No Knead Pizza Crust

Recipe: No Knead Pizza Crust


Look! Two posts in one day!! :)

I have recently received 2 requests to please publish the no-knead pizza dough recipe which I mentioned in a late-February post. I always do what I'm told.

haha

Anyway, this dough takes about 21 hours from start to when you can add toppings. Yes, the tradeoff to not kneading is the waiting! But time allows the gluten to develop slowly, giving this dough an incredible texture and flavor. Be patient. It will be worth the wait.


The recipe makes a rather thick 15" crust. If you like thin crusts on your pizza, roll it out to be larger, or divide the dough into two pieces.


I love crust (of course, since I love bread!) and always make a nice, thick crust around the perimeter. After a few pieces, Jack will usually save his crusts for me, preferring to eat the rest before filling up too much. It's a symbiotic relationship we have in that way-- he prefers the actual toppings, I slog through the toppings to get to the crust! So we trade...




The pizza above is Jack's favorite Thai Chicken Pizza and soon I will remember to write down the sauce ingredients so I can post this recipe as well.


* Exported from MasterCook *


No Knead Pizza Crust

Recipe By: Vicci
Servings: 4


Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspooon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces lukewarm water


In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Add the water and mix with a wooden spoon until the flour is no longer visible and is incorporated into the dough. This may take a little time and effort. Flour your hands well and play with (knead) the dough for about 30 seconds (you won't be actually "kneading it" in the traditional way, just moving the dough around a bit with your hands to ensure a thorough mixing). The dough is quite sticky.


Place the dough in a medium bowl (no need to oil or prepare the bowl). Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise is a coolish place (about 65-68F) for 18-19 hours.


Sprinkle the dough with 2 tablespoons of flour and "knead" it again (keeping your hands well-floured), making certain that the flour is totally incorporated into the dough. Place in another medium bowl, cover with the same plastic wrap, and allow to rise in a cool area for 2 additional hours.


Prepare a pizza sheet by spraying it well with cooking spray. Lift the pizza dough onto the sheet and deflate it further. Sprinkle some flour on top and form into a 15" diameter crust. Cover again with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.


Preheat oven to 450-475F. Remove plastic from crust and add toppings to pizza; place in the oven. Bake for 7 minutes, turn sheet 180 degrees, and bake for another 2-3 minutes or until bottom of the crust is lightly browned.


Start to Finish Time:
"21:00"

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Per serving: 257 Calories (kcal); 1g Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 54g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 268mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates

Green Goddess Salad Dressing

Recipe: Green Goddess Dressing

I have rediscovered an old favorite salad dressing. April’s edition of Canadian Living featured a Boston Lettuce Salad with Green Goddess Dressing and I realized that I haven’t had that type of salad dressing in years. Penzey’s makes a Green Goddess Dressing base, and I bought a small container a few years ago but I pitched it because it was incredibly salty (although I love most of the many, many other herbs/spices/mixtures which I have purchased there).

Green Goddess Salad Dressing is credited as having been created in 1923 as a tribute to an English actor, George Arliss, who was appearing in San Francisco in a stage play entitled "The Green Goddess". Green Goddess dressing was brought to the masses by Kraft in the 1970’s, and I remember eating dinner at my parents’ house with a bottle of it in the center of the table. I really enjoyed the flavor, very fresh herb-y and creamy, but never realized that the dominant taste was due to the copious amounts of parsley. As a freshman in college, in my tiny refrigerator in my tiny dorm room, I always had a bottle of Green Goddess. My best friend Karen and I would return back at the dorm, starving, in the wee hours of the morning (those late nights at the library, you see…), cut a head of iceberg lettuce into wedges, then soak the lettuce with this dressing. Life was good. :)

The classic recipe for this salad dressing always includes the following ingredients in one form or another: anchovies, mayonnaise, vinegar, green onion, garlic, parsley, tarragon and chives. Sometimes the anchovies are in the form of anchovy paste, and often the tarragon flavor comes in tarragon vinegar. Some cooks add sour cream, others substitute yogurt.

As usual, I was compelled to cut the fat content of this recipe. That was easy enough by subbing the lowfat versions of sour cream and mayo, but the dressing turned out to be very thick and not at all pourable. So I thinned it with some lowfat half & half, which did the trick. The flavor was redolent of fresh parsley, as I remembered, and it was creamy and rich-tasting as well. As a bonus, the total fat grams went to 3grams from 13, the saturated fat from 3g to 1g, and calories from 135 to 46. Jack really enjoyed this and, remember, he isn’t really a “salad person”!

* Exported from MasterCook *

Green Goddess Dressing

Servings: 6

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

--------- ---------- ---------------------------------------

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup light sour cream

1/4 cup light mayonnaise

3 tablespoons lowfat half & half

2 teaspoons thinly sliced green onions -- (or 1 1/2 teaspoons minced chives)

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon minced garlic

½ teaspoon anchovy paste

3/4 teaspoon dried tarragon -- crumbled

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

In a food processor, pulse the parsley a few times, then add the remaining ingredients. Process until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours for flavors to meld.

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Per serving: 46 Calories (kcal); 3g Total Fat; (60% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 3g Carbohydrate; 8mg Cholesterol; 154mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates