Pizza Dough

Brewing has been a shade lax lately as I haven't had much free time. The dark mild I bottled recently is quite good, and I'll have notes for that soon. The Belgian Table beer is cold crashing as we speak, I intend to bottle it tomorrow.

But not all things fermented with yeast have to be beer. Aside from making tasty brews I also happen to be a pretty awesome cook. One of the things I love to make at home in particular is pizza. It's delicious, relatively simple to make and pretty inexpensive. However the thing that most home cooks get wrong is the pizza dough. A lot of people expect to make good homemade pizza from dough in a can or that Boboli premade stuff.... but it's just not possible. I've spent a lot of time working on making pizza dough and I've found that I don't have an exact "recipe" for it. Rather it's a process and something you have to have the right feel for.

So here's how it goes.

At least 8 hours before you want to make pizza (I prefer the night before) we have to make a starter.

I start with about a cup of warm water and a tablespoon of yeast. Stir them together and let it proof. Then add some flour. I don't know exactly how much, I just add flour until it looks like thin pancake batter. Then add a small pinch of sugar. Set this aside for at least 8 hours in a warm place. Or better yet overnight.

After it's set the starter will look like this.

The gluten in the flour will set and the starter will be a bit thicker. The next step is to proof another tablespoon of yeast in another cup of warm water, with another pinch of sugar.

No there are no grains going into the dough, I had just received an order from AHBS and hadn't put everything away yet. Once the yeast has proofed (about 10 minutes) add it into the starter.

Next I add in around two cups of bread flour and run it together in my stand mixer until everything is incorporated then add a healthy pinch of salt. Then add more flour in 1/2 cup at a time until the dough forms a ball. Set the stand mixer to low and let it run for 5 minutes. At this point the dough may or may not become too sticky. In this case it did and this is what it looks like.

As you can see the dough is sticking to the sides pretty heavily and the ball is not smooth. So I added about another 1/2 cup of flour and let it run until it becomes really smooth. Then let it knead on low for 5 minutes. Rest the dough for 5 minutes. Then knead for another 5 minutes.

I roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. I personally prefer it pretty thin, but this is how my wife prefers it. As far as what to cook it on I use a pizza pan with holes in it. The pizza cooks more evenly.

Put the dough on the pan then sauce. For my homemade sauce I use a can of tomato puree, a little garlic and some fresh basil and oregano. Don't over sauce it, otherwise it will be soggy, just a nice smooth layer.

I put the toppings over the sauce instead of on the cheese, this keeps them from drying out. Today it's fresh spinach and roasted chicken. Cheese can be your choice. I personally like aged provolone, but my wife really likes mozzarella. You don't want to drown it in cheese, just a good even light sprinkle. Then I finish it with a few fresh basil leaves on top.

The real trick to cooking the pizza right is to do it hot and fast. When you go to a great pizza place that's making pizza in stone ovens they're cooking it HOT. Usually upwards of 800 degrees. Now my oven doesn't go that hot, but it can do 550. So don't be afraid to crank your oven up as high as it will go. The high heat lightly chars the crust, and gets it crispy on the outside and gets the cheese slightly charred as well.

Bake the pizza on the bottom rack. It usually takes me around 8 - 10 minutes.

If your at a loss on what to put on your pizza my all time favorite is pepperoni and peperoncinis. Skip the pepperoni in a non-refrigerated bag and hit up your local grocer's deli counter. Ask them to slice it as thin as possible. Trust me it's worth it.

Another great combo is salami, kalamata olives and ricotta cheese. For a great meat free option make some oven roasted tomatoes and add goat cheese and arugula.