Over the weekend we were forecasted to get a major winter snowstorm. They were talking 10+ inches of snow and super cold temperatures. The town was a frenzy of people trying to prepare to be trapped for days. But nothing happened. We got a little ice, it was indeed really cold, but nothing more than a few flurries hit the ground. This winter has been really long. I typically don’t get down in winter (I’m from MN after all), but it’s just been unrelentingly cold and dark. I’m ready for spring. My birthday is tomorrow, and two years ago, it was 70 and I rode to work on my bike in a t-shirt. I still can’t believe I’m going to be 32 this year.
With Whole30 and our overall goal to clean up our diet, it’s been a while since we made homemade pizza. It’s definitely been missed. If you’re new here, homemade pizza has been our traditional date night fare since we were dating and in our first apartment. You could say we have history. So when we were staring at the forecast thinking we’d be snowed in for a few days, we thought we’d make the best of it with an impromptu date night.
I revived Kenny a few weeks ago with a new starter sample from my mom. I gave her some of Kenny last year, and she’s been baking with him ever since. My Kenny lived a long time, but when I was going through a tough time with my job, and death of my Grandma last year, Kenny was an unfortunate victim. I’ve missed baking and fermenting bread with him, and so I was thrilled to have another go.
Even though we’re striving to be mostly Paleo, I’ve always considered sourdough an exception. I really enjoy fermented foods, and sourdough bread, when fermented and prepared well, offers a host of health benefits.
Ingredients:
1 cup sourdough starter, (I usually feed mine 6-8 hours beforehand)
1/2 cup hot tap water
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons herbs of choice (I did Herbs de Provence)
Directions:
- Spoon 1 cup starter into a mixing bowl. Add the hot water, flour, salt, and herbs. Mix to combine (either with mixer or by hand) until smooth and sticky, about 7 minutes. Place in a lightly greased container, and allow to rise until it’s about doubled in size. This may take several hours or more.
- Note: For thinner crust pizzas, this recipe will make two pizzas, and for one thicker pizza it will make one. Typically we roll out the dough, then allow it to rest for about 10-15 minutes. We preheat the oven to 425, and pre-bake the crust with no toppings for 4-5 minutes. We then add our toppings and bake for another 12-15 minutes.
Our pizzas contained organic cheese, uncured Canadian bacon and a hearty helping of leek mixed in with the pizza sauce. We also had fresh-cut pineapple (it was on super special at the grocery, couldn’t resist buying 2 pineapples). I then also added broccoli to mine. It was so good. Thin and super crunchy, just how we like. I hope you give it a try!
I want to make a “you killed Kenny!” joke here but I’m sure you’ve heard it all. I have bad luck at keeping dough starters alive as well- but since we are happy homemade-pizza-dough lovers I will give this a try (though I’ve never tried broccoli and pineapple before either)!
Haha, I actually named it after Kenny Hotz of Kenny vs. Spenny. He’s just kind of a gross antagonist on the show, and in an episode where they see who can blow the biggest fart — which reminded me of the smelly, gassy starter I was just starting out at the time. The name just kind of stuck. Here’s a clip from the episode if you can handle it:
http://youtu.be/ZQdlFfSq1kw