Baking with Kids

It seems like I am running into this dangerous situation that I will probably abandon this blog for good. It also doesn't help that we will be away for most part of the year-end school holidays.

I have been wanting to write up this post since last week, but only managed to upload some photos. I can draw up a long list of excuses to justify my tardiness, but I don't think this is fair, especially to those of you who come visit my blog regularly...my thousand apologies!

To make things worst, this post is not something new...it is just an 'extension' from my previous post ^_^"'


Whenever both my kids are at home on a weekdays, we would always make it a point to make homemade pizza for lunch. As usual we made two pizzas...one of them had to be my kids' all-time-favourite, the Hawaiian pizza...with lots of ham and pineapples as toppings.


The other pizza dough was topped with "whatever I can find" ingredients....mushrooms, green peppers, cherry tomatoes, black olives and some left over minced meat.

I made the dough using a new recipe from a cookbook I bought several months ago. There are two basic pizza dough recipes to choose from....thick or thin crust. From this cookbook, I learned that the difference between the two depends very much on the ratio of the bread flour to plain flour used. The greater amount of bread flour will produce a thicker and more bread-like crust since bread flour has got a higher gluten-level. I have also read that some traditional wafer thin crust pizza will use only plain flour, I have always thought that all pizza doughs are made with bread flour, how ignorant of me! For the thick crust recipe a lot more bread flour than plain flour (5:1) is used, whereas the thin crust recipe uses much less (1:2). I went for the thick crust pizza this time.

While I was gathering the ingredients for the dough, my younger kid came along and offered his help...and upon his request, I let him do the mixing. Since my hands are free, I took the chance to take a video clip of the entire mixing process :)




The crust was not as thick as I thought it would be. I was expecting something like a thick focaccia...probably because I have rolled it out too thin. I must say we pretty like the texture, not too thick and yet not too thin! Just to let you know I very much prefer my "whatever I can find" pizza to the ham and pineapples version ;)


Thick Crust Pizza

Ingredients:
(make two 10" pizza dough)

250g bread flour
50g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs (optional)
1 tablespoon olive oil
180ml lukewarm water


Method:

1. Place bread flour, plain flour, salt, yeast and dried mixed herbs (if using) in a mixing bowl. Mix well with hand. Make a well in the centre and add olive oil and water. Using your hand, gradually work the ingredients together to form a soft dough.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 10-15mins until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a round ball and place in a lightly oiled mixing bowl. Cover with cling wrap and leave to rise for 1 hr or until double in size.
3. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knock it down to release the air. Give it a few gentle kneading. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Shape into two balls, cover loosely with cling wrap and let the doughs rest for about 10mins.
4. Roll or press out each portion to a round, about 12" in size. Place dough on baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a greased pan.
5. Spread some pizza sauce over the dough to within 1 cm (0.5 inch) of the edge. Arrange a layer of grated cheese (I used grated mozzarella), followed by preferred toppings. Sprinkle the top all over with grated cheese.
6. Bake in a preheat oven at 220 degC for 15-20mins or until the crust has turned golden and the cheese has melted. Serve warm.

Recipe source: adapted from 美食新煮张, 手工面包&三明治