Welcome to Sara Moulton.com/Weeknight Meals, the companion web site to my new public television series, Sara's Weeknight Meals. The show is based on my last cookbook, Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals, and it's all about getting quick tasty meals on the table during the work week. This week's show is about pizza. Most people don't think about making pizza from scratch on a weeknight but I have come up with a 6 minute crust (I mean it takes just 6 minutes to make in a food processor, starting from the moment you measure the ingredients) so there is no excuse anymore. The food processor does it all for you. While the dough is rising you can prep the ingredients.

First Recipe:
Food Processor Pizza Dough, Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals, page 29 (recipe follows).

Second Recipe:
Middle Eastern Pizza, Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals, page 188 (recipe follows).
Recommended side dishes: Stewed Green Beans with Tomato and Mint, Sara Moulton Cooks at Home, page 238 or a  large tossed green salad.
Recommended Wine Pairing: Merlot or Pinot Noir.

Third Recipe:
Grilled Southwestern Pizza, Sara' Moulton Cooks at Home, page 204 (recipe follows).
Recommended side dish: Caesar Salad.
Recommended Wine Pairing: Sauvignon Blanc  or Pinot Grigio.

Food Processor Pizza Dough
Makes about 4 servings
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Total preparation time: 45 minutes

2 to 2 1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached all-purpose flour
One 1/4-ounce package quick-rising yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Combine 1 3/4 cups of the flour, the yeast, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Add 3/4 cup very warm water (120 to 130 F) and the oil; process until a soft dough forms. Add as much of the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at time, as necessary to make the dough manageable.

Shape the dough in a ball and place in an oiled bowl, turning so an oiled surface is up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 35 minutes. Use as directed in a recipe.



Print Recipe

Middle Eastern Pizza
Makes 4 servings
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 35 minutes plus rising time

1 recipe Food Processor Pizza Dough
1/4 cup pine nuts
3/4 pound ground lamb or beef
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 medium plum tomato, seeded and finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1/4medium green bell pepper, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Crumbled feta cheese, optional

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven; preheat the oven to 500 F. Lightly grease two insulated or very heavy rimmed baking sheets.

Divide the dough into 4 balls; roll each ball into an 8-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick, on a lightly floured surface. Transfer the rounds to the baking sheets, pinching up a raised edge on each; cover loosely and let stand in a warm place while you make the filling.

Spread the pine nuts in a small, ungreased baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven until they just begin to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Combine the lamb, onion, tomato, bell pepper, pine nuts, lemon juice, vinegar, tomato paste, garlic, salt, and cayenne in a medium bowl. Spoon one quarter of the lamb filling on the center of each dough round and spread to the raised edge.

Bake the pizzas 15 to 20 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned and the meat is cooked through. Top with crumbled feta cheese, if desired.



Print Recipe

Grilled Southwestern Pizza
Makes 2 medium pizzas
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Total preparation time: 30 minutes plus rising time

1 recipe Food Processor Pizza Dough, divided into 3 balls
Olive oil for brushing and drizzling
3 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
3 scallions, white and 1 inch of the green parts, thinly sliced
1 fresh or Pickled Jalapeno, seeded and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 cup shredded grilled chicken and/ or finely chopped cooked chorizo
1 cup grilled fresh corn kernels
Pickled Red Onion
And chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

While the dough is rising, heat the grill pan, heat one half on high and the other on low.  Combine the cheese, scallions, jalapeno, cumin, and garlic in a large bowl.

Working in batches, on a lightly oiled surface, roll each piece of dough 1/16 inch thick. Oil one side. Working with 1 piece at a time, lift up the dough and put the oiled side down on the hot side of the grill pan for approximately 1 minute or until it puffs up slightly and shows grill marks. Brush the other side with oil and flip the dough over.

Top the grilled side with half of the cheese mixture, chicken, or chorizo, and corn and drizzle it with some olive oil. Place on the cooler side of the grill pan, cover and cook until the cheese bubbles, 6 to 7 minutes. Repeat with the remaining dough and ingredients.

Remove the pizza and top with the pickled onion and cilantro. Slice into pieces and serve at once.

To tell when the dough has doubled and is ready to shape, poke your finger into it. If the indentation remains, it is ready.

Yeast doughs have the tendency to spring right back when you roll them out on a floured board, so oil your board instead and the dough will stick to it and keep the shape want yet be easy to lift off the board when you want to move it.

To make the crust crispier, I like to bake pizza dough with no topping for 5 minutes at 500 F, then pull it out of the oven, add the topping, and finish baking it.

You can make my pizzas with frozen dough but many require rising time in addition to their thawing time and may end up taking longer than making my Food Processor Pizza Dough.

To make chopping easier, stand peppers and tomatoes on end and slice off the skin and outer flesh leaving the seedy center portion behind.

If you make a lot of pizza at home, you might want to invest in a pizza stone for the bottom of your oven. To get a crisp, brick-oven-like crust, just preheat the stone, slide the unbaked pizza onto it and bake it until the bottom is well browned. Pizza stones are available wherever gourmet kitchenwares are sold.

If you love grilled foods but don't always want to heat up an outdoor grill, I recommend a cast iron grill pan that fits right over the burner on your stove. They come in one burner and two burner versions and are available in housewares and often hardware stores as well as on line.

Ingredients

Quick rising yeast uses a different variety of yeast that doesn't need to be dissolved in a liquid before it is added to the dry ingredients. You mix it right in with the flour, add hot (not the usual warm) water, and it rises in about half the time required for regular active dry yeast.

Although I use kosher salt in almost everything I cook, I always keep some table salt on hand for baking because it mixes with the other ingredients better and dissolves faster.