So the brilliant thing about this particular issue was that they picked the greatest ingrediants of all time and had a series of recipes for each one. The ingrediants were things like Pomegranates, Duck, Mushrooms, and as in the case of this recipe, Grapes.
Lately I've been on a deconstruction kick where once a magazine arrives via mail or grocery bag I immediately flip through it and then take out scissors and disassemble it into categories. I have all these files now. One is recipes to try. When the recipe is successful it goes into my "Tried and True recipe box" which Bryan thinks I should rename "Fried and blue" but I digress.
This particular recipe caught my eye and since I've been on a now-successful bread making kick, I thought Pizza was the next obvious step. I freely admit that I am lacking pictures of the final result, which was not only pretty but extremely delicious, becuase the recipe calls for wine. I partook in the wine myself and misplaced my camera in the process. Not to worry, it didn't cat baked, I found it this morning in my purse.
So here's the recipe. It calls for Vin Santo, which I wiki'd and discovered is an Italian dessert wine. It is seemingly impossible to find Vin Santo at any of my regular haunts so I substituted a symphony white wine that I know to be very sweet.
Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza
Ingrediants
For the Dough
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour mixed with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups warm water (105-115F)
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
For the Topping
1/3 cup Vin Santo (or sweet white wine)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cup seedless red or black grapes, halved lengthwise
5 oz Fontina cheese, cut into 1/4 inch dice
2 oz Gorgonzola dolce or creamy, crumbled
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Pizza stone and parchment paper are ideal!
Make Dough: Stir together yeast, 1 Tbsp flour and 1/4 cup warm water and let stand until mixture appears creamy on surface, 5 min. (If mixture isn't creamy get new yeast)
Whisk salt into 1 1/4 cups flour in a large bowl, then add yeast mixture, oil and remaining 1/2 cup warm water. Stir in enough flour (1/4 to 1/2 cup) for dough to begin to peel away from side of bowl. (this dough may be stickier than others you're used to - says the recipe, like we all spend a lot of time trying different pizza dough recipes - please)
The dough also rises
Knead dough on a floured work surface with floured hands, adding flour as necceassary but as little as possible, until dough is smooth, about 8 - 10 minutes. Form dough into a tight ball and dust with flour. GENEROUSLY dust the inside of a bowl with flour, place dough in bowl, cover with a damp towell and let rise in a draft free place until doubled in bulk about 1 1/2 hours.
Shape Dough and Make Topping: At least 45 minutes before baking pizza, put pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500F.
Don't punch down dough, instead gently dredge it in a bowl of flour to coat, then transfer to a parchment-lined pizza peel. Lightly flour parchment. Pat out dough to form a 13-inch round, working it as little as possible. This is a lot harder than it sounds, but from my experience a little over-handling and punching down doesn't really hurt it.
Bring Vin Santo or wine to a boil, add sugar, dissolve and reduce to 1 Tbsp. Add grapes to cover and cook for 1 minute. Transfer grapes to a bowl, add cheeses and pepper; stir to combine.
Grapes, so many grapes!
Assemble Pizza: Arrange topping on dough leaving 1-inch border.
Slide Pizza on parchment onto pizza stone. Bake pizza until dough is crisp and browned and cheese is golden and bubling in spots 14-16min. Using peel, transfer to a cutting board. Cool 5 minutes, remove parchment and slice. It's important to wait the 5 minutes, otherwise pizza will seem to shloopy. It will firm and be perfect.
That's it. Surprisingly easy for a gourmet recipe. The trick with the parchment is that it keeps you from making a big corn meal mess on the pizza stone. The other trick is to trim the parchment to just an inch around the pizza. I didn't and it burned on the sides of the oven, filling the house with smoke. Otherwise it was a fairly disaster-free culinary adventure.
When I told Bryan and Kevin that I was making Grape and Gorgonzola pizza for dinner they both looked at me extremely skeptically - but then Kevin asked for the recipe when he left. So I guess it's fair to say this is Bryan and Kevin approved.
For the Dough
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour mixed with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups warm water (105-115F)
1 tsp salt
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
For the Topping
1/3 cup Vin Santo (or sweet white wine)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cup seedless red or black grapes, halved lengthwise
5 oz Fontina cheese, cut into 1/4 inch dice
2 oz Gorgonzola dolce or creamy, crumbled
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
Pizza stone and parchment paper are ideal!
Make Dough: Stir together yeast, 1 Tbsp flour and 1/4 cup warm water and let stand until mixture appears creamy on surface, 5 min. (If mixture isn't creamy get new yeast)
Whisk salt into 1 1/4 cups flour in a large bowl, then add yeast mixture, oil and remaining 1/2 cup warm water. Stir in enough flour (1/4 to 1/2 cup) for dough to begin to peel away from side of bowl. (this dough may be stickier than others you're used to - says the recipe, like we all spend a lot of time trying different pizza dough recipes - please)
The dough also risesKnead dough on a floured work surface with floured hands, adding flour as necceassary but as little as possible, until dough is smooth, about 8 - 10 minutes. Form dough into a tight ball and dust with flour. GENEROUSLY dust the inside of a bowl with flour, place dough in bowl, cover with a damp towell and let rise in a draft free place until doubled in bulk about 1 1/2 hours.
Shape Dough and Make Topping: At least 45 minutes before baking pizza, put pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500F.
Don't punch down dough, instead gently dredge it in a bowl of flour to coat, then transfer to a parchment-lined pizza peel. Lightly flour parchment. Pat out dough to form a 13-inch round, working it as little as possible. This is a lot harder than it sounds, but from my experience a little over-handling and punching down doesn't really hurt it.
Bring Vin Santo or wine to a boil, add sugar, dissolve and reduce to 1 Tbsp. Add grapes to cover and cook for 1 minute. Transfer grapes to a bowl, add cheeses and pepper; stir to combine.
Grapes, so many grapes!Slide Pizza on parchment onto pizza stone. Bake pizza until dough is crisp and browned and cheese is golden and bubling in spots 14-16min. Using peel, transfer to a cutting board. Cool 5 minutes, remove parchment and slice. It's important to wait the 5 minutes, otherwise pizza will seem to shloopy. It will firm and be perfect.
That's it. Surprisingly easy for a gourmet recipe. The trick with the parchment is that it keeps you from making a big corn meal mess on the pizza stone. The other trick is to trim the parchment to just an inch around the pizza. I didn't and it burned on the sides of the oven, filling the house with smoke. Otherwise it was a fairly disaster-free culinary adventure.
When I told Bryan and Kevin that I was making Grape and Gorgonzola pizza for dinner they both looked at me extremely skeptically - but then Kevin asked for the recipe when he left. So I guess it's fair to say this is Bryan and Kevin approved.
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