Atta crust pizza

Good things are meant to be shared. At the visit of my dear special friend, April, I decide to set before her a table of surprise. It's a homemade pizza. Normally, when people use white dough, they let the dough ferment overnight to get the flavor out of the flour. But I have tried atta flour and have found it very flavorful. So, given 2 hours, I make a thin pizza with nice crust.

Recipe: Atta crust pizza (for 2)

Ingredients:

dough

- 1 cup atta flour

- 1/4 tp coarse kosher salt

- 1/2 tp active dry yeast

- a little less than 1/2 cup water

- about 2 TB vegetable oil for coating

toppings

- about 1 cup or more of tomato sauce

- 2 slices of cooked bacon, torn to small pieces

- mini pepperoni

- pineapple pieces

- white onion thin slices

- ample shredded 2% mozzarella cheese

- corn flour to dust pan

Procedure:

1. Proof yeast in 2 TB water.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients of dough. Add proofed yeast. Then add water 2 TB at a time. Mix dough and give it a minute to hydrate after each addition of water.

3. When dough is formed, knead for a few minutes. Then coat dough with 1 tp oil and allow it to rest covered in a bowl until volume doubles.

4. Punch dough down. Adjust hydration level until the dough is soft and smooth.

5. Stretch dough out on a wax paper coated with 1-2 TB vegetable oil. Rub top of stretched dough with oil.

6. Dust a pizza pan with corn flour. Flip the dough onto the pan. Remove the wax paper.

7. Cover the top of the dough loosely with the same wax paper. Allow the dough to rise on the pizza pan until puffy.

8. Spread tomato sauce on dough. Then spread cooked meats and pineapple on top of the tomato sauce.

9. Put a rack at the lowest position, closest to the bottom heating element. Turn oven with bake setting to the highest (500F). Place the pizza pan on the lowest rack and allow to bake for about 4 minutes. Check every 2 minutes to make sure the crust is not fully cooked.

10. When the pizza is half cooked, take it out. Top with cheese. Return to oven. Bake for another 4 minutes or until cheese has melted.

Results:

10:18am, initial dough:

10:31am, dough allowed to rest for 15 minutes:

10:49am, dough stretched on oiled wax paper:

10:50am, pan dusted with corn flour:

10:51am, dough flipped onto pan:

10:56am, dough ready to proof on pan:

10:56am, dough covered with the same wax paper during the proofing time:

11:38am, dough proofed 40 minutes:

12:13pm, dough proofed 75 minutes:

12:26pm, dough with toppings added:

12:31pm, pizza baked 5 minutes at 450F, ready to top with cheese to be baked for another 5 minutes:

1:15pm, pizza done, cut out to be eaten up:

My friend enjoying it:

Observations:

1. This time I set the temperature to 450F. So, though the pizza is fully cooked, its crust is not crispy like cracker. The crust tastes more like thin bread. 

2. My friend gives me very favorable comments on the pizza. She said that when she eats pizza hut pizza, her stomach usually react to its high fat content. But she could enjoy this pizza without having any discomfort. It's a good sign that this pizza is on the healthy side.

3. The atta flour provides ample fiber without too strong a taste of wheat. It seems to make a good crust for pizza without the need for overnight fermentation.

It's such a joy!