Pizza to weather the storm

If you have not heard, there is a hurricane with my name on it, ravaging through the North East.  With nothing else to do, I finally spent the whole day exactly how I wanted, cooking.  I figured that taking another shot at making perfect pizza would probably not be a waste of time, as I had plenty of it.  I also had plenty of King Athur’s pizza flour, which I so optimistically bought in the beginning of the summer.  Actually, I bought enough to make pizza every day for 2 months, but somehow did not get around to it.  Perfect pizza scares me; I am very particular about the kind of pizza I like.  It has to be thin, crispy and not just on the edges.  It has to have the perfect balance of tomatoes to cheese and it has to be made with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.   Over the years I made plenty of attempts at the perfect pizza, having a husband who can toss the perfect crust, seemed encouraging, but the problems persisted.  Our biggest problem was the sogginess… Even when we did not overload the pie, the pizza never got crispy in the middle, the liquid from the tomatoes and the mozzarella prevented that.  The perfect crust was elusive at best.  All the recipes I ever tried, had always yielded either to soft or too tight of the dough, but I knew what the perfect dough was supposed to feel like.  I do buy pizza dough from a local pizzeria that mastered the perfect crust.  So on this rainy and miserable pre-hurricane morning, I thought about the problems I have been having… it seems that thinking before doing is not such a bad idea after all.  The result was perfect, tips and tricks are below.

Oh,  and major brownie points to my husband who tosses the perfect pie, with the pizzazz and flare, singing Mezza Luna… and, yes, he washes the dishes too!   

Perfect Pizza crust.

Makes three 12” pizzas or two 14” ones

3 ¼ cup of King Arthur Pizza flour ( if using bread flour, start with 3 cups)
1 ½ cups of warm water

2 tsp instant yeast

1 ½ tsp salt

2 tbs olive oil

Mix the four, yeast, salt and olive oil.  Add water a little bit at the time, kneading the dough with the dough hook of the standing mixer.  If kneading by hand, add most of the water all at once, reserving a bit to add when the dough already came together.  Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and stretchy, about 5 minutes ( of done with the mixer, 12 -15 min by hand).  Divide the dough into pie portions ( 2 or 3.  Resist the urge to make “super pizza pie” with all the dough at once).  Knead each portion of the dough individually for another 5 minutes, than form into a balls, cover and let rise at room temperature for about 1.5 hrs or until doubled in size.

After the initial rise, re-knead each dough portion, form into a ball, flour generously and wrap in plastic.  Let rest in the fridge overnight or at least for a few hours before baking.  The dough can also be frozen at this point.

For the perfect pizza.

6 – 8 Roma or plum tomatoes slowly roasted (recipe follows)

2 cloves of roasted Garlic

1 lb of fresh mozzarella drained (draining instructions below)

1 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese or combination of parmesan and pecorino.

2 tbs of olive oil

Fresh basil

Spicy dry Italian sausage or pepperoni (optional)

Roma or plum tomatoes are a perfect choice here, they are meaty, but when fresh lack that great tomato taste.  Once you slow roast them, the flavor concentrates and they become the most beloved condiment in your fridge.  Roast a whole bunch and store in a tight container.  I put them on everything, from pizza, pasta, omelets to salads.  

Seed the tomatoes, than cut them into thick rounds.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle of sugar, salt and pepper and roast at 250F – 265F oven for 2 – 2.5 hrs until they gave off most of their juice.  Toss a few garlic cloves coated well with olive oil and you have roasted garlic as well.

Here is what they look like out of the oven

Most fresh mozzarella comes in various states of dryness, most, even if looking fairly dry are not.  So before you decide to make pizza, cut up your mozzarella into slices, wrap in generous amount of paper towels and put something heavy on top like a pot full with water or a large heavy skillet.  Let the paper towels absorb the moisture, than change them a few times until no significant amount is absorbed any more.

Ok, back to pizza.  Preheat the stove to the highest temperature available (mine is 550F -  I wish it went higher).  Place your quarry tiles or a baking stone on the lowest rack and make sure that the tiles are fully pre-heated, that means at least 2 min should pass from the time the oven came to full temperature.

Roll out the crust on a pizza peel covered with coned meal.  Crush 2 roasted garlic cloves with 2 tbs of olive oil, mixing into an even paste.  Brush the olive oil, garlic paste onto the crust with a pastry brush, making sure to cover the edges well.  Place the roasted tomatoes evenly on the crust.  

Followed by mozzarella, sausage (if using) and basil.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Do not overload the pizza or it will be soggy. 

Oh, and dont forget the glass of wine for the cook!

Working quickly transfer the pie from the peel to the baking surface.  Here you will find out how good of the job you did dusting the peel with cornmeal. 

Bake the pizza 10 -12 min, until the crust is well browned, and cheese is melted and bubbly.

Let cool 5 min before serving. 

With over a 100 bottles of wine in my basement and food like this, who cares about some stupid hurricane!