So i’m finally back on our sunny little shores, my side of the world where you can get a whole bag of lemongrass for forty five cents, as opposed to the two bucks i pay per stalk in Melbourne, food and we’re talking about some of the best dishes in the world is available twenty four hours a day, every meal is an agonizing decision between the whole spectrum of choices from Indian, Chinese, Malay, Western and occasionally Japanese cuisines available at every food court and hawker centres (which is essentially just an open-air food court), a journey from one side of the island to the other takes about half an hour tops in good traffic conditions and the air is perpetually always heavy, warm and humid.
I had my first meal yesterday at the new food court in the Botanic Gardens and i was just overwhelmed by the food choices available. Did i want Indian, Chinese, Malay or Western food? If Indian, did i want Thosai (a paper-thin South Indian crepe), prata (a fried pancake), briyani or naan (a round fried flatbread that usually comes plan or flavoured with garlic)? And did i want chicken, lamb, mutton or fish curry with that? The choices were just endless! How on earth i ever used to make my mind up about such things every single day just boggles my mind. After hemming and hawing for the longest time, i finally decided on mee siam (a dish consisting of thin rice noodles served with a spicy and slightly sour gravy, dried bean curd cubes and an hard boiled egg) from the Malay stall. It wasn’t half bad but with the amount of thought that went into deciding on that one single dish, i decided to just stay home the following day and whip up something.
It so happened that one of my best friends, who i hadn’t seen in a year and a half before yesterday and in the sweetest gesture, came down to the airport with a hand bouquet to surprise me and drop me home, had the day off from work. I had decided on pizzas to test out the pizza oven we’ve had for the past nine years since we moved into this home and had somehow never touched. Well, it technically can do more than bake pizzas but it does come with a handy pizza stone and all. A quick message was sent to her, in the midst of compiling a shopping list, asking if she wanted anything in particular or the default was hawaiian and mushroom pizzas.
Lucky for me, she is one of the easiest-going eaters i know, other than M that is. So hawaiian and mushroom it was.
Well, you know what they say about even the best laid plans going awry? Yup, they were spot on. I awoke to a message from the said best friend, saying her boss wanted her to come in for work and take another day off instead. As it turns out, that was hardly the only thing that went wrong this afternoon. Disappointed as i was, i decided to just go ahead with the pizza making, seeing how i already had all the ingredients on hand.
So there i was, happily measuring out the yeast, kneading the dough, proofing it. Everything was going terrifically well. So i placed the pizza stone in the pizza oven, adjusting the settings and temperature with my heart beating a little quicker than usual at the prospects of using a pizza oven- how terribly snobbish it sounds; making pizza in a pizza oven but yes i was excited. The oven went about its merry way fine for about two minutes before it just stopped working. The display screen just went blank and nothing i did would revive it. Lucky for me, we have a conventional oven as well so not all was lost.
The dough itself was such a dream to work with. It was a little sticky after forming but a lightly floured work surface, floured hands and a couple minutes of kneading should do the trick. Roll it however thin or thick you prefer your pizza base. I rolled mine out to as thin as it would go and it was just perfect- crisp and paper thin. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Now all i need is a couple of friends and to get that oven working just to appease the snob in me.
By the way, i am aware that there are no mushrooms in sight on the pizza featured in this post. As it happens, GT was unable to tear me away from the deli section of the supermarket and i found myself getting some feta cheese and sundried tomatoes instead. Yeah, fickle’s my middle name.
Pizza Base [adapted from Donna Hay Issue 25]
Ingredients
1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp caster sugar
3/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 garlic bulb, peeled and crushed
- In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar and water. Stir well and place in a warm place for 5 minutes. The yeast mixture should be bubbling.
- Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add yeast mixture and stir with a butter knife to form a dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 4 to 5 minutes, till dough is smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in a large bowl, covered with a damp cloth. Set aside in a warm place for 45 minutes or till dough has doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 220C. Place a baking sheet in the oven. Divide the dough into 2 portions and roll each portion out to form a disc.
- To make pizza sauce Combine tomato paste and garlic in a small bowl. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Top pizza bases with pizza sauce and toppings of your choice. Transfer to preheated baking sheets. Brush the edges with olive oil and bake for 10 to 15 minutes till golden and crispy. Makes 2 pizzas
