If you ask anyone who knows me relatively well what my favorite food is, they will tell you it’s pizza. And I do love it so.
Sometimes people will ask me what is the difference between good food and great food. Why, when two people are using the same ingredients to create the same dish, will one persons turn out better than the others? The answer is that often there are a few simple things you can do to elevate a recipe from ok to awesome. Pizza is one of those foods that if you go the extra mile it can become exceptional. And it won’t even take that much extra effort. It will take you an extra day though, just a warning.
The main thing that gives pizza crust and other yeast breads good flavor is actually the yeast. When added to water and given some startch and sugar to eat yeast grows and multiplies. It creates gas which is what makes the bread rise. And the more yeast the better the bread tastes. But we don’t want to just add a couple of tablespoons of yeast, not unless you are trying to recreate The Blob. Instead we want to allow the yeast to grow slowly so once the dough is made it gets stored overnight in the fridge. This gives the yeast a chance to grow and develop a bit of a sourdough flavor for the crust. The cold of the fridge slows down the yeast so it doesn’t burn itself out too quickly. It also prevents Blob problems.
Some Useful Equipment-
There are lots of cool looking gadgets for pizza, but only a few are worth the money.
Pizza Stone- These are made from porcelain and are used to mimic the crunchy bottom pizza gets when cooked in a traditional brick oven. They work by heating up and retaining the heat so that when you put the pizza on it the bottom will immediately start cooking, sames as they would in a brick oven. The best results come from cooking the pizza directly on the stone.
Pizza stones must be preheated for at least 30 minutes, an hour is better. Incidentally this is why those casserole dishes or even cupcake pans made out of the same material are useless, they will actually increase your cooking time because the stone takes so long to heat up.
When you first buy a pizza stone it will be a light tan or beige color. As you use it it will darken, this means it is absorbing oils and becoming non-stick. You never wash it with soap because it will ruin the non-stick properties and the stone will absorb the soap.
Pizza Cutter- Sure you could just use a knife, but a pizza cutter is so much easier. And don’t worry about getting something fancy, just a wheel with a handle. Although the ones with the larger wheels are nice because it keeps your hand farther away from gooey, hot cheese.
The Pizza Pans with Holes in Them- Often referred to as air baking, basically all those little holes let the hot air of the oven hit the bottom of your pizza and cook it quickly. These are good to use instead of a pizza stone. You won’t get the same result but its still pretty good. And even if you have a stone you are still going to need something to serve the pizza from cause the stone stays in the oven. Just don’t use a metal pizza cutter on the pan if it has a non-stick coating.
Pizza Peel or Paddle-
This one is a little more optional. If you are going to use a pizza stone you need a way to move your pizza onto and then off of it. A pizza peel is made for this exact purpose. If you really know what your doing then you make the pizza directly onto the peel. A thin layer of cornmeal is spread across the peel and the rolled out dough is placed on top. When the pizza is ready to go into the oven you do this jiggle movement (it can not be described, you just have to learn it) and the cornmeal acts as little ball bearings and the pizza slides off the peel and right onto the stone.
The easier way is to make your pizza on a piece of parchment paper. Then you just need a flat surface to move the pizza around on. A cutting board, pizza pan, or even a large plate can work. To get the pizza on the stone you just grab a corner of the paper and slide it and the pizza onto the stone. Parchment paper is meant to go in the oven so you just leave it and pull it out when the pizza is done.
However, if you really get into making homemade pizza as often as I do (once a week at least) then getting a pizza peel is worth the investment. Plus it makes a nice decoration in your kitchen. Just hang it up when not in use.
The Dough-
1 cup Warm Water, between 100-110 degrees, or just stick your finger in it, if it’s too hot for you it’s too hot for the yeast
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 package Instant Dry Yeast, or 2 ¼ teaspoons
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
½ teaspoon Salt
Combine water and yeast in a mixing bowl, mix to dissolve the yeast.
Add the flour, olive oil, and salt to the bowl.
Using a dough hook attachment, mix the dough at low speed for 5 minutes until dough forms a uniform ball.
The dough will still be slightly tacky to the touch. To check gently press a finger to it and pull away, the dough will feel tacky but your finger should remain mostly clean. If it is too wet, your finger gets dough stuck to it, add more flour a ¼ cup at a time until the right consistency is reached.
Remove the dough hook and cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap. If you need the bowl back then just transfer the dough to another large container.
Place dough in the fridge. Every 30 minutes go back and punch the dough down by removing the plastic wrap and pushing it down until it is half its size. This is an important step if you want to avoid the Blob in your fridge. As the dough cools the yeast will slow down and eventually stop rising, at that point you no longer need to punch it down and it can be left un-watched overnight.
Leave the dough in the fridge for at least 8 hours or up to one week. The longer the dough sits the better it tastes.
Making the pizza-
Remove the dough from the fridge and separate into two equal sized dough balls. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
While the dough warms, preheat your oven. Move oven rack to the center position and place a pizza stone on it. Preheat oven to 450.
My pizza stone is 10 years old, nothing sticks to this bad boy anymore. And yes, it is supposed to be that dark.
Pizza Sauce
1- 8 oz can Crushed Tomatoes
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 tablespoon fresh Basil, chopped (can substitute fresh with freeze dried)
Combine ingredients for sauce in a bowl, mix well.
After your dough has sat for an hour and warmed up you can go ahead and shape it into your crust.
On a large surface spread out a thin layer of flour. Begin to shape the dough by pressing it out into a circle using the heel of your hand.
You can form the crust completely by hand by continuing to press it out using your palms and fingers.
Rolling pins work too.
If you happen to know someone who knows how to toss pizza dough you could ask them to teach you. And yes, I do know how :)
How big do you make your crust? As big as your pan or pizza stone.
Once your crust is ready transfer it to a piece of parchment paper (if using pizza stone) or to your pizza pan. Don’t shape the crust directly onto the pan, the dough will get stuck in all those holes.
It’s okay of the pizza is a little bigger than the paper, as long as it’s not bigger than the stone.
Spread the sauce over the crust in a thin layer.
Sprinkle with cheese. Don’t go over board, because extra time was taken to make the crust taste good the pizza will actually not need as many toppings. It doesn’t need extra cheese to make up for a tastless crust.
Perfect.
No put your favorite toppings on and it’s ready to cook.
This pizza is on a pan. You can place the pan right on the stone and it will still develop that nice crispy crust.
To cook on a stone- Using a pizza peel or other flat surface, move the pizza to the oven and position about halfway over the stone. Grab a corner of the parchment paper that is furthers from you and gently pull on it. Slide the pizza off of the peel and onto the stone. The parchment paper will allow you to re position the pizza so that it sits in the middle of the stone.
Bake pizza for 10 to 12 minutes, about halfway through rotate the pizza. All ovens have hot spots. If you ever want to figure out where the hot spots in your oven are, just bake a large flat thing, you’ll find out real quick.
Pizza is done when the cheese is bubbly and the bottom is golden brown.
To get the pizza off of the stone just get the peel or other flat thing and us a spatula to lift up a corner. Slide the peel under the pizza and just use your fingers to tug it off the stone and onto the peel.
Serve immediately.
And call me, cause I’m coming over for dinner. :D
Julia
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