What’s for Dinner? Pizza!

Much to my mother’s chagrin, I don’t cook very often. The prime exception to this rule is pizza. I make my own from scratch: both dough and sauce, and in what follows, I will share the recipe with you.

Pizza is not a food item for me; it’s an obsession. I am what you might call a pizza aficionado. I have entire classifications of pizzas well beyond the typical Deep-Dish vs. New York style to encompass fast food pizza (Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, Dominos, Little Caesar’s) and local pizzerias (Frankie & Johnny’s on Sunset Blvd was a favorite in grad school; Barley’s Taproom might win my heart here in SC). I’ve been known to let my love of pizza inspire pilgrimages: Gianni’s in Monterey, CA; both Pepe’s and Sally’s in New Haven, CT; Bella Bacino in Chicago, IL; Mineo’s and Fiori’s in my hometown, Pittsburgh, PA…And then there is frozen pizza, not to mention the various pita-pizzas and pizza bagels.

Given my love affair with the pizza, several years ago, I decided to buy a pizza stone. It wasn’t very fancy. I found it at an outlet mall, and I think it cost me all of $10. From that purchase, a quest began. I wondered if it was possible to make really good pizza myself, or if I would forever be at the mercy of other pizza makers. After a long time and many, many experimental pies, I’ve come to the conclusion that yes, I/you can make really good pizza at home, and even better, it isn’t that hard or that expensive!

I have since upgraded my pizza stone (after 8 years of regular use, the original stone cracked in half). I have also added a pizza peel and a stand mixer to my kitchen arsenal, but good pizza can be made without the peel or the mixer. It will be a bit messier though, so you want to make sure that you’ve got your sleeves rolled up and you have a clear space on which to work.

The key to making this dough is to make it the day before and let it rise in the refrigerator overnight (or for a few days even). This is called a “cold rise” and will noticeably improve the flavor of the crust. The other trick is to use something called an “autolyse,” which means that you combine the water and flour together first and then cover the mixture and let it sit for 20-30 minutes before mixing the rest of the ingredients. This “resting period” gives the flour a chance to absorb the water, and makes a big difference in the texture of the dough.

Making the dough takes about 30 minutes (including the 20 minute intermission), and once that is done, making the pizza itself takes very little time. In fact, the most time intensive part of the entire process is the heating of the oven.

Pizza Dough (based on Cooking Light‘s Margherita Pizza):

Ingredients

• 2C & 2T bread flour (I like King Arthur of Flour’s Bread Flour)
• 1C warm water (110-115º), separated into 3/4C, 1/4C
• 1 envelope yeast
• 4t olive oil
• 1/2t salt

Directions:

• Add 3/4C warm water to mixing bowl
• Add flour and mix on low speed with dough hook until flour is uniformly moist
• Cover and let sit for 20 min.
• At 15 min mark, add yeast to remaining 1/4C warm water, stir, and let yeast activate.
• At 20 min, uncover flour mixture and add yeast mixture, olive oil, and 1/2t salt.
• Mix at low speed until dough pulls away from sides of the mixing bowl.
• Transfer dough to bowl lightly coated with olive oil, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

* This recipe makes enough dough for two small (12″) pizzas or one large pie. If you are cooking for one or two people, I would recommend separating the dough into two balls. If you are cooking for 3-4 people, use the whole recipe.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator about an hour before you plan to assemble the pizza, and let the dough warm to room temperature (at least an hour).

When it comes to pizza sauce, I usually do one of two things: I make my own, or I marinate a can of diced tomatoes overnight and use them instead. Note: I do not recommend combining the marinated tomatoes and the tomato sauce on the same pizza.

Zesty Old Style Tomato Sauce (With thanks to Laura at the Cooking Photographer):

Ingredients

• 1 8oz can tomato sauce
• 1 6oz can tomato paste
• 1t oregano
• 1t basil
• 1t garlic powder
• 1t paprika (everyone raises their eyebrows about this one, but trust me, it’s good!)
• 1t sugar
• 1t white vinegar
• 1/2t onion powder
• 1/4t salt
• 2T Olive Oil
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Mix ingredients together in medium sized bowl, and let sit for 30 minutes before using.

Marinated Tomatoes

I came up with this pizza-hack a few years ago when my local grocery store stopped carrying the Balsamic Vinegar variety of diced tomatoes that I had been using in lieu of pizza sauce. These tomatoes have quite a bit of zing to them, and I suspect that you’ll either really like them or really not.

Ingredients

• 1 can diced tomatoes, Italian style
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Dried Basil
• Minced Garlic
• Olive Oil

Directions:

• Open can and drain it of all “tomato juice” being careful not to crush the tomatoes.
• Add a splash of olive oil, about 1/4t of minced garlic, and about 1T of Balsamic vinegar. Top off the can with Red Wine Vinegar.
• Stir. Cover, refrigerate, and marinate overnight.
• When the time comes, pour off all of the liquid, and use the tomatoes as one of your toppings in lieu of tomato sauce.

Putting It All Together

• Preheat over to 550º (If your oven only goes to 500º, then preheat to 500º) with stone inside on lowest shelf. It usually takes about 30 minutes for my over to preheat.
• Spread pizza dough on a rolling mat. Note: Do not use a rolling pin (Rolling pins result in a flatter, heavier dough).
• Let the dough rest for a couple of minutes while you assemble your toppings. If you’re feeling healthy, go for some veggies, kalamata olives, or maybe grilled chicken. If you’re feeling decadent, maybe sausage or pepperoni (or both!).
• If you have a peel, lightly sprinkle it with cornmeal, and then transfer the dough onto it. If you aren’t using a peel, transfer the dough to a flat surface lightly sprinkled with cornmeal (a cookie sheet works well as long as it doesn’t have any kind of lip or rim—in fact, if you aren’t using a pizza stone, you could just use a baking sheet for the assembly and baking).
• If you are using tomato sauce, spread in on to the dough, taking care not to get too close to the edge (I like to leave at least a half-inch margin) and not to let it pool in the center.
• Add other toppings, saving cheese for last. When it comes to cheese, I use a mixture of whole milk mozzarella and part-skim mozzarella, favoring the skim about 70/30. My brother uses a mixture of mozzarella and provolone. Sometimes, I’ll also throw goat cheese or feta crumbles on if I have them at hand. 
• Once you have the pie fully assembled and the oven is hot enough, remove the stone from the oven. Sprinkle it lightly with cornmeal; quickly transfer the pizza to the stone taking care not to spill the toppings all over the stone (A spatula is a helpful tool here if you don’t have a peel). If you split your dough in half, bake time is approximately 6 minutes; if you are using the entire recipe, bake time is 10-11 minutes (either way, watch for crust to become golden brown and the cheese to melt but not burn).
• Once the baking is over, remove stone from oven, and transfer pizza onto a baking sheet or serving tray (I use a large cutting board). If you want the crust to be crunchy, you can leave the pizza on the stone for a few minutes.
• Let cool for a few minutes (I go with 5 minutes) to avoid burning the roof of your mouth, and then enjoy!

Assembly and bake time is 10-15 minutes for the half-pie, 20-25 for the whole pie.

[Creative Commons licensed photo by Flickr user eetempleton.]