Ingredients
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Directions
: for toppings:
1 c sun-dried tomatoes
1/4 c red wine
3 TB balsamic vinegar
3 TB olive oil
1 head garlic
3/4 c pine nuts -- toasted
1/2 lb Fontina cheese -- sliced
: For Dough:
1/2 ts sugar
1 pk yeast
1/3 c yellow cornmeal
1/2 ts salt
2 c all-purpose flour
1 c warm water (110-115 F)
1 1/2 TB olive oil
: For Pesto:
2 c firmly packed chopped fresh
: basil leaves
1/4 c pine nuts
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic -- chopped
1 ts salt
3/4 c olive oil
Prepare Toppings: Put the sun-dried tomatoes in a small bowl and
cover with hot tap water. Let soak, stirring occasionally, for 30
minutes. Drain and pat dry. Put back in the bowl and add the red
wine, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil and let sit, stirring
occasionally, at least 1 hour.
Wrap the head of garlic in aluminum foil and roast in oven at 400F for
about 30 minutes. Leave garlic in foil and refrigerate until cool,
about 30 minutes. When cool, carefully peel cloves and slice into
halves or thirds, and set aside.
Make dough: In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the
sugar, yeast, cornmeal, salt, and 1 cup of the flour, and mix for 15
seconds on a medium-low speed. While dry ingredients are mixing,
combine water and oil. While motor continues to run, slowly add
liquid ingredients in a steady stream. Then add remaining 2/3 cup
flour in 1/3-cup incremenmts, and mix until stiff dough forms and
pulls away from sides of bowl. Knead for 2 minutes more. Put dough in
a deep and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm place 1
hour, or until doubled in bulk.
While dough is rising, make the pesto: Put garlic, Parmesan cheese,
salt, and pine nuts in a food processor or blender and process until
coarsely chopped and well mixed. Add basil and 2 or 3 tablespoons of
the oilve oil and pulse until a thick paste forms. Add half of the
remaining oil and process for about 10 seconds until all basil is
chopped fine but not pureed. Transfer pesto to a bowl and stir in the
remaining olive oil.
Assembly: Preheat oven and baking stone to 450F. When the dough is
ready, punch it down and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to
a thin disk about 16-18 inches in diameter. Fold the outer edge in
about 1/2 an inch and pinch down to seal. Spread pesto evenly over
crust. Space sun-dried tomatoes evenly across the crust, skin side
up. Sprinkle pine nuts and roasted garlic slices evenly over pizza,
then top with Fontina slices, spaced evenly. Sprinkle a little
cornmeal on the baking stone. Carefully transfer the pizza to the
baking stone and reduce heat to 400F. Bake until the crust is golden
and the cheese is brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Let cool for a
few minutes before slicing. Serves 4 as an entree.
Recipe By : Pete
Date: 09/26/96
Servings: 4 servings
Pete's White Pizza Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Italian; Pasta; Pizza
The History of Recipes
It is possible to read the history of meal recipes far back into history, certainly as far back as the Egypt of the Pharoahs, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that is, generally, these old cook books were just very basic hieroglyphic recipes for preparing meals.
In fact, the oldest recipe discovered, according to food historians are a few clay tablets in Sumerian which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made drinkers feel `exhilarated, wonderful and blissful`. Later on, in The time of the roman empire 25BC a roman called Apicius wrote a number of documents describing recipes cooked by wealthy roman citizens. In his works, he recounts how the meals were split into appetizers, entrees and dessert, known in latin as `Gustatio, Primae Mensae and Secundae Mensae`. Aspicius informs us how the Roman chefs made use of many spices, including many that are still in use today like bay, rue and dill. Later, we find a couple of interesting recipe books published in the fourteenth century - a book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these two books have no connection with the indian food that is served today, but rather descriptions of the types of meals on the menus of the nobility of the period. Later, in the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought back many foods and spices from the holy land, including spices like coriander, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new culinary ideas led to an outbreak in recipe publications, the majority of which still exist in academic collections. For the decades that followed, the powerful and rich houses competed with each other to lay on the most extravagent banquests, and consequentially the best chefs and their recipes could command a high salary. However, it was during the 1800s that haute cuisine and cookery books really came of age. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to collating, testing, and recording recipes to help cooks of their time. By the time we get to the 1900s, cook books were in high demand, as a result of better eduction, people having increased leisure time and having more money to spend. The arrival of television gave us cooking programs and the demand for the spin-off recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing us all to search through thousands of recipes like the ones you can find on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Pete's White Pizza recipe.
