After our hike (almost) up Multnomah Falls on Saturday we bought some groceries for the week and then chilled for a few hours before making pizza. This time Michael used 1 cup of wheat flour and 1.5 cups of regular flour. The texture was a little different but it rose really nicely and it was much easier to spread out than in the past.
I brushed the dough with olive oil and Italian seasoning. Michael pre-baked the dough. Instead of jarred pizza sauce I just used tomato paste. It was good that way but not as flavorful as the sauce.
I did half Hawaiian — chopped Canadian Bacon, pineapple and red onion. The other half was pepperoni and black olives. Those are my two favorite pizza toppings! Michael baked the pizza with the toppings to melt the fresh Mozzarella.
I poured myself a glass of Grenache wine. I don’t know why I waited so long to open that bottle–I guess because I thought it was a dessert wine (which I normally don’t enjoy). I opened it and it turned out to be a lovely, mild, blended red wine. I enjoyed it a lot.
I’d burned so many calories on Saturday with my workout and the unexpected hike (About 1100 calories). I was surprisingly not that hungry by the normal dinner time because that burrito at lunch was so filling. We ended up eating dinner fairly late –8pm.
I had two slices of the pepperoni and one slice of the Hawaiian.
Now for the Fail. The toppings were great–the flavors were delicious, I enjoyed it a lot. But the crust was absolutely flavorless. What went wrong? We’d been doing so well with the pizza the last few times and the twice-baking technique has worked well. I really don’t understand why the flavor fell flat. The crust was thin and crunchy so in that way it worked. What did we do wrong?
QUESTION: How do you get your homemade pizza crust to taste really yummy?
kalin
I’ll find my pizza crust recipe and email it to you! (it’s a bit over half whole wheat)
I also usually drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil + salt + garlic powder along the outer edge of the crust-gives the parts that are all crust and no toppings a little something extra
Lisa Eirene
Please do! I’d love the recipe. I will give the garlic powder a try next time. I think that might help.
Kristina @ spabettie
Jason adds honey to his dough, and many times he has added beer too (more yeast!), and his crust always turns out with a rich flavor.
reading Kalin’s comment now… garlic powder sounds GOOD too!
Lisa Eirene
How much beer do you add? Do you add beer instead of water?
Kristina
My tried and true pizza crust recipe is:
3C flour (I usually use a mix of 1C WW and 2C AP)
1 package yeast
2 tbsp vegetable oil (or olive oil gives a good flavor also)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 C warm water
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add water and oil.
One thing that helps add more flavor is to mix the dough in the morning and leave it to rise all day long. Likewise, I have made it the night before (or several days) and keep it in the fridge until the morning before I need it and then let it warm up and rise all day.
Good luck!
Lisa Eirene
Thanks Kristina! I’ll give it a try!
Lesley Lifting Life
The crust is always the hardest for us to get right as well! It’s always too thin, too thick, too flavorless, etcetera. Either way … your pizza looks really good! 🙂
Lisa Eirene
It seems to change every time! I don’t think we’re using different recipes but each pizza ends up being unique. One day we will get this stuff down pat. 🙂
Lisa
Are you positively positive you remembered the salt? Lots of times when we cook together we have trouble remembering if wanyone added it. Any bread product without salt is beyond icky.
Lisa Eirene
You are spot on!!! We did forget the salt!! Ugh
Lori
Pizza crust can be tricky, but I suspect it was the salt, which I see now you said was what happened.
Isn’t it amazing how you don’t use much salt in recipes and you think it wouldn’t make a difference, but it really does!
Lisa Eirene
Yeah! I think it was like a teaspoon of salt or something? But clearly it makes a difference. Will NOT forget that next time!
C.
Have you considered adding herbs to the dough? Hubby and I always saute some minced garlic in the oil we use, and also add some spices and seasoning like rosemary, oregano, and parsely…
Lisa Eirene
Do you added the garlic to the dough or just the oil? I like the idea of fresh garlic. I will definitely try that.
Miz
if and when I do….Ill be back 🙂