Twice eaten, once fried…

It’s Monday morning; a clump of leftover homemade pizza dough stares at me from my refrigerator shelf, like a hangover from last night’s pizza making extravaganza. My family and friends sat around my backyard fire-pit, joyfully shouting their topping orders at me while I flipped pizzas around a grate over the oak-fueled fire inside the pit. I wish I had some pics of that but, alas, I was too busy trying hard to remain in perfect pizza producing flow with a cocktail or two in me.

So, what to do with the surplus dough the morning after? Why not fry it? Years ago, I sat next to a Navajo woman who showed me how to make Navajo fry bread, and, heck, it may not be the exact same recipe, but this works! Just put about 3/4 inch of your favorite deep frying oil (mine is sunflower oil) into a skillet. Heat the oil until, when you flick water at it, it sizzles. Roll your dough out into a disk that will fit in your skillet and fry it, flipping it over until golden on both sides. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with kosher salt or sugar (depending on your mood!). Have it with your morning coffee, it’s a good cure for hangovers!

Try any leftover dough you want, but here’s my recipe:

Pizza Dough

1 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 packet yeast

Mix the sugar in the water (important: only lukewarm to the touch, not hotter) and put in the yeast. Leave it for 5 minutes, making sure that the yeast bubbles up and makes the water cloudy. This proves that the yeast is active.

In the meantime, put

3 cups bread flour (All Purpose works too)
1 teaspoon salt

in a food processor (a normal S-shaped blade works for this), and give it a quick pulse to mix.

After 5 minutes of yeast proofing are up, pour:

1/4 cup olive oil

into the liquid yeast mixture.

With the food processor on, drizzle the entire liquid mixture into the flour, slowly and steadily just until the dough forms a ball. Then, stop. Dump the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until elastic. Form it into a ball, coat it with olive oil, put it in a large mixing bowl and cover it with a cloth. During the rise, I like to put the bowl of dough in an empty unheated oven or microwave to keep it warm and draft-free. After 1 1/2 to 2 hours, punch it down, cover it in plastic wrap and put it in your fridge until ready to shape and use.