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I just have to crow a little about pizza I made this weekend. I took some
to a party and someone came up to me and said- "Great pizza- where did you
get it?" Wow. I was psyched to not only get to say that I had made it,
but that it was gluten free (not that the latter point was of interest to
them at all). The pizza disappeared in no time flat, so that was good
praise, too.
The crust was basically Betty Hagman's Thick Yeast Rising Pizza crust. It
has come out well before, but this time it came out great. A difference
was that I followed Laura Johnson-Kelly's directions for making a sourdough
starter (search the archives for sourdough 1995). I got the starter going
the night before, added more flour and a tablespoon of sugar to it in the
morning, let it get rising and bubbly again, saved a cup to keep in the
frig for future use, and mixed the rest with the Betty Hagman recipe to
make 2 large round pizzas, with a truly thick bready crust. I think the
difference was having a really lively yeast culture going into the pizza
dough. The sugar is essential to make it active.
Btw, I baked one on a pizza stone and the other on a regular metal pan, and
the former was crisper and browner on the bottom, i.e. superior. I love
my pizza stone.
I haven't tried the pizza crust recipe that Laura posted there, but knowing
Laura, it would no doubt be great, too, though she declaims that hers is a
thick bready crust, but more like a frozen pizza crust. So if you prefer a
thick bready crust, like pizza you remember, give the above a try.
Mary T.
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