Pizza!
Pizza Night
We love pizza and I love making it here at home. I know you want a recipe but there are literally millions out there on the web. Our pizza is made similar to what we grew up on in NYC but that you can’t find in the deep south. It was the major thing we missed when we moved down years ago. I can tell you that it took me forever………..ok, maybe more like months of trying every other day to get to where I am now, which is a pizza that tastes like what we grew up on. At first it was frustrating, I was covered with more dough than I managed to form into a pizza. Once I relaxed about it and started having fun with it, well, then it all started to really come together for me. I now work with a much looser dough and the resulting pizzas come out crisp on the bottom, yet light and airy inside. Decide beforehand that you will have fun with this, your own type of perfect pizza will come with time……….enjoy the process. You will learn something new about it all each time you do it, I still do and I’ve been making pizza for years now.
Due to the humid conditions here in the south there is no way for me to give you a definite recipe for my pizza but I can tell you the procedure I use. We have a small pizza oven that goes to 800 degrees but I know many don’t, if you use the home stove oven then you will need to use a different flour than I do, the flour I use only works in a high temp enviornment, you can substitute bread flour or a combination of bread and all purpose.
I use a Cuisinart 11 cup food processor to mix my dough, into the work bowl i put
5 cups Tipo 00 flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon diastatic malt
2 teaspoons yeast
2 1/4-2 3/4 cups cool water
I place the top on the machine and pulse it a few times to mix it all up. Because of the humidity where we live the flour often has a lot of moisture in it, though it looks and feels dry, for that reason my liquid measure might not work for you if your climate is dry. It took me a long time to figure all this out and it will probably take you some time too. Don’t give up though, you can and will turn out a good pizza if you don’t quit.
With the machine running, I start pouring water slowly into the chute until the dough starts to come together. Once it comes together I let the machine run about 15 seconds and then check the texture of the dough, if it still feels dry (you don’t want pie crust texture here, you want a dough) I run the machine again and add a little more water. If it feels too wet I add a little more flour by teaspoons. You are looking for a soft not too wet and not dry dough. I can usually tell by looking but it took a long time for me to be able to do that. When you reach the right dough then turn the machine on and let it run for about 30-45 seconds. The dough should be well mixed.
Remove the dough from the machine and knead it on the counter about 5 times to make sure it is well mixed. Divide it into small balls, I make them a little smaller than my fist because our little oven will only bake a maximum 12 inch pizza, if you are baking in a regular kitchen oven you can make them a little bigger. I store the balls in Glad Wear or Ziplock bowls that I lightly oil, the containers are round and about 4-5 inchs deep. They go into the fridge at least 24 hours to develop flavor and for a slow rise, after the dough is in them.
Probably the most important thing you will need is a stone for your oven and the patience to allow it to heat up until it is extremely hot….. it takes at least an hour with your oven at maximum. When I did use my regular oven for our pizza I pre-heated it for an hour at least and then turned on the broiler for 15 minutes to make sure that stone was HOT, I then turned it back to the bake cycle before I put a pizza in it.
When you are ready to bake a pizza, remove the dough from the fridge an hour or two before to allow it to come to room temp.. Put a pile of flour on the counter and place a dough ball into it to help it not stick to you, as you do this more and more you will need less flour but when first starting out I used a lot of it. Start stretching out your dough trying to make a circle, don’t worry if it’s not perfect, you had to see my first ones…..but they still tasted good, mis-shapen as they were! Once the dough is stretched place it on your floured peel and top it with your choice of ingredients……..now you’re ready for the oven. If you don’t have a pizza peel you can use an overturned cookie sheet as a way to transport it into your oven. You can also form and top your pizza on parchment paper, this is a great thing for beginners, it takes a lot of the fear out of the whole process of placing the pie in the oven. If you are baking it in a regular oven and you have let the stone get properly heated it will probably take anywhere from 5-10 minutes for your pizza to bake, in our little oven they are well done in under 2 minutes. Until you do this a few times you will be nervous about getting everything perfect……….relax and enjoy it all, life doesn’t hinge on being able to create a perfect pizza. Have fun with it and enjoy eating it, it’s great to assemble your friends and kids and make a little party out of it, everybody can make their own and top them the way they like, it becomes a reasonably less expensive way for a little entertainment in these economic tough times.
If like us you happen to live in a place where the flour choices are slim or if you want some of the best flours for making pizza and bread you really have to go to www.NYBakers.com , Stan offers superior flour at fair prices with quick shipping to boot, seriously, it’s the only place I will order flour from ………….picky old lady that I am. Stan also carries some equiptment for bakers and also sourdough starters and the malt that I use in my dough, go visit him and check it out. Tell him Mattie sent you. Mattie
I have had some emails asking about the sauce I use for my pizza. I use a 28 ounce can of San Marzano Tomatoes, either the crushed or the whole, whichever I can find locally. I drain the tomatoes and taste them for bitterness, if they are a little bitter I add about 1 teaspoon or less of sugar to them. Place the drained tomatoes into the workbowl of a food processer and add 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 teaspoons of oregano, place the cover on the machine and pulse it a few times to get a semi chunky consistancy, don’t puree it down to a liquid. If you like basil you can also add that to it too, I usually don’t but I do put fresh shredded basil on the top of a cooked pizza when the mood hits me. You can also sprinkle some fresh grated parmesan on top before you bake it for a little different taste. I also make a pizza with a gorgonzola cream topping mixed with roasted fresh garlic cloves, another is made with fresh roasted roma tomatoes that are marinated overnight. There are so many variations you can make with the basic dough…………your only limit is your imagination! Remember to have fun with it, you will continue to improve everytime you make pizza and soon you will be a pro.
You can also make a potato pizza, follow the dough diections and top with very thinly sliced potatoes, slice them on a mandoline to get them thin enough to cook thru, you can put a thin layer of cheese (try Ementhaler or a nice imported Fontina, maybe a little Gorgonzola) beneath the potatoes, some thin sliced onions on top go very nice with it too, drizzle a little olive oil on top and bake until the top browns nicely. Pizza doesn’t just have to be red sauce and cheese anymore! Try any combination that strikes your fancy, just remember when making thin crust pizza that less is more when it comes to the toppings.
When I have the good fortune to have lots of ripe plum (roma) tomatoes, I take them and slice in half and place on a sheet pan, top with a little fresh garlic, salt, pepper and some thyme or oregano and drizzle with olive oil and roast them for about 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees. Let them cool on the pan then pack in containers, and use with roast chicken or top a pizza with mozzarella, roast tomatoes and thin slivers of onion, it makes an excellent pie. Soooooo many great combinations to dream up………………
It sure is awesome!