 |
| Mini Portobello Mushroom, sauteed leeks, and bacon |
Before you go all getting ahead of yourself there are some very important rules.
Think of them as: The Bastard Chef's Commandments for making Pizza at home. These are fundamentals that you shouldn't ever screw up lest you dare take on the wraith of the pizza gods, or your families ,or partners, or roommates, or anyone that ever ate a good pizza. Ready?
1. Don't buy a store-bought crust. Those Boboli crusts at Walmart are worthless. You may as well just cut a circle out of that empty Amazon box you keep meaning to recycle. If you can't be bothered to make your own then you shouldn't waste you money putting fresh ingredients on that mess. I'm serious. Don't do it.
2. Pre-Heat your oven. Let's take a moment and pretend that you're trying to burn your house down. Crank it up to 500 Degrees and leave it there til you almost forget that it's on and wait. When you forget it's still on your oven is ready. 30 minutes is ideal.
3. Don't over-sauce it. According to the board of pizza practitioners at home (BPPH) 9 out of 10 people over-sauce. Over-saucing is the death of many a good pie and ruiner of many homemade crusts.
4. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) Let the delivery chains and the local spots overload your pizza with their over-priced specialty pies. Have some respect for your pie and yourself.
5. Buy a baking stone. If you're going to do this more than once (which you will). To get the crust to cook the way you want nothing works better. Get a Pizza peel while you're at it. I got both items at TJ Maxx for $25. Why's it worth it? No soggy bottom pies and a way transport your masterpiece from your cutting board to your oven. Gone are the dark days when magical forces were the only way to transport your pie to the oven without having to mangle or completely dismantle it. Trust me. I've been there.
Recipes:
Crust-
I like a no-knead overnight dough. I start one during dinner prep the night before I'm going to make pizza. When it comes to dividing the dough, I throw what I'm not using into the freezer. The next time you want pizza just pull a ball of dough from the freezer and sit it on your counter. By the time you get home it's ready to go.
There are a lot of different versions of a no-knead dough that you'll find around. They're all very similar to this nearly fool proof recipe from Jim Lahey.
No-Knead Pizza Dough
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Co.
Makes four 12-inch pizza crust
3 cups flour ( I like king arthur bread flour for this)
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1½ teaspoons salt
1½ cups water
1. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the yeast and salt. Add the water and stir until blended (the dough will be very sticky). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 12 to 24 hours in a warm spot, about 70°.
2. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and lightly sprinkle the top with flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Generously sprinkle a clean cotton towel with flour and cover the dough balls with it. Let the dough rise for 2 hours.
4. Stretch or toss the dough into the desired shape. It's your pizza and you're free to shape it as you wish. I recommend hand-shaping it. It's like the steering wheel in a 50's Buick, start with your fingers at the edges of your rough circle and keep turning that bitch til she's just right.
5. Place your shaped dough into the pre-heated oven onto your stone. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes until it starts to firm up. This vastly aids in transport from work surface to oven.
6. Cover with toppings and bake on top of a very hot pizza stone.
Pizza Sauce - Easy enough to skip the Ragu and it freezes! Enough for 4-5 pizzas.
1 28 Oz Can whole peeled tomatoes
1 16 Oz can whole peeled tomatos
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/3 C yellow onion, minced (about 1/2 of a medium onion)
1/3 C Olive Oil
1. combine oil, onion, and garlic in bottom of sauce pan on med heat.
2. when the garlic begins to get fragrant but before it browns add your basil
3. add your tomatoes and bring to boil
4. reduce heat to simmer and blend. Now is the perfect time to use your fancy immersion blender to eviscerate any over-sized chunks of onion or tomato. We want our sauce smooth so that it doesn't steal away from our toppings.
5. move this bitch to the back burner and let it sit there while you get your toppings in order. Sauce is ready to use in about 10 minutes but gets better when allowed to let simmer.
Toppings-
This part is entirely subjective. You're either a traditionalist or you're not. I'm not. I've crack a raw egg in the center of a pesto pie which was fantastic and I've used leftover steak and BBQ sauce with cheddar jack. Go with your gut just remember my rules. If you get all crazy keep the number of toppings to 4 or less. The more toppings you use the more muddled the flavors.
Suggested pie:Bacon, Leeks, & Mushroom:
1 serving BC's simple pizza sauce
1 small leek white and pale green portions only.
1/3 C sliced baby bella mushrooms
1/3 C crumbled bacon (about 3 pieces)
1 C Mozzarella Cheese Plus more as needed)
Fresh grated Parmesan to garnish
To assemble:
1. cook 3-4 strip of bacon in saute pan. reserve grease for leeks.
2. saute leeks at medium heat until tender in leftover bacon grease (about 5 minutes)
3. In your preheated oven cook your shaped pizza dough ( about 4 minutes). I did this while I prepared my leeks
4. Ladle just enough sauce to lightly cover your crust and combine the Leeks, Mushrooms, and bacon. Top with fresh mozzarella and a light sprinkle of parmesan.
5. Cook for 7-8 minutes or until the cheese starts to bubble and brown
Cheers and happy Eating!
No comments:
Post a Comment