Roasted Vegetable Pizza

People often ask me what is my favorite thing to make and eat.  Tonight we made it, pizza with dough made from scratch.

This dough can be made and then baked right away but it is easier to handle if it is made in advance.  This time I prepared the dough this morning and left it in the fridge during the day.  I also experimented by adding some semolina flour instead of regular flour to see what happens.  The result is a dough that is easier to handle but does not rise as much as with all purpose flour only.  It made a very nice thin crust.

The toppings were leftover vegetables that were roasted earlier this week.  We used beets, red peppers, tomatoes and spinach.

Recipe for the dough (makes 2 thin crust pizzas):

• 1.5 tsp Dry active yeast
• 1 cup Water
• 2,5 cups Flour (Bread flour if available)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar  
• 1 tsp Garlic powder (optional)
• 2 tbsp Dried or fresh herbs (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix sugar and yest in 1cup warm water, let stand for 10min.
2. Whisk together salt and flour in a large bowl.
3. Mix water/yeast mix into flour and stir until combined.  The mix will be "shaggy".
4. Put flour on counter or cutting board and empty shaggy dough ball on it.
5. Knead for a few minutes until dough is a cohesive ball.
6. Put dough in bowl and cover.  Let stand for 30 min or more.
7. Preheat oven to 500 F with pizza stone inside.
8. Stretch ball of dough into a flat circle on a pizza peel.
9. Layout toppings on the crust.
10. Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake for 15-30 minutes, until the crust is crispy and browned.