before making your pizza, put your tiles in the oven, butting them together.  Set the temperature to 500 degrees.

Flour your countertop and stretch (or roll out, but stretching is better), 1/2 to 2/3s of your dough into a 16 inch round (1/2 for very thin pizza).  Put a few tablespoons of semolina flour or cornmeal onto your pizza peel.  Place the dough on the peel, shaking it to make sure it moves.  Lightly cover the dough with pesto.  Top with fontina and the vegetables.  Dot the top with goat cheese and sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil.  The olives and cheese may be salty, so I would suggest not adding a sprinkle of salt.
Slide the pizza onto the stones and let it cook for about 15 minutes, until the crust is a dark brown and the cheese starts to brown.  Remove it from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes before enjoying.