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There really isn’t anything better than home-made pizza. And it couldn’t be easier. With a few simple techniques and some simple ingredient, you can make the kind of gourmet pizza you’ve always dreamed of.

Dough

I’m using a long pre-ferment to give the dough a nice flavor.

The night before combine 5.3 ounces of bread flour, 5.3 ounces of water and a 1/8 tsp of yeast in a bowl. Mix to combine and cover. Leave out to ferment all overnight.

In the morning, remove the cover and mix in 5.3 ounces of water to the dough and stir to loosen it. Then add 2 Tbsp olive oil, 10.7 ounces of flour and 1/2 tsp of yeast. Mix together and work by hand or in your stand mixer for 10 minutes. Allow dough to raise for 1 hour. Knock down the dough and then divide into 4 equal parts. Roll them into round balls and place in a 9×13 pan with a damp towel to cover. Place in your fridge till you are ready to use them for dinner. Remove from the fridge 30-60 minutes before you want to use them (this is also a good time to start preheating your oven)

Sauce

For the sauce, I tend to use simple tomato sauce and a drizzle of olive oil. Flour your workspace and slowly work the dough in circles pulling and pressing and stretching into a flat round shape. Put 4-5 table spoons of tomato sauce on your round and swirl it to cover the dough. Drizzle a little olive oil around the pizza and then sprinkle a small amount of kosher salt into the sauce. You can optionally add some oregano it this stage.

Toppings

Keep your toppings simple. A handful of mozzarella cheese, some pepperoni, some basil, some olives, whatever tickles you fancy. Just keep it simple and don’t overwhelm it.

Baking

Experiment with your baking. I have good results with 2 methods. Place a baking stone 1/3 of the way up from the bottom, preheat your over to 450 and back for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can put the stone on the lowest rack, and turn your oven to broil. Let the stone get hot and then slide the pizza from the peel onto the stone. This method give a nice soft doughy crust and a good char to the cheese.

Let you pizza rest for 5 minutes before you slice and enjoy!

February 13th, 2008 | Category: Bread, Food | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL