Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Daring Bakers - Pizza

When the moon hits your eye
Like a big pizza pie
That's amore

Jack Brooks

This month's Daring Bakers challenge is pizza, chosen by our host, Rosa, of Rosa's Yummy Yums, in honour of Sher, who was to be her co-host with Glenna before tragedy struck.

The challenge was to make our own pizza dough using Peter Reinhart's recipe, and to attempt to toss it to make the base for a pizza. You can find the recipe for the dough on Rosa's site. I had never made pizza before, let alone tried to toss the pizza dough, so this month's challenge was once again a learning exercise for me.

The recipe made enough for 6 small pizza bases. I made two pizzas and stored the rest for a rainy day.




I did try the tossing method to make the bases:





but unfortunately it did not quite turn out as planned:




Not being the patient sort, I then turned to the rolling pin to flatten out the bases.

My first pizza was an Aussie classic - the Hawaiian, with tomato paste as the sauce, topped with shredded ham, pineapple pieces and grated cheese:



The second pizza that I made was a tandoori chicken pizza, with a mango chutney and yoghurt sauce, topped with caramelised onion, chicken strips marinated in yoghurt and tandoori curry paste then cooked with the onion in a frypan, zucchini strips, capsicum strips and grated cheese:





Both pizzas were delicious, but my favourite was the Hawaiian. (There are critics who say that pineapple on a pizza is just wrong - they don't know what they're missing!!)

I subsequently made a beetroot and pumpkin pizza, using yoghurt and mango chutney sauce, cubed baby beets, cubed roasted pumpkin and fresh coriander:



Thanks to Rosa for hosting this month's challenge. You can check out all the other great pizza topping combinations, and have a laugh at everyone's attempts at tossing the dough,
here.



20 comments:

Tammy said...

love that tossing photo! well done!!

Maria said...

Great job on the toss!

Anonymous said...

Nice work on the tossing - I merely rolled my dough.

Mary said...

Excellent job with the tossing photos! Your pizzas all look delicious and I'm not sure which one I'd prefer a slice from.

Y said...

That beetroot pizza looks like a traffic light pizza :) How did you manage that toss photo? it's pretty good!

Anonymous said...

LOVE your tossing photo! You can really see how thin you can get the base which is what I really liked about this challenge's recipe.

Deeba PAB said...

Good for you...love the toss up & the variey of fillings!! I tried tossing too but didnt have much sudess!! I'm all for pineapple in toppings, though the kids aren't always game!!

Molly Loves Paris said...

impressive tossing

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Great tossing! Your pizzas look wonderful!

Cheers,

Rosa

natalia said...

Ciao ! I love your different pizza ! and you scary cupcakes as well !

Ivy said...

What gorgeous looking pizzas! Really tempting! You did a great job here!

Rosie said...

Excellent job Cakelaw and love that pic of tossing the dough!! Both pizzas look absolutely delicious :)

Rosie x

Gretchen Noelle said...

Very nice pizzas! I love the sounds of the tandoori chicken one. Amazing idea!

giz said...

You're a natural at the toss - great job on the pizzas. I tried tossing, I failed and resorted to the two hand push - it worked, pizza was amazing.

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Tammy - my tossing was a little over-zealous, which is why I believe it wasn't a roaring success.

Thanks Maria.

Hi Dana - I'm normally with you on that.

Hi Mary - I liked them all, but the Hawaiian remains my favourite.

Hi Y, I did the photos by using the time fucntion in my camera, and placing it on the top of the frudge and the bench so that I was free to toss.

Hi Lorraine - I agree that this was a great crust recipe.

Yay Deeba - a fellow pineapple puizza lover!! (I didn't eat pineapple on pizza as a kid either, so you never know ...).

Thanks Molly :)

Hi Rosa, thanks for hosting this challenge - it was fun.

Thanks Natalia.

Hi Ivy, it was fun to try the different types.

Thanks Rosie.

Hi Gretchen, the tandoori is an idea from my local pizza shop - mine is a little different, but is along the same lines - better I think ;)).

Hi Giz, so agreed - the base was super.

The Blonde Duck said...

All this pizza is making me crave it so badly!

Cakelaw said...

When it's everywhere, it does that to ya!

Vera said...

The pizzas look yummy! And the toss is great!

Lori said...

wow, Your pizza crust got so big and thin. Its perfect. Great job!

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Vera - but perhaps a little too energetic for a decent base.

Thanks Lori.