Chardonnay Pizza Dough Recipe
You will need the following:
- 1 pound (or about 3 1/2 cups) high gluten flour
- 2 ounces Vinifera wine powder
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
In a heavy-duty stand mixer (e.g., KitchenAid) fitted with dough hook, add the water, oil, yeast, salt, and sugar. Mix thoroughly until yeast has fully dissolved. Add flour and mix on low speed until all of the flour and water have mixed and a stiff dough ball forms, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stop mixing as soon as the dough ball forms as this type of dough should not be kneaded.
Place the dough ball into a large bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 24 hours in the refrigerator before using. Please note that I cannot over-emphasize the importance of a 24-hour rising time since it is absolutely essential for the dough to develop its signature texture and, more importantly, its unique flavor! Do not skip this step!
Preheat your oven to 500 °F about one hour before you plan to bake the pizza.
Turn the dough out onto a large surface and dust with flour. Using a heavy rolling pin , roll the dough out very thin to form a large crust or cut ball in half to make smaller crusts, dust the pan lightly with flour or corn meal, place the dough in the pan and dock. Use the rolling pin to trim off the excess dough drooping over the sides of the pan. If you wish to cook the pizza directly on a pizza stone, then place the dough on a dusted pizza-peel, dock, and fold the edge over 1-inch all the way around and pinch it up to form a raised lip or rim.
Bake, on the lowest oven rack, rotating the pan half way through so that it cooks evenly, until crust is sufficiently browned and crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pizza from the oven and slide pizza out of cooking pan onto a large wire cooling rack or cutting board. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a serving pan. This step allows the crust to stay crisp while it cools, otherwise the trapped steam will soften the crust.
Depending on my mood I top this pizza with things that might seem non traditional, I use roasted tomatoes and herbed oils instead of tomato sauce, also adding fennel or caraway seed in with the corn meal adds a nice variation.
- Brush the crust with oil, then top with caramelized Vidalia onions, and bake, as it comes out of the oven smear it with rich sour cream, chopped dill, cappers and smoked salmon, open a crisp Chardonnay, enjoy;
- A recent favorite, top with grated mozzarella, white cheese curds, roasted mushrooms and sprouted hemp seeds, great with wine or ale;
- Brush with oil, potatoes thinly sliced on mandolin, fresh rosemary, old white cheddar and smoked sea salt, now go open a full lager or one of my favorite stouts.
Funding for this project was provided in part by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Adaptation Council's CanAdvance Program.
