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mmmm . . . Pizza

Pizza. One of my favorite foods. I love ANY pizza. When I was growing up my Mom's pizza was prepared on a big enamel coated sheet using dough from Esposito's. It thawed most of the day, was topped with all kinds of goodies and baked to a thick bready delight that was easily worth the entire day's wait. Then there was Bianchi's super thin pizza with tomato sauce and cheese and maybe pepperoni. That pizza was awesome, the taste was enhanced by the smell of the salt air on Revere Beach. In sixth grade, Richie LeClair delighted in introducing to me his favorite sheet pizza in North Revere. The sauce was slightly sweet and the pieces cut in squares. We referred to it as bakery pizza and it was usually eaten at room temperature; I've since found this pizza in Columbus. It's called Sicilian style here. While at Purdue, Trish and I had our favorite pizza at Noble Roman's. Thin crust, not too special but any pizza was a port in the storm during graduate school. The toppings were pricey so we went with the basic tomato sauce and cheese. It was the beginning of my desire to learn to make my own. Also at Purdue, Franco taught me a special super thin style Pizza that I could only reproduce a few times. My pizza evolved differently. The next notable pizza stop was north of Chicago. While in Evanston, we were dedicated to the pesto pizza at Carmen's, a thin style with plenty of roasted pine nuts. And down on Davis street, also in Evanston, was Giordano's. Deep dish style that was filling and decadent. In Maryland, our favorite was Bertucci's. A chain brick-oven pizzeria. The location we frequented had a masterful Pizzaiolo on the oven. This was super thin and superb (usually pesto topped again). On to Columbus. Columbus has great restaurants, but their pizza needs work. We rely on my pies most of the time.

Pizza, like bread, isn't so much a recipe, it's a process. It is comprised of a dough recipe, a dough preparation, some equipment, toppings and most of all, a method of baking. Using a bread machine (more on this later), I can have the dough ready as I walk in the door and pizza on the table in 1 hour!

General Comments. For the dough preparation I'll be using a bread machine. My pizza dough is made using a straight-dough method. This means, all ingredients are tossed together, mixed, kneaded and allowed to rise. No starter, biga, poolish, etc. Bread machines, even the cheapest, are excellent at kneading tough doughs and better, they can be programmed for a busy schedule. I got mine at Target for $28 and use if for pizza dough and some bread doughs. The pan of the machine is dedicated to doughs, consequently, I never wash it (saves a lot of time). The machine also works tirelessly and it was cheap. For bread/pizza dough, it kneads better than a KitchenAid.

If you dare make a pizza using this method (or parts of it), read the entire prep, familiarize yourself with the general method and then go buy the stuff (or make your own modifications).

    Shopping List (pictures of everything to show up later in the sequence):
  • Bread Machine: no specific recommendations - cheapest.
  • unbleached white flour: I use Gold Medal Unbleached Organic White.
  • olive oil: I use extra virgin - mostly Colavita - even in cooking.
  • salt
  • honey
  • water
  • 8" square terra cotta unglazed floor tiles: 4 of them. (Lowes or Home Depot) - for the oven. You might have to buy a small box of these to get 4. Try to get 'em separately or a small box is about $12. They'll last a long, long time.
  • Parchment paper: My favorite brand has been a 15" wide roll by Reynolds.
  • Pizza Peel: A "spatula" to shuttle the topped uncooked pizza into the oven and also to retrieve the cooked delectable pie from the high heat of the oven. These come in wood or metal with a wooden handle. I have two. The first I got 13 years ago. They last a while.
  • Pizza sauce: Mine is a simple concoction of tomatoes (28 oz can crushed), sugar (1 t), garlic (sliced, 1 clove, optional), olive oil (2 T), salt, pepper (1 t each) and oregano (dried 1 T). All added together and simmered till thick - can't have the sauce too watery or the pizza will sog out. That's why I used crushed. Crushed tomatoes usually have the consistency of whole tomatoes thickened with a can of paste; I like Sclafani brand tomatoes but I'll use Dei Freitelli in a pinch (I'm sure Pastene would be great, but can't get it in the Midwest.)

The Prep . . .
Dough Ingredients (for one 14" pizza)
*Add to bread machine pan IN THIS ORDER:
water, 150 grams (1/2 cup + 2 T)
olive oil, 18 grams (1.5 T)
honey, 10 grams (2 t)
unbleached flour, 225 grams (1 1/2 cups, loose packed)
salt, 5 grams (1 t)
active dry yeast, 5 grams (1.5 t)
I like Fleishman's for machines best

p.s.: Scale up all the ingredients by 1.5 to make a really thick crust.

Here is a shot of all the ingredients in the pan ready to go in the machine. I weigh things out on a balance. This is better for baking and creates fewer dirty containers but the volumetric equivalents will work just fine.
The machine is programmed to finish between 90 minutes and 13 hours in advance. With the yeast on top of the flour, this mixture can sit for days before mixing without killing the yeast.
This is the flour I like to use. I use if for bread and pizza and has the best taste I've used so far.

Note: As of September-2003, I've been playing with Pillsbury All-purpose (bleached!) and have been having some amazing luck with the texture. I am fully aware of the implications of using the dreaded bleached white flour but the results are too good to not try it.
Bread machine's done, here is the lump 'o dough sitting in the pan. Sometimes it rises more than others. Don't over interpret the amount of rise observed in the dough cycle.
Before you do anything, remember, pizza's going to be FINISHED in 60 minutes. Let's get the terra cotta tiles in the oven on a rack. My tiles stay there permanently. The tiles should form a 16" (at least) square and should be placed on the rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven. This is kind of a sweet spot you're going to have to fine tune. My rack is a tad above the lower third. If it's too low, the bottom will burn before the top melts; if it's too high in the oven it's tough to get the top to brown. By the way, a gas oven should be identical.
Turn on the oven to preheat NOW to 550-deg-F. 50 Minutes preheating time should be sufficient to thoroughly heat those tiles. This high temperature is pretty important for a final oven "spring" (the final rise of the dough before the yeast dies). It will also result in your pie being done in 9-10 minutes (helpful if you're doing more than one of these for guests). You cannot preheat the oven too much. These tiles need to be ripping hot when the pizza hits.
Back to the dough. I took the bread machine pan, tipped it upside down and shook vigorously till the blob of dough fell out. Here it is on the counter.
Sprinkle some flour on the dough to keep it from sticking to your hands (the dough in the photos appears to be dry, it isn't. I sometimes use a plastic spackle knife (dedicated to food) to handle the dough so I can keep a hand clean.
Next is "rounding" the dough. Rounding is a real term that means to make the dough into a round symmetrical ball. This gives it good position to get a voluminous rise. Begin by squashing it into a disc approximately 6" in diameter.
Fold the sides into the middle.
Then fold the top down to the center (pictured here), then the bottom up to the center . . .
. . then flip it so all the seams are on the bottom and the top is smooth. How symmetric and round this is will translate to how round your final pizza is. Let it rest a few minutes. Don't worry about the dough drying out. If you leave it for longer, like to tend to a screaming infant, you can cover the dough with a moistened light weight dish towel; I always have one on hand.
After a brief rest, sqash the dough into a disc of about 6", dust lightly with flour and let rest on the counter.
Then cover the dough disc with an inverted bowl or as previously described, a moistened towel.
30:00
 Let rest for 30 minutes.
Remove the bowl or towel and notice how puffy the disc is now.
We're going to ease transfer of the pizza from the counter to the oven by using parchment paper. Reynold's is good because it's 15" wide and leaves a comfortable border around our ca. 14" pizza. Notice we're cooking at 550-deg-F and the usual caution on parchment is not to use it beyond 350-400-deg-F. It's actually safe to use it higher because the pizza's internal temperature will be substantially less than the oven temperature thus creating a cooler local environment at the surface of the parchment paper. We'll be using a 15" square of the parchment.
Dust the inflated disc of dough and plop it on the parchement paper and start dimpling it with your fingers while pushing it out to the edges of the parchment.
No self respecting pizzaiolo would dare use a rolling pin, but getting the dough to a 14" disc is tricky and if you toss it, without practice, you'll get thin spots in the middle and an overly thick edge. So practice you're tossing, but use a rolling pin to get the disc to size. If it gets tough, let it rest a timed 5 minutes and it will move much easier.
Cover the rolled out dough again.
20:00
 Let dough rest before topping for 20 minutes.
Topping time. On this pizza we'll be using Olive Oil, basil, chevre (a goat cheese, a common brand in the grocery store is Chavrie, cheap and good for pizza), tomato sauce, and grated reggiano. Obviously, any toppings are good, but we like simply topped pizzas.
Li'l Peeps, no matter how carefully made stale, are not good for toppings.
Remove the cover from the dough and pour on a bit of oil.
Smear the oil all over the dough, fingers work best.
Not too much sauce, smear it on too.
Our final piece of equipment. The pizza peel. And mine is NOT called Emma.
Finish topping with basil, chevre, reggiano and place the entire uncooked pizza on the peel. The peel is like a big spatula. Just wedge it between the parchment and counter top and pull the pizza on by the parchment. The parchment and pizza should move with little friction on the surface of the peel. Jostle the peel with the pizza and parchment on it to get a feel for how it moves.
Open the extremely hot oven door and slide the pizza gently from the peel to the surface of the terra cotta tiles. Try to get this done quickly so the oven doesn't cool down too much. And don't sit there and take pictures with the oven door open.
10:00!
 If you didn't set a timer yet, SET A TIMER FOR THIS STEP. It will take between 9 and 11 minutes. More than 11 and it's burnt! Especially set the timer if you're doing this over a glass of wine, if you know what I mean. Take out the pie around 10 minutes and when it looks cooked on top. It's tough to peek at the bottom but feel free to try to wedge up the bottom for a peek.
Voila! There were many pictures in this sequence and during the shoot, I realized how difficult food photography really is. While this pictorial series is far from flattering, hopefully, I've conveyed some accuracy to assist with the recipe. I may, over time, replace images.

Hope you enjoyed the lesson. Email me if you need clarification.

-Dave
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