PIZZA Makes 1 12-inch pizza. By Dennis W. Viau; my own recipe. Every guy I know thinks he make the best pizza. I m no different. I think of pizza as a conglomeration of some of the foods we best love Italian sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions you get the idea. I ve been making pizza since I was a teenager. My early pizzas were not great successes. I eventually got the hang of it. Getting a pizza stone later in life really made a difference in my pizza. This recipe makes pizza the way I like it thick and heavy. Ingredients: For the crust: 12 ounces (340g) by weight (22/3 cups sifted) bread flour or all-purpose flour 7/8 cup warm water (105 to 115 F) (41 to 46 C) 1 teaspoon yeast 1½ teaspoons salt For the topping: 1 cup (264g) marinara sauce 12 ounces (340g) Italian sausage meat (3 to 4 sausage links with skin removed) 8 ounces (225g) mozzarella cheese, shredded 4 ounces (110g) pepperoni slices 4 to 6 white button mushrooms; sliced ½ medium onion; chopped Oil and butter for sautéing ¼ teaspoon oregano flakes Corn meal Oregano flakes for garnish Extra virgin olive oil for garnish Directions: Combine the dough ingredients and knead until smooth and elastic (5 to 10 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (45 to 60 minutes). While the dough is rising, prepare the topping ingredients. Place the marinara sauce in a skillet with about ¼ teaspoon oregano flakes. Heat to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and cook for several minutes until thickened, but not as thick as tomato paste. Stir it often to prevent scorching. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Clean the skillet and add butter and oil for sautéing. Sauté the sliced mushrooms until cooked. They will absorb fat; therefore, add more oil as needed if necessary. Set aside. Sauté the Italian sausage meat until thoroughly cooked. Set aside. Sauté onions until caramelized to a light golden color, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside. Arrange the pepperoni slices on several layers of paper towels and microwave 1 minute to reduce the fat. If you have a pizza stone, place it on a rack in the middle of your oven and heat to 450 F (232 C) (see Notes at end). Let heat 30 minutes to 1 hour. If you do not have a pizza stone you can use a pizza pan or a baking sheet and wait to heat the oven until just before you are ready to bake your crust. 1 20110404
When the dough finishes its first rise, punch it down and shape a pizza crust large enough to fit on your pizza stone or your baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 30 to 45 minutes. If you have a pizza peel and a pizza stone, sprinkle plenty of corn meal on the peel and place the dough on it. Open the oven door and slide the dough onto the pizza stone and close the oven. Let cook 5 minutes and then use the peel again to remove the dough from the oven. This first baking will set the crust and make it easier to slide a heavy pizza off and onto the peel. If you are using a pizza pan or baking sheet you can skip the pre-baking step. Transfer the crust to a work surface. Spoon thickened sauce onto the crust and spread evenly. It should be a thin layer, not a pool of sauce. I place my cooked Italian sausage meat on top of the sauce, but you can put it on top of the cheese if you prefer. Distribute the sausage meat evenly on the sauce. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly on the pizza. Garnish with additional oregano flakes. Arrange the pepperoni on the cheese. Add the sautéed mushrooms and caramelized onion. (Sometimes I add chopped olives.) Put a fresh dusting of corn meal on the peel and slide the pizza onto the hot stone. Bake until the crust is golden and the cheese just starts to brown, about 10 to 15 minutes. If using a baking sheet or pizza pan rather than a pizza stone, bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool 10 to 15 minutes (to set the cheese) before cutting and serving. 2 1 STEP-BY-STEP These are the ingredients I typically use to make my pizza. The marinara sauce in the jar is homemade. Although the common white button mushrooms found in the grocery store are hardly gourmet, I prefer them for pizza because they will not be the highlight of the topping. I do not have a course cheese shredder; therefore, I cut my mozzarella (far right) into small cubes or purchase it pre-shredded at the warehouse store and freeze the extra. I ll use only half the onion pictured here.
2 3 Combine half the flour with the warm water and let rest about 5 minutes to activate the yeast. Then work in the remaining flour and the salt. Blend as much as you can with a spoon. Then pour everything onto a clean counter and start kneading. 3 It will start out coarse and sticky, but as you continue kneading it will become smooth and elastic. 4 Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
5 4 While the dough is rising, prepare the pizza sauce. Heat the marinara in a skillet until it starts to boil. Add about ½ teaspoon oregano flakes. Reduce heat to medium and stir until the sauce has thickened. It does not need to be as thick as tomato paste. The consistency I look for is a sauce that won t run when I tip the pan a little. 6 Melt some butter in a skillet and add some olive oil. Sauté the mushrooms until cooked. They do not need to be browned. Mushrooms absorb liquid; so you might need to add a little more oil during the cooking.
7 5 If using whole sausages, remove the skin and discard. Put the sausage meat in a skillet and break it up with a spatula as it cooks. You can brown it slightly. 8 I prefer the flavor of caramelized onions on my pizza. Sauté the onions until golden. You ll need to reduce the heat as the moisture boils away. I occasionally add a little water (a few tablespoons) to deglaze the pan as the onions are cooking. For a golden caramelization, expect to cook the onions about 10 to 15 minutes. 9 Arrange the sliced pepperoni on several layers of paper towels and microwave on high for about a minute. You ll see the reason why. Pepperoni has a lot of pork fat in it. Heating it in the microwave will rend the fat, which will be absorbed by the paper towels. If you ve ever eaten pepperoni pizza in a pizzeria and found pools of orange fat on your pizza, you now know where it comes from.
10 6 After the dough has risen about an hour until doubled in bulk, shape you pizza crust. I have a pizza stone and a pizza peel, so I size my crust to fit them. If you are using a baking sheet or pizza pan, shape your crust accordingly. I like to work on parchment paper. It makes it easier to manipulate the dough while I m working with it. Cover the shaped pizza dough with plastic wrap and let rise 30 to 45 minutes. 11 When working with a pizza peel, dust the peel well with corn meal before placing the dough on it. This will help prevent sticking. If you have a pizza stone but no pizza peel, it is safer to use a pizza pan or baking sheet rather than try to remove the stone from the oven to place the dough on it. The heated stone is very hot and unless you have really good protective gloves, you could suffer a serious burn. The peel makes it a lot safer to move your pizza onto the stone and take it off when cooked.
12 7 Here is my crust after it has been pre-baked in an oven that was heated to 450 F (232 C). Baking the crust for about 5 minutes before putting the toppings on makes it easier to transfer the pizza onto the pizza stone. If you are using a pizza pan or baking sheet you can skip this pre-bake step. 13 I move the pre-baked crust to a cooling rack while I add the toppings. This makes it easier to slide the crust back onto the peel before transferring it to the pizza stone in the oven. I don t use a lot of sauce. When I made my first pizza as a teenager I used too much sauce. When I first bit into it and then pulled the slice away from my mouth, the hot cheese slid off and landed on my chin. My lower lip and chin were blistered by the burn. Now when I spread sauce on the dough I make sure I can see some of the dough through the sauce. The toppings seem to stick better.
14 8 Here is my pizza, ready to go into the oven. I have my own order for the toppings: Sauce first, then Italian sausage, cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and finishing up with the caramelized onions. You can add olives or substitute toppings of your choice. When I was a child I saw a pizza chef drizzle some olive oil onto the pizza before placing it in the oven. I do the same. I also sprinkle it with some oregano flakes. 15 Here is my pizza, baking on the pizza stone in the oven. I put a sheet of foil on the rack underneath to catch any corn meal that might fall off. I bake my pizza for about 15 minutes, until the crust browns and the toppings look like they are just starting to brown. If that pizza stone looks stained and soiled, it is because the stone is made of absorbent fired clay to draw moisture from the dough for a crisper crust. It is usually recommended that you use only water to wash the stone, as it will absorb soaps and detergents, which can impart an odd flavor to your crust.
16 9 Here is my finished pizza, fresh from the oven. I let it cool about 10 minutes to let the cheese and dough set, then I transfer it to a cutting board for serving. Conclusion I ve been making pizza for most of my life. A few important lessons I learned: 1. Always use the best quality toppings. Many years ago a family asked me to make pizza for them. The deal was that they would purchase all the topping ingredients and I would make the dough in advance. They bought the cheapest ingredients they could find. When they commented on the pizza s lack of quality I said, Now you know why good pizza is expensive to make. 2. Start early. Most pizzerias throw raw mushrooms and onions on the pizza and then bake it. Sautéing these ingredients in advance, especially caramelizing the onion, really improves the flavor. Some vegetables yield moisture when cooking and this can lead to a soggy crust. Pre-cooking gets rid of the excess moisture. 3. Let it cool enough to set up. Cut slices out of a pizza hot from the oven and what happens? When you come back for seconds, melted cheese and toppings have flowed off the pizza and onto the cutting board. You are also less likely to suffer a burn if you let the pizza cool a little. It should be hot enough to eat, but not hot enough to burn. 4. Get the fat out of the pepperoni (Step 9 above). Unsightly pools of orange fat detract from the appearance. There is already enough fat in the cheese. Why add more? 5. Pre-bake the crust. The first time I tried using my pizza peel, I prepared it with corn meal and then placed the raw dough on top. I then added all my toppings. The dough stuck to the peel. When trying to shake the pizza loose and slide it onto the stone, the pizza finally broke free and folded up on the floor of the oven. All that hard work was ruined in a few seconds.
Notes About Pizza Stones How long should you pre-heat your oven and pizza stone? I can t find a definitive answer on this. One friend insists the stone should be heated at the highest oven temperature for at least 45 minutes. One hour is better. He likes a very thin crust that is cracker crisp. I prefer a thicker, chewy crust one with some of the texture of bread. I m satisfied with the temperatures in the directions above. I heat my stone for about 30 minutes. It is all up to personal preferences. Most of the Internet sites I found when Googling say 30 minutes to 1 hour. A few say longer. Efficiency? How much cooking gas would you use to heat an oven to 500 F and maintain that temperature for 30 minutes to an hour, and then cook your pizza for 10 to 15 minutes? Some might think this wastes of our natural resources. Again, it s a matter of personal preference. 1. Do not put a cold pizza stone in a hot oven. The thermal shock could crack the stone. 2. Unless you have really good thermal mitts to protect your hands, it is best not to handle the pizza stone after it has been heated thus the benefit of having a pizza peel. You can slide your pizza onto and off of the stone without touching the stone. 3. Some cooks recommend purchasing inexpensive oven-proof bricks rather than a pizza stone. Be aware that some glazing could contain lead, which is toxic. Use unglazed brick. If you re not sure about the contents in the bricks, play it safe and go with a pizza stone that is manufactured to be used with food. There is an advantage to leaving your pizza stone in the oven permanently if you are doing any long-term baking. Once it comes up to temperature, the stone will help regulate the oven for a more even cooking temperature. For short baking durations, take the stone out. It takes longer to heat an oven to the desired temperature when there is a pizza stone absorbing heat. 10