Making great pizza at home

Pizza! It may have originated in Italy but its an all-American food now! The way I look at it, they owe us! After all, tomatoes came to Italy from America and look what tomatoes have done for their cuisine.

I can still remember my first pizza. Back in the day, pizza joints were few and far between (yeah my baby pictures are in black & white). So when Shakey's Pizza opened a joint in Gilroy, my friends and I were all over it. I couldn't get enough of that chewy, gooey pie.

My passion for pizza was such that my first job out of culinary school was manning the wood burning pizza station at a local trattoria in Sacramento. It was awesome, I got to make the dough, the sauce, prep all the ingredients and cook the pies.

I'm no longer cooking professionally but I still get the urge to make my own pizza. With a little practice, you too can make quality pizzas at home. Why go to so much effort when you can pick one up in the frozen food section of your local grocer, or order one from the pizza joint down the road?

Making your own pizza not only taste better, it's cheaper. What about the guy selling two large pizzas for $9.99? There are reasons cheap things are cheap and none of them are good!

Let's start with the essential tools, this is what you need:

My well-used pizza stone

First and foremost you need a pizza stone. To attain a nice crispy crust, using a pizza stone is essential. 

Kitchen Aid Mixer with dough hook attachment

 
 Here's the biggie. A Kitchen Aid mixer, or other comparable mixer is a big investment, however there are so many things you can do with it! I also purchased the pasta maker attachment, grinder attachment and sausage maker attachment which means there are a lot of things I can do with this machine! Grind your own hamburger meat, make exotic sausages (wild boar, duck) or fresh pasta, and don't get me started on cream cheese brownies! Have no fear, you can always prepare the dough by hand.

Wooden Pizza Peel (Paddle)

The Pizza Peel is the most convenient way to slide your pizza into the oven and onto the pizza stone. 

Rolling Pin

 I know what you're thinking. "Why not do like the guys at the pizza parlor who toss the dough into the air? They don't use a rolling pins." That's all fine and good and if you can do that, more power to you. But for schleps like me, the rolling pin is the way to go. It's easy to roll out a 10" pizza round.

Great ingredients means great pizza!

 
Two essential ingredients: 

Napoli's Antimo Caputo, double zero flour is what I use to make the pizza dough. If you can find better, let me know. If you can't find this flour in your local supermarket relax...and go to Amazon.com.

Tomatoes may have originated in the Americas but when it comes to my money, imported Italian San Marzano tomatoes are what I use. They cost more but, oh baby, they have superior flavor. Look for the D.O.P. on the can. D.O.P. stands for "protected designation of origin". "And what does that mean? The simple answer is that canned tomatoes with this designation are only from San Marzano.

San Marzano tomatoes are a plum tomato which is what chefs prefer for sauces as they contain fewer seeds and more pulp. The San Marzano region is blessed with volcanic soil from nearby Mount Vesuvius. Tomatoes love volcanic soil! Come summertime my long time friend (and brother-in-law) Dr. Gonzo, the organic farmer grows San Marzano tomatoes for me in Sacramento. For the rest of the year, I'm using these.

Pizza Dough 

(makes 4  10-inch pizza crust)

Ingredients:

4 cups Napoli Antimo Caputo tipo "00" flour
1 packet of instant dry yeast
1 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F to activate the yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients into the bowl of your mixer (use the dough hook attachment on your mixer). Turn your mixer on to the lowest setting and allow the dry ingredients to mix. Add the olive oil and the water. When the dry ingredients are coated with liquid, turn the speed of your mixer up one more level. The flour will begin to form a ball around the dough hook.  If it is sticky, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is a solid ball. If it is crumbly and won't come together, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.  
Continue to mix the dough at speed 2 until you have a solid ball, all the flour has been incorporated from the sides and bottom of the mixer. Be careful not to over mix your dough as the ball will become hard and lose its elasticity.

Coat a large bowl with olive oil and transfer the dough ball into the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and place in a warm area until the ball has doubled in size, usually about an hour. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface (use all-purpose flour, don't waste the expensive stuff!). Using a chef's knife or dough scraper, cut the dough into four equal pieces. Form the piece of dough into a ball. With your thumbs, begin pushing the dough in on itself in the center.

Note: For a great recipe on making pizza dough by hand I reccomend the cookbook by Marcella Hazan: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. That was my first "bible" for Italian cuisine. Of course you can always find a recipe on Google, natch.

Forming the dough ball

As you push in on the dough you will feel the sticky inside of the dough as it is forced to the outside. If it is sticking to your hands, brush a little flour on the ball. You will notice the ball become firm when you no longer feel any more stickiness from the inside. Bring the ends of the hole you have made from pushing, together in the center with your thumb and index finger until the hole is gone.

Removing "the hole"

Repeat the process with the other three dough pieces. Cover with the towel and let rest 10 minutes. You are ready to make pizza...that is if your ingredients and pizza sauce are ready to go. Pre-heat your oven to 550 degrees F. Yes 550! We're going for crispy crust, no wimpy-wimpy, chicken-chicken pizza!

Four pizza balls ready to go!

Pizza Sauce

In Italy sauce for pizza is usually either tomato based, pesto or just plain olive oil. But you know what they say about California...anything goes! BBQ sauce, Hoisin sauce, Chutney and even jam (dessert pizza, natch). These are just a few of the sauces I have seen (or used) on pizza. And why not? Pizza should be fun! You are only limited by your imagination. Today we'll stick with Tomato Sauce. Time to break out that can of San Marzano tomatoes!

Ingredients

1 28 oz. can San Marzano D.O.P. tomatoes 
1 cup fresh Basil leaves 
To taste Kosher Salt
To taste Sugar (I prefer Turbinado)

Directions

In a blender or mixer place all the ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste for salt and sugar. Don't be heavy-handed with either, you are looking to enhance the flavor not dominate.

As with the sauce the list of topping possibilities are endless. Today I am making 3 fairly traditional pizzas. I try to find the best ingredients available. For the ham and pepperoni I use Boar's Head. I can just hear all you foodies snickering (B.H. isn't Eco-friendly and sustainable), but you have to admit Boar's Head makes really good product across the board. Besides that, it's in 48 states which you can't say about Hobbes or Niman Ranch or whomever else the "food police" deem is worthy.

Pepperoni Pizza

Sliced Pepperoni
Grated Mozzarella
Grated Smoked Mozzarella
Pizza Sauce

The flavor of the smoked Mozz is devine and pairs so well with pepperoni. The ration I use for the two cheeses is 2 parts regular and 1 part smoked. It's not written in stone!

Mushroom Pizza

8-12 Button Mushrooms, sliced and sauteed in olive oil, butter or both. Seasoned with salt.

Pizza Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese

Ham, Artichoke Hearts and Black Olives

Ham, diced however you like it on your pizza
Artichoke Hearts, ditto
Black Olives (I prefer kalamata olives but the crowd I was serving today likes the plain black olives.
Mozzarella
Pizza Sauce

Rolling out the dough

Forming the dough

Sprinkle flour on your work surface. I use a large wooden cutting board. Marble is best! Take one of your pizza balls and with your hands form it into a circle.

Rolling the dough

Sprinkle flour on top of the dough and begin rolling it out, first east to west and then north and south. When the dough begins to stick to either the rolling pin or the 
work surface, it's time for more flour.

South to North and then...

West to East

Once your dough is about 10" diameter it's time to transfer the pie onto the pizza peel. Before you do, there is one important step you need to do. Sprinkle a little Semolina Flour on the surface of your pizza peel. This will help your pizza slide gently into the oven. One thing you don't want to happen is have sauce or cheese land on your pizza stone. It will smoke and probably make your smoke detector go off! After you roll out your pizza dough you are on the clock. The longer it takes you to add the sauce and all the other ingredients means that the dough is getting softer and softer making it all the more difficult to have a safe slide onto your pizza stone. Using semolina will make this job much easier as it acts like little ball bearing transporting your pie into the oven.

Pouring the sauce

Constructing the Pizza

Ingredients prepped and ready

It starts with the sauce. I use a ladle and dump 2-3 oz in the center of the pie. Using the bottom of the ladle I move it in a circular motion I work my way out to the edge of the pie, pushing the sauce as I go.

I take the sauce to about an inch from the edge. Next come the cheese.

Working around the edge, I use my left hand as a block to keep the cheese from falling beyond the sauce.

Like I said, it's important to not get any sauce or cheese on the hot pizza stone so I try to be careful not to allow either too close to the edge. For the Pepperoni Pizza I will next add the smoked mozzarella. Next comes the other toppings.

Pepperoni Pizza ready for the oven...as soon as I pushed that cheese back away from the edge!

Bon voyage!

The length if time it will take to cook your pizza will depend on your oven. If you have a convection oven it will crisp up in less than five minutes. I never time my pizzas. It's all about observation just like if I were cooking a pie in the wood-burning pizza oven at the Trattoria. All ovens (except the one at Boar's Head) have hot and cold spots. You will noticed that one side of your pizza has turned brown while the other is still white. There are pizza peels that are specifically made for turning pizzas while in the oven. I don't own one,   I reach in the oven and grab the pizza and turn it around. I don't recommend you try this at home. If you do you will get burned. I do. Rather, grab your wooden peel and gently lift up the edge of the pizza. Once you are underneath it, continue to slide the peel until the pizza is on the peel. Bring it out of the oven and then turn it around so the "white side of the outer crust is facing the hot end of your oven. Slide the pizza back into the oven until the pizza is completely browned on the edge. Remove the pizza from the oven with your peel and slide it onto a cutting board. Congratulations!  Isn't it a thing of beauty? 

Ready to eat.

Once your pizza is out of the oven you can add the finishing touches. A little chiffonade of basil if you like. Pour a little extra virgin olive oil in a bowl and brush the edges with the oil. You can also drizzle some extra oil onto the pizza if you like. 

Cut the pizza into slices using a pizza wheel or a chef's knife. You are ready to eat!

Mushroom Pizza

Fernando "Dr. Gonzo" aka The Organic Gardner enjoying a slice of pie

How'd it go? Yes, it took some effort, so get the whole family or your friends together to help. The more often  you do it the easier it will be. Have questions or comments? Send them to me using the comment box below. 

Spring has sprung in the Sacramento Valley. Join me Saturday, March 23rd as I visit the Sacramento Farmer's Market for the first time this year.

Ciao for now!