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Now it is my turn to comment on pizza dough. First, the disclaimers. I have mentioned occasionally that my upbringing was mostly suburban, and my early culinary experiences were heavily influenced by my mother’s growing up on a farmhouse on the prairie. (For real! They had electricity and all that, though.) What this means is that I have no Italian heritage to call upon, no fond memories of Noo Yauk pizza parlors (I wouldn’t mind, by the way, if someone were to give me the 411 on what exactly makes a pizza “New York” style.) I don’t own a pizza stone — I had one but I accidentally broke it, and I haven’t replaced it because I found it to be bulky and difficult to store, and because I hated the pizza peel.
My mom makes pizza that we always liked just fine when we were growing up. She made the dough herself and baked the pizzas in jelly-roll pans. For a long time, homemade pizza was our family’s traditional Christmas Eve dinner. I also made pizza in college that my friends seemed to like (I never had leftovers.) Cooking in college was one step up from camping — my pizza pan was the metal lid to a 13×9 inch baking pan. I also am not an experienced bread-baker; pizza dough is pretty much the only thing I make with yeast.
The point of all this is that purists and pizza virtuosos are probably going to laugh and sneer at these reflections. They are going to scoff at my crust and denounce it as too puffy, not authentic, whatever.
Well, they can go jump in the lake. This is not even pizza 101, but it’s a reasonably successful recipe and my friends always ate the pizza all up. It is a combination of the recipe as given to me and my own annotations. I tried to stay away from anything too fancy or scary sounding.
Equipment: A baking sheet is essential. I strongly recommend an oven thermometer for this and any kind of baking (this lesson learned after many tears shed in nursing school over ruined cookies baked in an oven later discovered to be running 100 degrees too hot.) I also like using an instant-read meat thermometer (the kind that looks like a dial on a stick, or like a tire gauge). An oven safe mixing bowl (two bowls are helpful), a hand towel, measuring cups.
Pizza dough for two a la Chandler Hall (makes one 11-inch pizza):
1 pkg active dry yeast (I never got the rapid-rise, the regular kind worked just fine for me. If you double the recipe, you still only use one package of yeast)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water, about 110 degrees. You can use the thermometer to check the temp of the water if you’re nervous. It should be about the temperature of a newborn’s bathwater, not the temperature of your bracing hot (or cold! shower.) You want to give your little yeast organisms a nice spa experience.
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cups bread flour, with more flour for sprinkling (I got satisfactory results with all-purpose flour. If you are just getting started, I would hold off on whole wheat flour until you get the touch; it will make the dough stiffer. Then use half white, half wheat, experimenting until you get the ratio you like best.)
1. Turn your oven to warm or whatever its absolute lowest possible setting is. Get a pastry cloth or a board ready (a cutting board or any clean surface will do) by sprinkling about 1/3 flour over it.
2. In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast and sugar over water; let stand for 5 minutes to soften. Don’t worry if you see beige foam on the water — that’s the yeast cranking up.
3. Add salt, the 1 1/2 Tbsp oil, and 1 cup of the flour; mix until dough is elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Take the dough and turn it out on your board. Knead 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and springy (I’ve heard some people say, “like a baby’s bottom”) with small bubbles just beneath the surface (don’t get too anxious about the bubbles, this is a subtle sign and you will be able to feel them better than you can see them.)
4. Lightly grease the oven safe bowl with olive oil and plop the dough in it. Turn the dough over so the top is greased too. Cover it with a towel, pop it in your oven, and turn the oven off. Let rise until roughly doubled in volume (45 to 60 minutes.)
Pizza sauce
If you want, you can make a nice pizza sauce while the dough is rising. You need a 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes in tomato puree.
Take a saucepan (a 4 qt should be big enough) and pour in some olive oil. Heat it on medium until the oil is warm, shimmery, and sizzles a little (but not spattery.) Meanwhile, if you want garlic in your sauce, peel two cloves and mash them flat with the flat side of your knife. (You can use garlic powder in a pinch) Add the smooshed garlic to the oil. Mmmm, doesn’t that smell good? Don’t let it burn or get brown. When the garlic is kind of soft, add the tomatoes and stir in 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp of basil, 1/4 tsp garlic powder if you didn’t have any fresh, and around 1/4 tsp of salt.
Let the sauce simmer on the back burner on low heat for at least 30 minutes. Get your pizza toppings ready: grate your cheese (or cheeses), fry your sausage, slice your mushrooms, whatever.
Lightly grease your baking sheet (I use shortening.) You can dust the sheet with cornmeal if you have it.
When your dough is ready, take it out of the oven and punch it down. Move your oven rack to the lowest position and heat your oven to 450 degrees.
Take your dough and start shaping it. It sounds like is the tricky part for everybody. This article on pizza has some hints on stretching the dough out. (It also has a pizza recipe that I have used with some success, but it calls for a food processor.) I still can’t do it exactly the way they talk about in the article — it might be because I make smaller pizzas — and it definitely won’t work exactly as written for this recipe, because this recipe makes a small pizza. Basically you want to start shaping the dough in the air, using your hands to gently stretch it into a disc, a little at a time in each direction. If the dough tears, don’t panic, just scrunch it together and try it again. In his comment over at Kathy’s, Erik suggest popping the dough in the fridge to cool it down if it is too springy. I will be trying this hint at the first opportunity.
When the dough is as streched out as you can get it in the air, move it to your baking sheet and finish up there. Use your fingertips to gently stretch the dough. I have better results if I keep moving, doing a small section at a time, not letting any part of the dough get too thin. Sometimes I’ll even pick a section up and pull it a little bit. I wish I could be more exact, but I’m not good at describing what I mean. With each pizza I get a bit better. And phooey to the Authenticity Police, I do use a rolling pin if nothing else works.
Turn up the edge if you like, and let’s put the toppings on! First take some of that delicious sauce and spread it out over the pizza. Then add your cheese (I personally do not care for gobs of cheese, and prefer smaller amounts of mozzarella combined with sharper cheeses.) and your other toppings.
Slide your baking sheet into the oven on that lowest rack and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Pull it out when it’s done and let it stand for a couple of minutes. Slide it onto a cutting board (use a spatula to loosen it from the pan, if needed, and guide it onto the cutting board) and enjoy.
If you have any leftovers, they freeze well. You can also use this dough to make calzones: On a board, shape the dough into smaller circles (6-9 inches in diameter.) Put some toppings on half of each circle and fold the other half over. Press the edges together. Prick the tops with a fork and lightly brush the tops with olive oil. Transfer to the greased, cornmealed baking sheet. Bake as above. I made a couple of these on Friday and froze them for my husband’s lunches.
Great, another overly-long Peony post. I hope this was helpful to someone.