Yes, I know, it's been over two weeks, and I apologize. I've been out busy with midterms, sickness, an out of town weekend, and then another illness of which I'm currently recovering from. I wasn't sitting completely idle though! That out of town weekend was spent at my Dad and stepmothers country ranch in Healdsburg, with six people looking forward to dinner Sunday night. My dad suggested I make my "famous" homemade pizza, and after being stuck in my small college dorm kitchen, I jumped on the chance to make use of the nice Gabbro (opposite of granite fyi, Geology major checking in) countertops (there's also an island!).
So began my three part pizza post, with this first part consisting of the making of the pizza. Parts two and three with go over making a quick and easy marinara sauce and authentic pizza dough. I wouldn't call this recipe labor intensive, but making the entire pizza from scratch can be daunting if you are new in the kitchen, as it requires you to know how to properly bake the pizza, make the dough (I just finally nailed this down myself, took over 10 tries), mince, chop, season, and all that jazz. The way I look at it though is that this is a great way to practice your culinary skills in the kitchen, and also your creativity! Pizza is the ultimate blank slate. You can transform your dough into a classic marinara, make it a meat-lovers, or if your especially crazy even a taco pizza!
And without further ado...
It didn't last long at all...
Pizza Nirvana
Prep Time - 20-40 minutes
Cook Time - 20-25 minutes per pizza
Serves 2-4
Main Ingredients:
- Pizza Dough
- 1/2 Cup Pizza Sauce
- 8 Ounces of Mozzarella Cheese (I use low moisture-part skim. Some brands can be really bad, like Walmart's. I've found that Precious Cheese makes the best wallet friendly Moz)
- Flour (King Arthur's Bread Flour is amazing)
- Basil Leaves (Dried or Fresh)
- Pinch of salt*
- 1/2 tsp pepper*
- 1/2 tsp oregano*
Optional Ingredients:
- Mushrooms
- Cooked Italian Sausage
- Bell Peppers
- Red Onion, White Onion
- Anything else your heart desires!
Start off by Preheating your oven to 450 degrees.
Commercially, pizzas are normally cooked at 600 to 900 degrees, but since most people don't own a commercial oven, 450 is about the highest you'll get. There are some tips though that can help you to maximize your pizza cooking efficiency. Set the rack the pizza is going onto, on the second lowest slot, and only cook one pizza at a time. If you have a convection oven, turn it on as well. Also make sure to wait a good 10-15 minutes after the oven pre-heats to start cooking the pizza, as oven temperatures will fluctuate a surprising amount for about 10 minutes after the pre-heat.
Take your raw dough ball and using a lot of flour work it out using your fingers until it's about nine inches wide. Pizza dough should be pretty elastic so it might take a few minutes. Pick it up once it is fairly large and you can either toss it to stretch it (not recommended unless experienced) or you can employ gravity to help you. To do this just hold the dough and let it fall down, rotating the dough so it evenly stretches. I can usually stretch my dough out to about a foot and a half circle, but don't ruin your dough in pursuit of a larger pie! Dust your pizza tray with cornmeal or flour and place out your dough. take a fork and poke holes all over the dough, especially the sides. This will stop bubbles from rising. Place dough in oven for 4-6 minutes, and take it out before it hits golden brown**.
Cooked and waiting for toppings
Next prepare your other toppings. For this pizza we added Italian sausage, mushrooms, and red bell peppers on top. Use however much you want, but remember you never want to overburden a pizza!
Courtesy of Pops
Pops in action...He's deadly with knife
Once all your toppings are ready, spread out your pizza dough. Unless you like a lot of sauce, keep the sauce very light, as sauce tends to go a lot further than anticipated in pizzas, you should still be able to see the dough underneath the sauce. Following that advice, spread out your cheese. It'll usually amount to about eight ounces for one pizza, but stop when the pizza is covered just enough so you see mostly cheese, but still a hint of the sauce underneath.
Make sure to spread the sauce and cheese all the way to the edges!
Add your other toppings and season with your salt, pepper, and oregano. Your pizza is now oven ready!
Place you pizza in the oven and set the timer for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye out for bubbles, but since the crust has been semi pre-cooked, it shouldn't be a problem. After 15 minutes, rotate the pie 180 degrees*** and cook until golden brown, about 5-10 minutes.
Here's the finished product!
We didn't have basil for this pizza, but if adding fresh basil chop it up and add it after it's done cooking, 20 minutes in the oven will burn basil pretty bad.
That's all there is to it folks! Making pizza is a lot of fun, and you can even turn your leftover pizza dough into pesto breadsticks! (future posts on pesto coming!)
Photos were taken by my lovely sister as I worked in the kitchen, thanks sis! Stay tuned for future post this week and keep an eye out for the rest of the pizza series!
Stefan
* I put up rough amounts for the spices for those who are unsure of how much to add. Generally when it cooking it's just a lot easier to spice and season by eye (not for baking though). This is how I season my foods so if those amounts are off I apologize.
** I pre-cook my pizza dough because in a home oven it can be tough for the crust to cook completely at the same time as the cheese and toppings. Also it helps to prevent a soggy crust and bubbles!
*** Again another shortcoming of commercial ovens. Most ovens cook whats in the back faster than the front, so rotation of the pizza will insure that everything cooks evenly.
