Pizza
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This is my recipe for making home made pizza. The kids and grown up's all love it. The trick to getting this right, is practice and trial and error. This is a guide that works in my kitchen for our tastes. Tweak it to yours as needed.
The Recipe is for a Neapolitan / NY style Pizza. I'm don't make the rolled out bar pizza cut in squares you see in Chicago. I love that too, but just order it out if that's what we want. I believe this style of pizza to be more true to original authentic pizza style's from Italy.
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- 1 Ball Dough Use the dough recipe
- 1 jar San marzano Sauce Use San Marzano Red Sauce Recipe
- 1 container Buffaly Motz use fresh motz (precut, and water soaked out by paper towels)
- 1 toppings whatever you like
- Yeast
- Canola or Olive Oil
- Fresh Motz or Whole Milk Motz shedded yourself
- Sauce or crushed San Marzano Tomatoes
- Toppings
- Corn Meal
- I prefer to make the dough one day prior to making the pizza. This allows time for gluten and flavor to develop. When Finished mixing the dough, immediately refrigerate in a ziplock bag (skip the oiled bowl rise). leave extra space in the bags, as it will rise in the fridge, just slower.
- 90 minutes prior to making pizza, take the dough out, and cut into baseball to softball size balls on an oiled sheet. Use the tuck under method, so there is always a smooth surface on top of the ball. Use a bit of oil if you must on your hands.
- Preheat oven with stone on lower rack to 550 (convection setting if you have it) 45 minutes prior to cooking. The stone needs this time to properly heat up.
- Once ready, prep all toppings. I say no more than 2 per pizza, or the cooking gets off time.
- dust the pizza peel with cornmeal.
- Gently take one of the balls of dough, and dust both sides with flour. Next, (this takes a lot of practice) in the air, using your fists/fingertops underneath in the center of the ball, start to stretch it out, keeping it moving around in circles and moving your fist to where it needs additional stretching. If the dough does not stretch easily, let it rest another 15 min. the goal here is to make sure you leave a rim for the crust, but thinner in the middle while maintaining a circle shape. Once the dough is about the size you want, place it on the cornmeal dusted peel. Add the sauce, cheese and toppings, making sure to leave an inch of crust. wipe off any spills so the crust is clean. For toppings, a good bet is always, fresh Motz, fresh basil, and a few crushed san Marzano tomatoes. (Pizza Margherita) Also, Fresh sausage (pre-cooked), Prosciutto, or whatever you like will work. Don't add too many toppings, or the cooking time will be off (dough will burn before toppings are done)
- Take the pizza peel, and move it gently back and forth, making sure the entire pizza will slide. If so, open up the oven, and slide it on to the stone (this technique also takes a good bit of practice). Turn the pizza 180 degrees after 5 minutes to even out the cooking. Do not open the oven any more than necessary. When cheese is melted and crust is just beginning to brown, take it out. Add a dash of oregano or dried basil, and let the pizza sit for 10 minutes before cutting in to it.
A couple of additional Tips
1. When using Fresh Mozzarella, slice it, salt it, then place between two or three paper towels with a heavy weight on top. This will take some of the moisture out so it doesn't form puddles on your pizza.
2. For a BBQ pizza, use BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce, and grilled chicken and red onions
3. Buy whole milk motz if not using fresh motz, and shred it yourself. the pre-shredded stuff has potato or corn starch to keep it from sticking. That's not what you want on pizza.
4. Clean off any burnt cornmeal from the stone b/w each pizza. it will stick to the next pizza, and add a burnt flavor.
5. Caputo '00' Pizza flour is imported from Italy. it can be purchased on the internet in 9, 12, 20, or 55 pound variants. its superb flour for pizza dough.
6. If using Fresh Yeast, the percentage is 1.5%
7. Always prep your toppings in advance of cooking the pizza's. This will make everything go smoother. Grill the sausage, cut the basil, shred the cheese, prep the sauce, etc....