February 9, 2016 - Radio Kitchen - Homemade Pizza
One of the frustrations of winter storms is this: you shovel, shovel, shovel, all day long, and you've more than earned a pizza. But how are you going to get it? The roads are miserable and everything's closed. What's a hungry guy supposed to do? Well Chef Jerry Pellegrino of Schola Cooking School has been working on Do-It-Yourself pizza. Courtesy of Jerry and his Schola partner Amy von Lange, here is
a primer for making a first rate pizza at home.
Here are the elements: crust, tomato sauce, cheese and toppings. Of these, the crust is by far the most important. Here is a basic pizza dough recipe that can be rolled out for extra thin crust.
Basic Pizza Crust
Ingredients
28 oz. all-purpose flour (796 grams or about 6.5 cups)
17 oz. warm water (493 grams or mls or 2¼ cups)
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast (3.5 grams)
1 Tablespoon salt (16 grams)
2 teaspoons sugar (7.8 grams)
3 teaspoons olive oil, (12 ml)
Place the water and olive oil in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
In a separate bowl, mix salt, sugar and yeast into flour.
Add the dry ingredients into the water and, using a dough hook, mix on low speed until all the flour has been incorporated, adjust the speed on the mixer to medium and allow the dough to knead for 5 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased pan and cover with a damp cloth. Place the dough in a warm spot in the kitchen and allow the dough to rise to double its size, about two to three hours.
Punch down the dough and divide it into 4 equal pieces (using a digital scale if possible; each ball should weigh 11.5 oz [~326 grams]) and place in greased, sealed quart-sized container or oiled/greased freezer bag and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.
After much experimenting, we’ve concluded that 3 days is best but day 2 is good too. When you’re ready to make a pizza, remove your dough balls within 1 hour or less of baking and allow the dough to come to room temperature.
In the meantime, place your pizza stone in the oven and preheat at 550°F (depending on thickness of your stone and your oven's power) for at least 1 hour.
Roll out the dough and place on a pizza peel that has been sprinkled liberally with semolina flour. Top with your favorite toppings and bake in the oven.
If you love deep dish pizza, you need a slightly different crust. Here is a good recipe that Jerry and Amy came up with.
Deep Dish Dough
Ingredients
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
1 ½ teaspoons white sugar
1 ¼ cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup corn oil
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add the corn oil and whisk briefly to disperse the oil into the water mixture.
Add the flour and salt and with a hook attachment; knead until dough holds together but is still slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
Form dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled bowl, turning to coat. Cover bowl with a damp towel and allow dough to rise at room temperature until double in size, 6 hours.
Punch down dough and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Press dough into a 10-inch deep dish pizza pan.
The sauce is an essential component, and you can buy jars of pizza sauce at the store. But making your own, in bulk if you prefer, is quite easy. Here is their recipe.
Quick Pizza Sauce
Ingredients
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 heaping tablespoons chopped garlic
¼ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
2 28oz. can of peeled San Marzano tomatoes
Heat the olive oil in a large pot set over medium high heat until just smoking.
Add the onions, garlic and red pepper. Cook with occasional stirring until the onions become soft and translucent. Carefully add the cans of tomatoes.
Bring to a boil with regular stirring making sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pot. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer the sauce for 30 minutes.
Using either a traditional blender or hand held submersible blender, purée the sauce until smooth.
Tomato sauce isn't the only option for ladling on your crust. Here's a great idea for a spinach pesto and your foundation.
Spinach Pesto
Ingredients
2 cups baby spinach
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic
½ cup pistachios
1 cup parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper
In a small sauce pan set over low heat*, cook the whole garlic cloves in the olive oil until aromatic and soft, approximately 15 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.
In a blender, add the spinach, pistachios olive oil and garlic cloves. Turn on the blender. Add additional olive oil if the pesto is too thick.
Pour into a mixing bowl and whisk in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper.
*Extra Virgin Olive Oil starts to loose it’s aromatics at temperatures above 140°F. We’ve found that poaching the garlic in the olive at 160°F allows the garlic to cook and the olive oil to retain most of its beautiful aromas and taste.
We use a digital induction burner to hold the temperature ay 160°F for one hour and the results are amazing! You can use a candy thermometer to try and adjust the heat on the burner to stay around 160°F.
One indispensable item for making pizza is the pizza stone. These thick, dense stones come in a variety of sizes and shapes (rectangular or round) and are available for around $40.
The idea is that the stone absorbs a lot of heat, and is a perfect smooth flat surface for cooking the pie. It is infinitely preferable to something you rig up with tin foil and baking pans.
