Homemade Pizza

We were very productive and creative last Sunday. Yan and I had decided to try our hands on some new recipes - Yan with his pizza making, while I had sort of promised a friend that I would make cupcakes using her recipe. It has been some months ago since I last used the kitchen, and before we move out of this place, I thought we should put it to good use for the last few times. After all, we did spend some effort renovating the kitchen. It was surreal - Yan and I in the kitchen, each doing our own thing, with Nadal battling against Gonzales in the Olympics' tennis final match (on TV) in the background. I must say Yan has some hidden talent in dough kneading. It was almost effortless, and the pizza turned out much better than expected. We did not wait for 9 hours for the dough to rise as recommended in the recipe. Yan went with his gut feel, and the pizza sheet baked to almost crispy perfection nonetheless. That evening, we had pizza for dinner, and cupcakes as dessert. Life can be simple.

Recipe for the thin & crispy pizza:
3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

3/4 cup of slight warm water

3 1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast

1. Pour 75% of the water and all of the oil into an electric mixer bowl.

2. In another bowl, mix the yeast with the remaining water and set aside for 5 minutes.

3. Add flour, sugar, salt and the yeast mixture into the electric mixer bowl.

4. Mix on slow speed for 10 minutes to form a dough

5. Then mix the dough thoroughly on medium speed for another 30 minutes

6. Place the dough on a work surface, and knead the mixture into a stiff dough ball

7. Place the dough into a large bowl and sealed with a cling wrap

8. Allow the dough to rise for at least 9 hours at room temperature

9. The dough is ready to be rolled into thin sheets.

10. Place thin sheeted dough over a lightly oiled pizza pan, press into place and dock.

11. Trim off the excess dough draping over the side of the pan

12. Apply tomato puree, desired toppings and shredded cheese

13. Bake in a pre-heated 475 deg F oven for approx. 10 minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp