A Conscious Feast by Nicole Aloni

Organic Pizza Dough

I decided to try out organic flour from Washington’s own Fairhaven Mills to see how it performed in a pizza crust—one of my favorite quick winter meals for myself or for a shindig.

Homemade pizza really over-delivers on the effort involved. It’s waaay better than restaurant fare and, depending on the toppings, will cost at most a couple of dollars for a pizza that will be serve 2 or 3. And with fresh and inventive toppings, it’s sexy comfort food that everyone loves. I decided to experiment with a combination of white and rye flour. Yowzah!

This crust is simple to make and delightfully reminiscent of a real New York pie. Follow the simple instructions for cooking pizza on your grill to create professional tasting pizza pie (the recipe for the Pizza Bianco topping pictured above is in tomorrow’s Democratic Eats). Make a double batch and freeze half for use in a week or a month. It defrosts beautifully and provides a wonderful meal in minutes.

Note: if you aren’t planning to use your grill, a pizza stone in your oven is a necessity for real pizza-pro results and good dough is a little easier to make if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook.

Makes 6 individual (8″) pizzas or 2 large (12″)

• 1 1/2 c. warm water (110°, warm on your wrist)
• 1 T honey
• 3 tsp active dry yeast (@ 1 1/2 envelopes)
• 2 1/2 c. Fairhaven organic, unbleached white flour (or all purpose flour)
• 2 c. Fairhaven organic rye flour ( or high gluten bread flour)
• 4 1/2 T. olive oil
• 2 1/2 tsp salt
• Optional: 1/2 tsp. dried basil, oregano or garlic powder
• Cornmeal (for dusting)

Prepare the dough

1. Brush large bowl with olive oil.
2. Mix water and sugar in food processor with a metal blade. Sprinkle yeast over water; stir to dissolve. Let stand until mixture bubbles, about 10 min. Add flour, olive oil and salt.  Process 1 min.
3. Transfer the dough ball to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Knead dough about 7 minutes until smooth and elastic (or transfer dough to a floured surface and knead by hand until smooth, about 10 min.)
4. Transfer to oiled bowl, turning to coat dough with oil.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Let dough rise in warm, draft-free area until doubled in volume (about 1 hr.)
5. Divide dough into 6 (or 2) equal chunks and roll into balls.  Put on a sheet pan, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour.  (At this stage you can freeze any dough you don’t plan to use immediately.)
6. Pre heat barbecue to medium high and make sure the grill is brushed very clean.

Shape the Pizza

1. To form each pizza, either roll out the desired size with a rolling pin or more traditionally use the heel of your hand and your fingertips to flatten and stretch the dough into the desired size (about 1/8” thick).  Flip the dough and work the other side, dusting with flour as necessary.  If the dough is too elastic to shape, let it rest for 15 minutes in the refrigerator and continue.
2. When the desired shape is achieved, brush the top with olive oil and set aside on a cookie sheet lightly coated with cornmeal.

Cook the Pizza

1. Using a large spatula (or pizza peel) place the pizza dough directly on the clean grill. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side, using tongs to flip. (Crusts prepared like this can be wrapped when cool and refrigerated as long as 48 hours ahead of time.)
2. Add desired toppings (see suggestions tomorrow) and put back on the grill for 2 to 3 minutes.  It’s easiest to finish one pizza at a time.

To prepare in the oven:

1. Preheat oven, with pizza stone* on the middle rack, to 500° (In Naples, where pizza is said to have originated, the standard is to cook it at over 900°).
2. Transfer the pizza onto a pizza peel or a rimless baking sheet that is well dusted with cornmeal.
3. Put on desired toppings, leaving a one-inch border. Slip the “topped” pizza onto the hot stone in the oven.
4. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes for small or 10 to 12 minutes for large, until the crust is golden brown.