SimplyGrand Dishing with Steph: From Yeh to Yah, That’s Good (V5)!

We welcome Steph and the Bernstrom kids (and friends) as they take on Molly Yeh's pizza dough!

There are so many fantastic pizza restaurants in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks that my family rarely makes pizza at home. The exception is New Year’s, my husband’s family always made homemade pizza around New Year’s, it is a tradition we have continued with our children.

Last week we ordered pizza from Rhombus Guys in Grand Forks. Molly Yeh mentions one of their unique pizzas in her cookbook, Molly on the Range. We rarely get their pizza to go because we love the atmosphere at Rhombus Guys. I cannot wait to be back there, sitting on the rooftop patio enjoying pizza and cocktails.

I am lucky to be able to work from home and spend time with my children while they are out of school. I also help my neighbors by watching their children, Brenden and Addy, two mornings a week. The kids and I have been getting creative with lunches. I let them pick countries or states and we build themed lunches around their destinations. We started with a Swedish lunch a couple of weeks ago and had a Hawaiian themed lunch last week. A Canadian meal is next on the list, if any of our Canadian friends have suggestions, please pass them along.

The kids decided to have an Italian lunch with pizza as the star, I figured it would be a good opportunity to try out Molly Yeh’s recipe for pizza dough found on page 120 of her cookbook.

Tools and Ingredients:

• This was the least complicated recipe, I just needed flour, water, salt and yeast. I planned on trying out Molly’s recipe for Butter and Salami Pizza found on page 129. I also picked up some cheese, pepperoni and sauce at my local Hugo’s so the kids could customize their own pizzas. Next time I make this, I’m looking forward to getting some special ingredients from L&M Meats in Grand Forks as well.
• I used a kitchen scale to weigh the flour and water. I love recipes that include weighted measurements for ingredients.
• Since we rarely make pizza at home, I do not own a pizza stone. I used baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Making the Pizza:

I followed Molly’s recipe exactly and combined the ingredients for the dough the day before we made the pizza. I thought the recipe would be just enough for the kids to make their own individual pizzas. I made a second batch so we would have extra dough, just in case.

After sitting out for about 22 hours the dough had doubled in size and was bubbly, just like Molly said it would be.

I handed each child a bunch of dough and quickly realized I had made a big mistake, rather than shaping the dough in to cute little pizzas, we were dealing with a sticky mess. I scraped off the dough, applied some Pam to their hands and gave them each a hearty amount of flour, this solved our problem and the pizza making commenced.

The kids had fun shaping their dough, my son even tossed his into the air several times. The kids enjoyed getting to personalized their own pies.

Tips and Tricks:

• Lightly oil your hands before handling the dough, a quick spritz of Pam will do the trick.
• Be generous with the flour if the dough is too sticky to handle.

Results:

The kids were so eager to try out their pizzas that they sat in front of the oven and watched them bake. I was worried the crust was undercooked, it puffed a bit during baking and didn’t get as dark as I expected. I was wrong, the crust was perfect.

I made my own mini versions of the Butter and Salami pizza. It was delicious. My neighbor, Lori, came over to pick up the kids just as we were finishing up, so we were able to share our creations with her.

Molly’s recipe was a winner. I am eating cold, leftover, butter and salami pizza as I write this and I’m going to use the leftover dough to make more pizza for the kids’ lunch today. I look forward to trying out more of Molly’s pizza recipes and I think I may be investing in a pizza stone soon.

Please let me know if you have tried this recipe or tell me your favorite Molly Yeh recipe. You can reach me at sports@visitgrandforks.com or post to VisitGrandForks on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.