While we were queueing I had my little eagle eyes on red alert watching all that was going on behind the counter. The guy making up the pizzas was pulling small balls from a large mound of soft white dough. I verbalised to Mr Boo that I wondered what sort of a dough base these professionals were using and he swiftly pointed to a rather large sign heralding the use of sourdough bases. OK, so my eyes were having a bit of an off day.
We placed our order with the very friendly guy busy making up boxes in a vain attempt to keep up with demand. I was instructed by Mr Boo to stay put while he popped behind us to get some Calamari before he collapsed from the hunger (honest to God). He returned mere moments later proudly clutching a bowl of (rather delicious) calamari and chorizo for us to munch on while we waited (yep, still waiting) for our pizza. Just as he polished off the last of his starter his name was called and Mr. Boo stepped on small children and grannies to get to it. We found a little spot at a picnic table and sat down to enjoy it and got plenty of envious looks from people who had opted for alternatives. As we happily tucked in Mr Boo declared that the sauce wasn't up to much and that mine was so much better. Ah, I really do loves him. He was right, it was watery and bland. The base however was light and crispy and just perfect for my taste so I knew that I was onto a winner and would just have to try it out during the week.
Cue reindeersp and her idea for a twizzaparty having seen pizza recipes emerge from more than one Irish Food Blogger over a couple of days. The idea was for any of the Irish Food Bloggers who wanted to participate to make homemade pizzas and tweet ideas and photos last night. Perfect, I could try out my new dough and not feel guilty, as I was contractually obliged to do so. Well, maybe I wasn't exactly contractually obliged but it sounds much better than just eating pizza for the 3rd time in one week because I am a little porker! The dough was perfect and as if I didn't love him enough already Mr. Boo declared, unprompted, that it was MUCH better than Dick and Dave's as he inhaled slice after slice. I am a very happy bunny, I have a new favourite pizza base that is so light and yum, and I have a gorgeous man who loves me, and my pizza. Life is good.
The following is a basic sourdough recipe, which makes one loaf, but if divided into six pieces will make 6 (approx 9") thin and crispy pizzas.
Sourdough Bread
For the sourdough starter:
2tsp dried yeast (1 7g sachet was exactly 2tsp for me)
300ml/10floz water
240g/8&1/2oz Strong White Flour
1. Sprinkle the dried yeast onto the water and stir until dissolved.
2. Stir in the flour, cover and leave to ferment for 2 days at room temperature.
3. Stir a couple of times a day.
Make the starter in a much bigger bowl than you think you will need, as it will rise as it ferments. Once the starter is ready you can make the dough.
For the dough:
1tsp Dried Yeast
200ml/7floz Water
60g/20z Rye Flour
300g/10oz Strong White Flour
1. Sprinkle the dried yeast onto the water and stir until dissolved.
2. Sieve the flours in to a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
3. Pour in 250ml/9floz of the starter (reserve the rest for a future loaf) and mix in the flour from the sides.
4. Stir in the yeast water until you have a sticky dough.
5. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic.
6. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and leave in a warm room to rise for 2 hours. (I left mine in the airing cupboard)
8. Shape into a round loaf, place on a lightly floured baking tray and cover for 1&1/2 hours to allow it to prove. Alternatively if using as pizza dough at this stage divide the dough into 6 pieces, shape into balls before placing onto the baking sheet and returning to the airing cupboard for 1&1/2 hours.
Alternatively, on a floured surface roll out the individual dough balls to a thickness of 5mm or less. Place on a floured baking sheet and dress with sauce and toppings of your choice and bake in an oven preheated to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7 for 10 minutes.
This might all seem like a lot of hard work but each of the stages takes between 5 and 10 mins and it was definitely worth it for the results.
Mojito anyone?
This one was just for the lovely Italian Foodie
(Nutella dusted with a little icing sugar)
Other Irish Food Bloggers who participated in the twizzparty are:
Musings of a Med Student (who was responsible for the event, so a big thank you)
Italian Foodie (expert judge on the evening)
Now don't be rude, go on off and say hello to all of these lovely people.
