Well hello there aren't you a naughty little thing? So good to see you. I want to introduce you to some people. Okay?
So I am still using the Emeril deep dish dough recipe; it works well and can easily be loafed into bread. The results yield a flexible dough that rises nicely. This time I used semolina flour instead of corn meal (which allowed me to make corn bread out of the Necronomicon). I actually preferred the crunch of the corn meal in the dough, and may try a half and half of the corn meal and the semolina.
In a follow up, then to the Sarson Ka Saag pizza and the Vegan for Lent pledge (this is pizza recipe one of five), here is a next pizza recipe. This one is also pretty easy going and doesn't have any ingredients you can't get at a supermarket. It has more pan work than the others, but pretty good work flow for timing. The pizza itself is a nice savory sweet and salty pie.
Start about forty-five minutes into the dough rising. Chop up a large yellow onion, and get into caramelizing it. I like to use my cast iron skillet. The labor of love that is properly caramelizing an onion is largely balanced on dehydrating the onion while raising the temperature gradually to heat the sugars, catalyzing caramelization and maillard reactions.
There are no great shortcuts, adding water inhibits both, salt can help to dessicate the onion by drawing out the water through osmosis but still you must stir all the more frequently as there is less of a buffer to keep from burning the onions. Slicing thinly and small increases surface area for sugar to heat all the more directly. But both salt and slice only shorten the time and love minimally, so take the time to put care into those lovely onions rather than try too much to rush them. (I have found that if you need to go do something, you can toss them in the oven at 200'F to have them hold their temp without needing to stir for a bit.)
Once they are nice and caramelized you can toss on a bunch of chopped kale and turn up the heat to high. Douse with a hearty dose of either braggs aminos or tamari, add a quarter cup of water, stir, and cover for five minutes to steam the greens. Remove the lid and add a splash of balsamic and a half cup of red wine.
Remove the onions and the kale to cool off, allow the remaining liquid to reduce. Slurry 1 teaspoon of cornstarch in 1-3 teaspoons cold water (or better, you would use arrowroot or tapioca starch for acidic sauces like these).
Preheat the oven to 450'F. Start a second, small fry pan at medium heat to toast some spices (paprika, cumin, coriander, ancho powder); once toasted cover with a quarter cup of olive oil. Saute some finely minced garlic in the oil and spices then remove once softened and pour into a small bowl. Stir the slurry then whisk into the reducing wine sauce. Continue to reduce until it turns into a nice glaze. Pour off into a spouted measuring cup.
So the dough recipe yields two shells. I cut the risen loaf in half, tossed until round, punched until flattened out, tossed to round some more, then press into a greased pie pan (I used a 14" heavy aluminum pizza dish).
Brush the dough shell with the oil, spices, and garlic; chop and cover with parsley. Top with the onions and kale, then the roasted sweet potatoes. Sprinkle on some toasted sesame seeds (or fresh toasted walnuts if you have any). Sprinkle on daiya as you like, and then drizzle with the wine sauce reduction.
Now the option here is to either brick or not to brick the pizza. This recipe crisps up quite nicely in the aluminum pan. That said, if you are paranoid or utterly convinced nothing is as good as stone bricked pizza, you can pop a stone in while you pre-heat the oven.
A pizza brick will make it harder to heat the oven, and use up more gas. That said, it will also stabilize the temperature as it is a heat sink.
The brick will not necessarily yield a better crust for a thick crust, but for a thin crust it is almost obligatory.
Anyway, the way I test dough is to lift it in the pan and scrape the bottom with a metal spatula. When you can hear the dough's tooth at the tip, and feel it in your fingers, it works to brick it.
Bricking the pizza the entire time is another option, but I find it easier to go in a pan as it allows you to infuse the outside with fat and ensure a crispier, moist crust. I find a wholly stoned pizza to be drier, though even crispier to a crunch. Works well with corn meal dusted shell bottoms. Anyway, here are my results after about 10 minutes at 450'F, then 12 at 375'F.
My results betray that I burtnet the potatoes. They were over-roasted to begin, but the second baking killed them dead. I also over sauteed the garlic and had a few crispier bits. No big deal in either case, and not symptomatic of the recipe. This is a savory, sweet, & salty pizza that chews big and brings a smile to sweet and salty lips. I topped mine with a smidge of sriracha to give it added spice.
(Look at those air pockets!)
I still have five of five pizzas to engineer and by Sunday (though I suppose you might say that it wouldn't count on Sunday, or perhaps even tomorrow, but I'm calling for being Vegan for Lent until Easter dinner). Like any feast day, we must feast. But it's also the start of Passover starting Friday night at sundown. What does that mean?
mfg
. First I grease the pan with Crisco; hey, it's how I learned and it adds an awesome crunch to the crust. Basically the dough, once risen, you cut in two and pan. (I set aside the other half of the dough in the saran wrap that was used to cover it while it rose on top of the oven to see if some more light heat would help it rise a smidge more.) On top of the shell you spread the beans, (mix in a bowl to improve flow and then) pour on the can of saag, and drop by hand the potatoes. Sprinkle on some mozzarella daiya. Bake at 375'-400'F until the dough smells yeasty and has browned nicely.
