How to make pizza dough on the fly (and Asian Foccacia)

At precisely 6:50am today, 1130AM (Bloomberg radio) held its daily currency report, like it does every other day.  Something about the Pound dropping, inflation, Bank of England, yadda yadda. Then at 6:52am, Ken Pruitt interjects by saying, “Borders just filed for bankruptcy! I’ve been expecting this for the past 15 years!!”

[silence]

5 seconds later

[more silence]

[Jessie turns the volume knob up. still silence]

Finally, Tom Keane replies, “Wow you just totally threw me off. What does that have to do with the currency report?”

[Jessie holds up the awkward balloon]

See video for reference (unfortunately, that is NOT me, but that’s exactly what I did)

FYI: Borders filed at precisely 6:48am, and I guess Ken just couldn’t hold it in any longer

So what does this have to do with anything? Well, while I was typing out “Asian Focaccia,” I chuckled at how awkward those two words looked together. I mean, not only does it sound awkward, but it looks awkward.

I know that this isn’t really Focaccia. But it’s not pizza either.

[Insert awkward balloon]

But what I do know is how absolutely amazing this pizza dough recipe is. Somehow, when you bake it, the bottom crispens and the top just puffs up so you get this dynamic of soft and crunchy. It’s like having pancakes with steak & eggs!

So the issue with making this Asian version is that some of you may be unfamiliar with a certain spicy ingredient that I consume jarfuls of each year. It’s called “Lao Gan Ma”  (老干妈). I mean, there’s even a Facebook appreciation group dedicated to this old godmother. Some of you non-Asian folk may have a difficult time finding this. Heck! Even I bought the wrong one once and you’d think that an Asian would be able to figure it out!

Anyway, it’s really just a jar of dried chile with chile oil. It’s soooo hot but soooo delicious. If you don’t have it you could settle for Siracha sauce, which your local ShopRite now carries.

I also added a bit of Parmigiano Romano in there. Yeah, talk about awkward.

But I promise, it’s delicious! Just ask Suki or Stick!

The greatest thing about this pizza dough is you can prepare in 40 minutes or so. HOWEVER, I like to let it sit overnight for a second rising. I think that’s what makes it puff up so nicely.

Asian Focaccia
Pizza Dough adapted from Allrecipes

Pizza Dough / Foccacia Ingredients:

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar

Recipe:

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water for 10 minutes. It’ll start turning into this cloudy concoction. Make sure that the water isn’t too hot or else you’ll kill the yeast!

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of bread and all purpose flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture. Stir well to combine and keep mixing until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. An easy way to do this is to microwave a bowl of water and sticking the bowl with the dough into the steamy microwave. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Form the dough into a ball and roll out into a pizza crust shape.

Asian Focaccia Toppings:

• Sliced red onions (I use about four-five small ones to cover one whole pie)
• Sesame oil
• Chile oil
• Shaved Parmigiano Romano (like 2 cups!)

Recipe:

Slice the red onions and sautee them for 10 minutes until they are caramelized. Then, drizzle a light coat of sesame oil onto the flat surface of the dough. The purpose is to prevent the dough from being too dry when baking, not to bathe it. Then drizzle some of the chile oil. Use with discretion. After, top with the onions and sprinkle a generous helping of Parmigiano Romano. Bake in oven for 350 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes.  It only took me 10 minutes the second time, so keep an eye on the oven.

You should also check out:

• Phensri’s “Fantastic” Thai New Years Party
• Baked eggs with coarse dijon
• Poached egg with Sriracha mayo
• Sweet red bean ebelskivers
• Pickled mustard greens (芥菜) in fried rice