GALLEY PIZZA DOUGH
It’s time to talk pizza, my Galley Peeps! I’ve been posting pics of my creations for the past few months on social media because baking soothes my isolated soul and after several requests for my recipe, it’s time to write it up and share.
We love pizza in our little home by the sea. I mean LOVE pizza! It’s become our Friday night special. When my son visits, he has to have his Momma pizza fix and I’m more than happy to oblige. It’s also the perfect meal for the wildlings especially when they can customize it themselves.
Lately we’ve really been liking pizza bianco – white base instead of a red. I make a béchamel sauce, add some grated parmesan cheese then smear it over the unbaked crust before adding toppings. I’m calling this my isolation pizza because I topped it with what I could find in the refrigerator – slices of leftover grilled steak, caramelized onions, some feta that was reaching it past date time and grated havarti from my farm delivery.
The deep dish pan pizza was a winner too. There was no stretching or rolling. The dough was spread out by hand, pushed to the edges of a pie plate, then dimpled with my fingers. Yeasty things and I are becoming better acquainted. I now know that if I push the dough around the pan and it doesn’t behave and stay put, I simply walk away for a few minutes then come back and try again. It’s kind of like dealing with a petulant child but it works. Something to do with the relaxing of the gluten fibres I’m told.
I topped the unbaked dimpled dough with grated mozzarella right to the edges, added dollops of red sauce, then a sprinkling of more cheese over all. Adding the cheese as a base kept the crust from getting soggy and made a wonderful caramelized crusty cheesy edge once cooked.
Once you have this dough recipe under your belt, the rest is a piece of cake…or a slice of pizza. Top as you wish. Double the recipe and stash the extra in the freezer. Same amount of effort but you’ll thank me next time you have a pizza craving.
A word about pizza pans. On the boat we have a couple of small ceramic pizza stones that fit well in the back-of-the-boat bbq. In my land oven I have been using a large round pizza stone. The base is prepared on a piece of floured parchment then I slide it onto the stone that has been heating in a 450 deg oven. But a few months ago when we were expecting company and needed to prepare several pizzas, I purchased a couple of inexpensive metal pans with holes and I’m really liking the results. The holes let the bottom crisp up nicely and it was the closest to take-out that I’ve been able to accomplish – on land or at sea.
A word about flour. In the past I never bothered about the type of flour. All purpose was the thing. Sometimes I would use a scoop of whole wheat, sometimes rye. That is until I met double O (AKA 00, Italian flour or sometimes called Manitoba flour). Love the authentic results. It’s not always easy to find but well worth it if you do.
So my Galley Peeps, that’s my pizza story. Now go forth and create. Add toppings of your liking. So many options out there. White sauce. Tomato sauce. Simply olive oil or olive oil with some minced fresh garlic and crushed chilis. Just cheese. All dressed. Veggie. Meat lovers. My favourite…Margherita (simply tomatoes and fresh mozzarella). Captain’s fave….California Club (bacon, grilled chicken, tomato topped before serving with slices of avocado and a pile of creamy Caesar salad). And finally the most polarizing pizza of all time and my son’s fave….Hawaiian (pineapple and ham)
Here are some pizza ideas from my past galley efforts:
THREE CHEESE PIZZA with CARAMELIZED ONIONS and GRILLED PEACHES
CAPTAIN COOKS: Apple Bacon Blue Cheese Pizzas
Buon appetito my galley friends. Thanks for stopping by.
Galley Pizza Dough
Equipment
- large bowl
- mixer with hook attachment ( optional but very useful)
- Some sort of pan: pizza stone, pizza with holes, baking sheet, pie plate
Ingredients
- 1 cup room temperature water
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tsp olive oil a touch more for oiling your bowl
- 1 cup all purpose flour extra flour for kneading
- 1 cup ’00’ flour if not available you can sub in all purpose
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Whisk yeast and oil into the warm water and set aside for 10 minutes or until the yeast begins to bloom
- In large mixing bowl or the bowl of your food processor, blend the flours together
- Add oil, yeast and water mixture to bowl and mix until dough begins to come together.
- If using mixer with hook attachment, continue to mix on medium for about 3 minutes. If kneading by hand, dump dough onto lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. I add a little extra time for manual assuming your arms aren’t as strong as a mixer on medium. If the dough is still too sticky to handle, add flour a tablespoon at a time.
- Let the dough rest for 15 minutes
- Back to kneading, add salt and continue with mixer or by hand and knead for an additional 5 minutes. At this point the dough with be silky and smooth, a little tacky.
- If using the same day, add dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a clean tea towel and set aside for 3-4 hours.
- If not using right away, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 24 hours but remove and allow to come to room temperature at least 30 minute prior to using. You can also at this point wrap and freeze the dough for future use.
- When ready to use, preheat your oven to 450 ° or your grill to it’s highest setting. Gather your toppings. Either on a lightly flour surface or directly onto the baking pan, spread your dough, pushing out to the edges. If it springs back leave it alone for a couple of minutes then come back and continue to spread. Add toppings of choice. Depending on the intensity of your oven, type and size of pan used, deep dish or thinner crust, it will take anywhere from 10-20 minutes of cooking time, but 12 minutes is the sweet spot for me. The crust around the edges will be a wonderful golden brown and the cheese all melty.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are calculated for two 12” pizza crusts. Toppings are extra.
