Have you ever tried avocado on pizza? It’s actually really good! But then again, I think a almost anything tastes good on pizza – especially homemade pizza – because I just love it to no end!
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups all purpose (or white whole wheat like King Arthur’s)
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon yeast (I prefer highly active)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (plus additional for rubbing on dough balls)
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- a little rosemary (optional)
- For topping, use more or less of following ingredients (to taste):
- 1 cup (or more) fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced or shredded
- 1 white or red onion, sliced
- 2 jalapeno peppers, sliced
- 1 avocado, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 4-5 fresh small tomatoes (flavorful tomatoes make a big difference)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed or sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsely, roughly chopped
- fresh parsley, crushed red pepper if desired
- grated Parmigiano or Pecorino cheese if desired
- a little cornmeal to dust on pizza peel
Instructions
- For the dough, add the yeast to the 2 cups of water for several minutes until it becomes foamy. Add the sugar, olive oil and vinegar.
- While the yeast is dissolving in the water, add the flour, rosemary and salt to bowl of electric mixer (that has dough hook attachment) and whisk a couple times.
- Note: You can also use a food processor – OR you can just do everything by hand (instructions below)!
- For electronic mixer with hook attachment: Process on medium high for several minutes. After about 7 minutes, check the dough. If the dough is still tacky and sticking to the bowl (not forming in the center on the hook), add more flour by the tablespoon until it does. The dough should be clinging on the hook and not sticking to the bottom and the sides. To test the dough for readiness, pinch off a small piece and stretch – it shoud be elastic and look a little transparent when stretched. Total kneading time with the mixer is about 10 minutes. Once complete, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead a couple times to from into ball.
- Place in bowl rubbed with olive oil, cover with towel and let sit for two hours until it doubles in size.
- After two hours, turn out onto lightly floured surface, punch down and knead a couple times and cut in 1/2 or in three equal pieces. Form into neat balls and use as needed. To use the next day, rub lightly with olive oil, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight (I prefer using 1-4 days later for better flavor).
- For the pizza, preheat oven (with pizza stone if you have one) to 500 degrees F. Place rack in the center of the oven.
- Stretch out your dough and push downward in center with fingers to desired shape and size.
- Dust pizza peel (or parchment paper) with a little cornmeal and lay down your dough on top of it, reshaping it and leaving a little more thickness on the edges.
- Drizzle a little olive oil on dough and then evenly arrange cheese, leaving about an inch at the edges for the crust. Add toppings.
- Slide onto pizza stone and let cook for about 8-10 minutes until dough is nicely browned on the edges.
- Remove and garnish with the fresh parsely, parmigiana cheese, crushed red pepper.
- Enjoy!
Courtesy of Garlicgirl.com
~~BMB
