“Can we have pancakes now?” Monkey asked after he had just devoured three pita pockets filled with cheese and carrots.
“No, you have to wait” said Sunny who just happend to be passing by carrying a big flat box. “We haven’t even mentioned the most important food in the whole wide world.”
“What could this be?” Mouse wondered and looked at the list of recipes covered so far. There were crackers and pasta and buns and bread. All the basic foods you need.
“C’mon, what does everybody love?” asked Sunny expectantly.
“Chocolate?” answered Mouse a little unsure.
“I give up.” Sunny dropped the box on the table and threw his hands in the air. “What do you think is in my box? Pizza of course! ”
“Pizza!”, “Pizza!”, “Pizza!” the Dedes shouted excitedly and Monkey knew immediately he wouldn’t have a chance in hell of getting a pancake recipe today. “But then we can have some pancakes, right?” Mouse ignored his comment and turned to Sunny. “You’re right, that should be next so give me your recipe.”
“What recipe?” Sunny looked surprised. “I don’t make pizza, I eat it.” Mouse wondered how Sunny could afford to buy pizza all the time as he doesn’t have a job. He wants to be an artist and is waiting for his break. In the meantime he still lives at home and his mum does all the cooking when he doesn’t have pizza.
“Oh, dear.” Mouse felt like screaming, but then L’Artiste stepped forward and saved her from just doing that. “I know how to make pizza. I make it quite often in my studio. It’s perfect to eat between brush strokes.”
And then he told us what he puts on his pizza: salami and ham and olives and garlic and onions and red peppers and chilly and capers and anchovies and pineapple and artichokes and chicken and mussles and scampi and all covered with a thick layer of grated cheese. Everybody knew he was just dreaming as most of the time he is poor. Then he makes a pizza base, drizzles a little olive oil on top, sprinkles it with italian herbs and chops up a clove of garlic or two to finish it off. “That is delicious too, you know” he said, and we knew exactly that is what he has most of the time.
Even though it is a yeast dough, you don’t have to wait too long for the dough to rise, unless you want to have a really spongy pizza bread. The Dedes prefer the crunchy ones.
Ingredients
2 cups of flour, 1 scant teaspoon of dry yeast, 3/4 cup of warm water, garlic, herbs and oil to flavour
Method
Preheat the oven to 2000C.
Pour flour into a bowl, make a well in the middle. Add half the warm water and add the yeast. Let sit for at least 10 minutes so the yeast becomes active, which you can see when it becomes frothy. You don’t want to let it sit for too long.
While the yeast is doing its thing, chop garlic, place in a cup and pour oil over it. Add herbs to your liking. There is absolutely no precise measure for that, anything goes.
Mix the slushy yeast with the flour and add as much of the remaining water needed to make a dough that is not sticky. Knead well. Let sit for five to ten minutes and knead again.
Divide the dough into two balls and roll out with a rolling pin.
In a pizza shop the pizzas are always nice and round. Not at L’Artiste’s place. He rolls them out to a shape that lets him fit two side by side on a standard size baking tray. It might be a heart, or the map of Australia, whatever his creative mind comes up with. Then he places them on lightly floured tray and pours the oil/garlic/herb mixture on and spreads it around with a brush.
Bake for 12 mins.
dedepuppets 