Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Anchovy, zucchine, shallot & spring onion pizza

Although the pizzarias in my town make wonderful pizza, I still make my own at least once a week, with the best and and freshest ingredients that I can find.

My dough's recipe is from the book Baking with Julia, but the key of success is the choice of flour and handling. Do try different brands of flour and you'll be surprise to find out they all taste different. Let the dough rise slowly or even refrigerate it overnight so that the sweetness in flour has enough time to develop. To shape the dough, I press and stretch... still have no luck in tossing though... and give it a rest whenever I feel it refuse to stretch out.

To bake the pie, first I pre-heat 4 pieces of unglazed terra cottas (which will yield superb pizza's bottom crust) in the oven for at least half an hour.

For the topping, I spread some ricotta, add anchovies (drained the olive oil), sliced zucchine and shallot. Bake the pizza on the terra cottas with the temperature of 450F for 15 minutes or until it turns golden brown. Garnish with red chilly flakes and spring onion. Bon appetite!

15 comments:

  1. I also agree your views on brands of flour.Very healthy recipe.Onions are easy to grow.How did you grow ?

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  2. Hi Gattina,
    I meant that whether onions used for garden or is it from sprouting on its own.

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  3. HI Gattina,
    Azuki bean paste ravioli looks yummy.
    Bean sacks and jelly looks wonderful.
    Photos !!!!!
    thanks for sharing.
    Vineela

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  4. Oh, no wonder you make pizza so often--that looks fabulous. And Baking With Julia is one of my favorite cookbooks. Every recipe is wonderful. Did you ever see the television show with her, where she had the chefs who contributed the recipes for that book? It was so interesting. On one show, she actually got tears in her eyes because the recipe was so good.

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  5. Hi Gattina,
    Pizza looks yummy.
    when i keep onins for more time it starts growing .i think that is best time to push into the soil. bUT I DONT have space to grow i will use it in noodles .
    Vineela

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  6. Mmmmm... my fiance and I would just love this pizza. It sounds lovely!

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  7. You have my most favourite topping on your pizza... anchovies! Anchovies and springonions is such a delight pair. I can just imagine the taste. Yum.

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  8. Hi Ramya, I didn't grow my own shallots, just bought them from stores. Maybe next round I don't harvest my spring onions and just to see how they turn to shallots. Thanks for inspiring me!

    Sher, oh yes! I remember her tears!!! I like Julia Child a lot, she's a real food lover! Everytime she cooked with other chefs, she just couldn't wait to taste that cake's batter, butter cream, or anything! (look at Rachel Ray, she's so painful in tasting food, worring even only one bite going to give her extra 10 pounds something like that... *sigh*)
    So you've tried all (most?) of the recipe in Baking with Julia? I did most of the yeast bread's recipes there.

    Vineela, I know what you mean no space... I used to live in a crowd city so space is luxurious. Oh I love the spring onion in noodles!!!

    Nerissa, thank you! I love this pizza a lot too!

    Mae, high five!!! I think they match perfectly too, thank you!

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  9. Gattina, I love your pizzas, beat pizzerias' ones hands down. Now I know why you love spring onions ;p

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  10. WOW. I am a horrible baker. Dough and me don't mix. I want to make pizza really badly dough, I mean though. Sorry, that was the dumbest joke ever.


    It is perfect for WHB!

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  11. The pizza sounds fabulous. I'm impressed that you are growing green onions (spring onions) yourself!! I bet they are much better than the ones from the store.

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  12. Hello! Gattina,
    I just joined the fan club of your website today !!! so lovely the photos here and very relaxing to read your words together with, so nice !!! and about the dough for pizza, once a friend told us about the secret from his friend who won a pizzeria, that we should always work less for the dough to get it better, that's funny, I tried again with this comment, hten I could always get a great base of pizza since, amazed me to much, hope it would work with you next time! See you!

    Limin

    liminbresson@hotmail.com

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  13. Hi Limin,
    it's lovely to have your visit :D
    And thank you so much for sharing the tip in making better pizza crust. When you mentioned working less for the dough, you mean during the time of kneading or shaping?
    Your friend (and you) must be a great baker, wish someone send me some pizza... I just love them!

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  14. I'm with you Mae - anchovies with anything on a pizza is a match made in heaven!

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