Success!

Last time I made stovetop pizza it was not so good. Apparently my pan was too hot because the pizza had little burned spots (nothing nicely browned), was not fully cooked on the inside, and wasn't hot enough to melt the toppings. This time I kept the burner at medium (which required a bit more patience for the pan to heat up), and it was a total success....Just like Mark Bittman said, nicely browned on the outside and soft and wonderful on the inside. However, contrary to what Bittman says, I would use less oil for the first pizza and add more as necessary. The first one was a bit greasy.

My toppings worked well too. Mark said he preferred the lamb to the sausage (though both were good), but he liked the pizza dough better than using a pita in the oven. And putting fully cooked stuff on top of the crust worked really well too...and looked beautiful. I started to think that you could put a salad on top of the crust (with arugala and asparagus...man, that could be good), and it would be great. Or bruschetta! You could make a bruschetta pizza by putting a whole garlic clove in the oil (to flavor) and topping the pizza with warmed (or cold) bruschetta topping.

Oh man. If you like bread, you have to try this!

Oh! And you should know that if you use Bittman's crust recipe, you make the whole thing in the food processor and only have to let it rise (no kneading). You know what...forget looking it up, I will share the ingredients and two attempts worth of wisdom with you here.:)

Dump all of the following into your food processor:

3 c flour

1 tsp rapid rise yeast

2 tsp course salt

Turn the machine on to mix and gradually add 1 c water and 2 Tbsp olive oil to the food processor

Bittman says that it takes about 30 seconds to form a ball. I've found that it works faster than that. If all of the dough isn't coming together, add a bit more water.


That's it...turn it out onto a floured surface and fold it over a couple of times. Then put it in a bowl greased with olive oil to rise for about an hour. For the pan fried pizzas, I break this into 4 lumps and let them sit a bit more before shaping them into disks slightly smaller than the pan with my hands.

If you don't have a food processor, you'll just have to do a bit more kneading...check out Bittman's recipe from my last post or buy the pizza dough pre-made.:)


To pan fry dough disks, put a some olive oil in a pan (Bittman suggests nonstick. I used cast iron.) and turn the heat to medium. Wait for the pan to heat up then put the first dough disk in. It should take 3-4 minutes per side. Once the first side is all browned and nice, flip it over and put your toppings on top. Obviously the whole thing is done when the bottom finishes.


Like I said, I think it's easier to use precooked toppings. However, if you want to melt/cook the toppings just put the cover on the pan while you cook the second side or finish it off under your broiler (which I do not have).:)



Oh man! We're having this again tonight!



(By the way, Bittman makes all his breads in the food processor this way. I've had good luck with his baguette recipe as well... only there is no way to make it without an oven.)