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10.07.2008

9/26 Recipe #10 Pizza :D

Pizza crust:
3 C flour
1 packet of Alsa baking powder (you can use yeast, but then you have to wait for the dough to rise)
3 pinches of salt
2 generous T of vegetable oil
2 C water
Extra vegetable oil
¼ - ½ C harsha (semolina flour)
Measure the flour, baking powder, salt, and oil into a shallow bowl. Combine by hand, adding water splash by splash, to incorporate all dry ingredients. Be liberal with the water; wet dough is easier to handle.

Once well mixed, start to shape the dough into a ball. Pour a generous amount of vegetable oil into the bottom of the shallow bowl. Use the oil to scrape any remaining dough off the side of the dish (and off your fingers) and add it to the ball.

Finish shaping the dough into a ball that is well-coated in vegetable oil.

Scatter the harsha across a cookie sheet. Place the oil-coated dough ball onto the harsha, in middle of the cookie sheet, and use your oil-coated fingers to spread it evenly across the sheet.
Light the oven and slide in the pizza crust. Cook ~10 minutes or until about half cooked. Then remove and add your toppings.

Pizza Toppings: use as many or as few as you like!

Tomato sauce, pre-heated on stove (feel free to add spices!)
Cubed vegetables (onions, peppers, and tomatoes are the classics here in the Land Without Mushrooms, but you can’t really go wrong with any veggie) – pre-sauté them if you like ‘em soft, or just toss them on raw if you like ‘em crispy
Kefta (ground beef) Рpre-cook in a frying pan. Add a few T of water to the raw meat when you start cooking it, then let it saut̩ in its own fat. ~ .2 kg is plenty for a large pizza
Cheese – I highly recommend coarsely grated redball cheese; ~15 Dh worth is enough to cover a large pizza

The classic approach is to take the half-baked pizza, spread tomato sauce, toss on meat & vegetables, then scatter grated cheese over everything. Put it back into the oven and bake it until the dough is fully cooked and the cheese is melted, ~ 10 more minutes.

(Since there are no oven thermometers, let alone adjustable flames, on our afrans (ovens), all cooking times are subject to wild variation.)

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Think local. Act global. Learn more about the Peace Corps