Pizza, Two Ways

I'll reference this in the future, since I'm going to go into a lot of detail.

For Rich's birthday, he asked for pizza. Tonight, I made seven pizzas. There are two extra dough balls in the freezer. We made a lot of pizza.

As I mentioned earlier, I have made a lot of pizza. My go to recipe is Wolfgang Puck's recipe with minor variation. It is quite reliable and pretty fast. With a little more time, it's even better. I am experimenting with other, longer rising doughs as I enjoy artisan breads and many recipes claim to be as chewy and tasty as good artisan bread. There are a couple on my radar. I decided to try Peter Reinhart's recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. One of my favorite food bloggers is also a fan of the recipe, so I decided I had to try it. Unfortunately, it has to rise overnight in the fridge and required chilled flour (?!), so it requires a little more planning than Wolfie's recipe.

So, last night, I made a batch of each dough. I started with the new recipe since I wanted to make sure I took my time. It turned out quite nicely. The dough was really beautifully supple and soft and very promising. If a repeat try turns out as well, I'll blog more details about it.

Then I made my good old standby recipe. Wolfgang Puck's pizza dough recipe.

Here's my mise.



Pretty straightforward as far as ingredients go.

Combine the flour and salt and mix together. I just plop it in the KitchenAid bowl and let it run for a bit on the dough hook since that's what I'll be using.



Then put the water in the microwave for about a minute to warm it up. The ideal temperature for yeast to proof is 115-125 degrees F. When I started making pizza, I was paranoid and would actually use a thermometer to get the water to 115 exactly. Now, I know that yeast is more forgiving and eyeball it with a minute in the microwave.

Pour about a third to half the water into a bowl, add the honey and mix thoroughly and then add the yeast. (I buy active dry yeast in a jar instead of packets because it's cheaper and I just keep the jar in the freezer. I've had this jar for almost three years. Still works perfectly.) Leave the yeast alone for about five to ten minutes. It'll bubble (Drew likes to watch that part) and get puffy.



I then make a little well in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast and the remaining water as well as the olive oil. Then I turn the mixer on with the dough hook and use a spatula to gently nudge the flour in from the sides so that the dough gets nice and mixed.



It takes a while, but once most of the flour is clearly incorporated, turn the mixer up one notch and let it go to town. The dough should not stick to the sides. If it does, add flour, a tablespoon at a time, waiting until each addition is fully incorporated, until it doesn't stick anymore. The dough should remain anchored to the bottom of the bowl. If your dough flops around freely, it's too dry. Add water, a teaspoon at a time, waiting until each addition is fully incorporated, until the dough stays attached to the bottom of the bowl.

When you lift the hook, it should look like this.



Note that it's still attached to the bowl, but it's lumped up nicely on the hook.

Lightly dust a clean countertop and turn the dough out. Knead for a couple of minutes, until it feels pretty smooth and the lumpiness is gone.

Lightly oil a large bowl with a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Put the dough ball into the bowl and turn it over a couple of times so that the dough ball itself is lightly greased. Add additional olive oil if necessary.



Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put in a nice warm, draft free spot for about forty-five minutes or until the dough is doubled. I turn my oven on for a few minutes until it hits around 115 degrees F and then turn it off and put the bowl in there. Nice and toasty!

After about forty-five minutes, I take it out and it looks like this.



The plastic wrap is totally domed and the dough is nice and spread out.

Then I punch the dough ball in the middle and then turn it out onto a floured cutting board. Then I use a knife or scraper and cut the dough into two or four pieces. For a first timer, I suggest sticking with smaller pizzas, i.e. cutting the dough into quarters. I used half and two quarters this time.

Dust your hands with flour and pick up one of the spongy pieces of dough. It will feel really soft. That's okay. Form a ball in your hands. Then starting at one point on the dough ball, gently pull on the surface of the dough ball to a point theoretically on the other side of the dough ball. Just keep pulling it and gathering the excess dough on the other side. Alternatively, you can take the initial ball of dough and roll it around on a smooth, unfloured surface until it feels nice and smooth and the surface of the dough ball feels tight. Repeat with all the dough balls.



If making the dough ahead of time, pull out a couple of freezer bags, put a little oil inside and rub it around the bag. Place the dough ball in the bag. You can freeze them or refrigerate them. The bonus to refrigerating dough overnight is that it gets a nice chewy texture that is not acheivable without a long slow rise. Using it immediately is really good too, but the dough is a little floppier. There is something to be said for semi-instant gratification.

So for Rich's birthday, I made everything to this point and refrigerated the dough.

Okay, when you're read to make pizza, bring the dough up to room temperature. If the dough is frozen, thaw completely in the refrigerator before bringing to room temperature.

When I'm using dough I made ahead, I take it out while the stone is heating. Don't be tempted to put the dough on top of the stove while the oven is heating. I have learned from experience that this is a very bad idea.

Prep your oven. I put my pizza stone on a shelf on the lowest position and leave it on at the highest temperature for an hour before starting to make pizzas. Occasionally I'll cut it short, but always regret it since I like a nice browned crust. I don't know how to make pizza without a pizza stone. So go get one if you don't have one. Or pick up a kiln shelf at your local ceramic supply. They are perfect. Just make sure it's new and that you clean it thoroughly with water prior to use.

I forgot to have Rich take pictures while I was prepping the dough for toppings. I'll try to remember to have him take some next time.

The way I prep for toppings is to take a dough ball and roll it around in a bowl of flour so that it's nicely dusted all over. Then I take my pizza peel (you can use any flat, unrimmed surface like a cutting board or the bottom side of a baking sheet, if you're desperate) and dust with cornmeal. Consider the cornmeal your ball bearings for pizza dough delivery.

Take a ball and put in on the cornmeal dusted peel. Using just your fingerips, push the dough down, dimpling the ball, until you have a round, slightly flattened piece of dough, about five inches across. Then I pick it up and essentially pull the dough apart. Moving the dough around in one direction, I put my hands on the dough and just gently pull the dough between my hands. Just doing that along the middle and then progressively to the edge, along with gravity will thin out the dough. When you have something with a thickness you're okay with, put it down. I like my pizzas relatively thin. The thinner you pull it, the harder it is to keep it together, so take it easy. Especially with larger pizzas, be very careful. I tend to keep the bigger ones a little thicker.

If you're really uncomfortable shaping the dough by hand, use a rolling pin and roll out the dough to the desired size.

At this point, it is important to make sure the dough will move around for you. Pick up the peel/tray and just shake it back and forth and see if the dough moves freely from the peel. If not, lift the dough gently and add more cornmeal underneath. Test again.

Now add your toppings. Beware of too many toppings. I'm a fan of toppings, but I'm very careful on homemade pizzas not to go overboard. I use my homemade tomato sauce, maybe one and a half tablespoons on a small (1/4 of the total dough) pizza, and four or so on a large (1/2 the total dough) pizza. Not all that much.

Drew's favorite pizza is tomato sauce, fresh torn basil, mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, black olives, and lots of pepperoni. I keep the veggie toppings thinly sliced so I can put as much of them as I want on the pizza. I put the pepperoni on top of the cheese. I use either mozzarella or a shredded Italian cheese blend for pizzas. As with the toppings, just keep the cheese light. Cover the toppings lightly, like a light snow powder. You may still see toppings and sauce peeking through, but when the cheese melts, this won't be an issue. After the pepperoni, I top my pizzas with a nice sprinkling of freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Recently, Rich has had me trading out black olives for sliced habenero stuffed olives which add a surprisingly tasty kick to the pizzas.

Careful transfer the pizza to the stone. Make sure you start trying to put the pizza down towards the back of the stone. Once the pizza is on the stone, you cannot move or adjust it until it is baked enough to move. So you really just get one shot. Practice the move a couple of times before you attempt it if you're nervous.

Bake for seven to ten minutes, depending on how crunchy you like your pizza. I like mine toasty, lightly browned and clearly blistered. This is how you know your crust is crunchy and won't just fall apart in your hands.

I take my pizza out using a pair of tongs and a cooling rack. I like this method because it frees up my peel to be used for another pizza ready for the oven without having to wait until after I take the pizza out. And because it gives me an opportunity to check the bottom of the pizza prior to removing it so I can leave it in if it needs another minute or two.

Here's my pizzas.





Note how browned the bottom is - it had a nice sound when I touched it as it came out of the oven. Crisp, but not so brittle as a cracker.

The large pizza I made turned out fabulously. Drew ate two slices. It was almost fourteen inches, according to Rich, and the center didn't sag at all! It was perfectly crisp and chewy.



The new dough I was trying out was a little worrisome initially. It seemed like it wasn't happy with me - it didn't seem to have risen at all in the fridge and I wasn't sure how it would taste.

I am happy to report that it worked really well and that I think I prefer it for the texture, not quite so airy, but nicely chewy and crisp. In addition, it had a little more character and seemed to work well on the stone. The next time I try it, I will blog the new recipe.

I don't know that I'll ever give Wolfie up since he's been my guy for so long. But this new fangled recipe may be worth trying again.

Anyway, if you're inspired to try your hand at pizza, here's the basic dough recipe with my minor modifications. You can also make calzones really easily with this dough. And if you're too lazy to go for a full pizza, take the dough and make a quick flatbread or foccacia.

Pizza Dough
adapted from Wolfgang Puck

Makes four 8-inch pizzas or 2 14-inch pizzas

1 package (or 2 1/4 tsp.) active dry or fresh yeast
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup warm water (microwave for 1 minute on high)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for bowl
toppings of your choice

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/4 cup of the warm water.

2. In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour and the salt. Make a well in the center and add the oil, yeast mixture, and the remaining 3/4 cup of water and mix on low speed until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and clusters around the dough hook, about 5 minutes. (The pizza dough can also be made in a food processor. Dissolve the yeast as above. Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse once or twice, add the remaining ingredients, and process until the dough begins to form a ball.)

3. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and knead by hand 2 or 3 minutes longer. The dough should be smooth and firm. Cover the dough with a clean, damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot for about 30 minutes. (When ready, the dough will stretch as it is lightly pulled.)

4. Place a pizza stone on the middle rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 500º F.

5. Divide the dough into 4 balls, about 6 ounces each. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball. Repeat 4 or 5 times. Then on a smooth, unfloured surface, roll the ball under the palm of your hand until the top of the dough is smooth and firm, about 1 minute. Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 15 to 20 minutes. At this point, the balls can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to 2 days. (One day in the fridge gives the dough a little more flexibility and tastes a little bit better.)

6. To prepare each pizza, dip the ball of dough into flour, shake off the excess flour, place the dough on a clean, lightly floured surface, and start to stretch the dough. Press down on the center, spreading the dough into an 8-inch circle, with outer border a little thicker than the inner circle. If you find this difficult to do, use a small rolling pin to roll out the dough. Lightly brush the inner circle of the dough with oil and arrange the toppings of your choice over the inner circle.

7. Using a lightly floured baker’s peel or a rimless flat baking tray, slide the pizza onto the baking stone and bake until the pizza crust is nicely browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Remember that the oven is very hot and be careful as you place the pizza into and out of the oven. Transfer the pizza to a firm surface and cut into slices with a pizza cutter or very sharp knife. Serve immediately.