Dissolve a tablespoon of yeast in a cup of very warm water, then mix in about two big teaspoons of honey and half a teaspoon of salt. Add a cup of plain or bread flour to the mix, and two tablespoons of olive oil, and mix it into a batter. Then add two more cups of flour, and stir or squish it all together until it's thoroughly mixed. Knead it, sprinkling extra flour on as you go, until it is no longer sticky and all the flour in the bowl is mixed in - you should have one big round lump of dough about the size of two fists. Cover with a dry, clean cloth and leave on the counter for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, it should be twice the size it was when you left it. Sprinkle a little more flour on (it'll have stuck to the bottom of the bowl again - basically, if the dough is sticking to you or anything else, sprinkle on flour - this is the First Law of Bread-Making), and knock it back - that is, pummel the mother until it's all deflated and roughly the size it was when you made it. Cover and leave for another 45 minutes, then come back and do the same - and now, it should be ready to use.
Bake it in a medium oven on a tray greased with olive oil - make it into a loaf, rolls, or roll it out thin for a wonderful pizza base. (I made the BEST MARGHERITA PIZZA EVAR at like 11 at night, by spreading it out thin and covering the base with tomato paste, dried basil and a heap of mozarella cheese. It was heaven). Oh, I should add that a little dough goes a long way, so you may wish to half the dough and turn it into, say, one medium-large pizza base and eight bread rolls, or whatever else you can think of. It is ready when it looks a light golden-brown, which should take twenty minutes or more - just keep a weather-eye on it.
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Date: 2007-06-17 12:41 am (UTC)Dissolve a tablespoon of yeast in a cup of very warm water, then mix in about two big teaspoons of honey and half a teaspoon of salt. Add a cup of plain or bread flour to the mix, and two tablespoons of olive oil, and mix it into a batter. Then add two more cups of flour, and stir or squish it all together until it's thoroughly mixed. Knead it, sprinkling extra flour on as you go, until it is no longer sticky and all the flour in the bowl is mixed in - you should have one big round lump of dough about the size of two fists. Cover with a dry, clean cloth and leave on the counter for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, it should be twice the size it was when you left it. Sprinkle a little more flour on (it'll have stuck to the bottom of the bowl again - basically, if the dough is sticking to you or anything else, sprinkle on flour - this is the First Law of Bread-Making), and knock it back - that is, pummel the mother until it's all deflated and roughly the size it was when you made it. Cover and leave for another 45 minutes, then come back and do the same - and now, it should be ready to use.
Bake it in a medium oven on a tray greased with olive oil - make it into a loaf, rolls, or roll it out thin for a wonderful pizza base. (I made the BEST MARGHERITA PIZZA EVAR at like 11 at night, by spreading it out thin and covering the base with tomato paste, dried basil and a heap of mozarella cheese. It was heaven). Oh, I should add that a little dough goes a long way, so you may wish to half the dough and turn it into, say, one medium-large pizza base and eight bread rolls, or whatever else you can think of. It is ready when it looks a light golden-brown, which should take twenty minutes or more - just keep a weather-eye on it.