I'm Not a Tosser!

Welcome to the October, 2008 Edition of the Daring Baker's Challenge of the month. It should come as no surprise to you that as well as being a "Dorie-ite," I am a "Daring Baker." A great many of us are one and the same. As a Daring Baker I am challenged each month to bake a glorious creation and stretch and hone my skills as a baker. It's a group that I love belonging to and have been able to bake thus far, several things I had not attempted before in my lifetime . . . luscious Yule Logs, Monster looking Potato Bread, Chocolate Coated Eclairs to name but a few.



This month's Daring Baker challenge comes to us today, via Rosa of Rosa's Yum Yum's. For this challenge she chose an easy to follow recipe for “Pizza Napoletana” from Peter Reinhart's “The Bread Baker's Apprentice” which yields a beautifully tasty, thin, crispy, yet chewy pizza crust.



One of the things she most wanted us to do was to learn how to toss a pizza. Oh, how I have always loved the sight of those wonderful Italian Pizza Chef's tossing their pizza's up into the air, and catching them . . . each toss of the dough yielding a larger, silkier creation, resulting in a perfectly round and flat piece of dough, just waiting to be baked into a delicious pizza, all stogged full of wonderful toppings and tasty Italian delights . . .



I am so not a Tosser, but I did try, I promise. No picture of me tossing I'm afraid. It was not a pretty sight! But there is a lovely picture of what I ended up with . . . it was not round . . . it was not flat . . . it was dough.

I ended up rolling it out in my normal way, with a rolling pin. It was a lovely dough though and went together quite well following the instructions for the recipe which may be found on Rosa's PAGE. Be warned though, you have to start the dough the day before you want the pizza.



I decided at the outset that I was going to make something quite different with my dough. I wanted something that would wow me and also my Todd.

Now, my Todd . . . he's got odd tastes, and he is soooo very British. He does not like foreign food and he's absolutely not a fan of anything Italian, and most especially not Pizza. (I know!!! He's nuts, hates chocolate and Italian food! Saints preserve us!!!)



Mine I decided was going to be a *Pierogi Pizza.* I first got turned on to Pierogi's when I moved out to Winnipeg as a young Bride in the mid 1970's. Tasty little noodle like dumplings filled with a variety of fillings, but usually cheese and potato. Once boiled and drained, they are then fried . . . either deep fried in hot fat, or crisply browned in a pan full of melted and sizzling butter(my preference) and served up hot and garnished with lovely buttery fried onions and oodles sour cream. Diet food, NOT . . . Delicious . . . YES!

I spread out my dough and then pre-baked it for about 10 minutes. I always pre-bake my pizza doughs. I think it makes the bottoms crisper.



After the initial baking I topped the first one with 1/2 cup of well drained sauerkraut, and then about 2 cups of cheesy mashed potatoes. (Mashed potatoes that I had stirred a cup of grated strong cheddar cheese in until it melted and highly seasoned with salt and cracked black pepper) I patted the potatoes well down onto the sauerkraut to make sure it would all adhere. I then topped it with a mixture of mozzarella and gruyere cheeses, some crisply fried bacon bits and one whole onion that had been thinly sliced and fried in butter.



Ohh, can't you just feel the pounds piling on!!! This was soooo not diet food. This went into the oven and was baked for a further 20 minutes until the crust was golden brown and nicely crisp on the bottom.



Todd's was an *All Day Breakfast Pizza.* I made his in a smaller pan so that I could make a nice deep edge on it to hold in all the filling. I also pre-baked it for several minutes. I then topped it with some grated cheddar cheese and grilled tomatoes, one for each corner. Then I added several rashers of cooked bacon, a couple of grilled sausages, some hash brown patties and two eggs, cracked in between all of that, with a final dusting of some gruyere cheese and some salt and cracked black pepper. I would have tried to get some baked beans in there, but there just wasn't any room!!!




This I baked for about 15 minutes or so until the crust was also nicely browned at the edges and the eggs were set. The eggs were actually a bit more done than I had anticipated so if I did it again I would bake it with everything else on it for a time, and only then crack on the eggs and bake it for only about 10 minutes to set them.



The verdict??? I thought my pizza was delicious, if rather heavy, and could only manage one tasty piece. Todd rather liked his, tucking in with great relish and eating the whole thing!

Would I make it again? Well, I think I'd rather stick to real pierogi's myself and leave Pizza to the Italians, topping it with loads of cheese, tomato sauce and pepperoni. As for Todd . . . well, he'd just rather leave pizza altogether . . . and does prefer his breakfast in the normal way, on a plate, not a disk of dough, although he said it wasn't bad as far as pizza's go . . .



I did however redeem myself by cooking him a lovely Treacle Sponge, which you can find on my other Page, Marie Cooks Britain. (I know! I don't update that page near often enough!!!) Hop on over there for the recipe and another tale.

In the meantime, don't forget if you want to see the recipe for the pizza dough, to check out Rosa's page and if you want to check out what some of the other Daring Baker's have produced you can check out the Daring Baker's Blog Roll. I bet there are some really delicious creations to drool over!

Hmmm . . . I wonder what we'll be baking next month . . .