Daring Bakers Challenge -- PIZZA!

This month's Daring Baker's Challenge was a recipe for “Pizza Napoletana” from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I've made a fair amount of homemade pizza in my life, but never used the overnight slow rise in the fridge trick -- and I was excited to try!!

The part of the challenge I wasn't excited about was a secondary requirement . . . we were encouraged to toss the dough up into the air, and get photo or video evidence of our tossing!! Although I was more nervous about the tossing aspect, that proved quite easy. Photographing with a digital camera with a significant delay, however, was more tricky! We had many outtakes:

But Dan was persistent and patient, and finally managed a shot with the dough mid-air:

(I think the look of restrained horror on my face is my favorite part!)

Although I have completed vegan DB challenges in the past, I did use real cheese (mozzarella, smoked provolone, and parmesan) for my pizzas this month. (Well, I just like cheese! I grew up in Wisconsin, after all.) To up the nutritional profile, I used half whole-wheat bread flour in the dough, and a wide assortment of my favorite pizza veggies!!

Artichoke, olive, and sun-dried tomato pizza:


Mushroom, onion, and garlic pizza:


Both pizzas, waiting to be devoured:


Verdict? Challenge Pizza was a success! I love the recipe, and it may be my go-to pizza recipe in the future -- the crust was thin and tender (opposed to my thick, dense, and bready crusts of the past,) and the recipe was a cinch to prepare. It could have been an overwhelming success, however, if I had invested in a pizza stone! I'm going to wait until I have a larger oven, to accomodate a large, rectangular stone, but boy, I can't wait to enjoy perfectly crisp, pizzeria-style pizza!!