Posted: Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Homemade Pizza

Sure, you can press a few buttons on your phone and get a box of pizza to your door within a half-hour, but you would be missing out on the aroma that your kitchen would acquire from your own pizza creation getting to a state of delicious, bubbly, crispy goodness in your very own oven. And sure, you can get a precision-manufactured frozen pizza for a few bucks at the grocery store that will leave your belly full, but will it leave your soul content? Don't think so. If I can't get to the Brass Taps on the Danforth, I make my own with this recipe.

I have to admit that making pizza at home is something that I've struggled with, and judging from the amount of discussion about it on the web, I'm not the only one. The consensus seems to be that standard ovens don't get hot enough to get that really crispy crust. Using a hotter-than-usual 500 °F oven and a pizza stone seems to help though—my crust is getting closer and closer to crisp. This recipe makes two 12-inch pizzas. Because the dough preparation is very very quick, it's a good idea to put the stone in the oven and preheat to 500 °F before starting. It takes about a half hour for the stone to get nice and hot. In addition to the stone, I recommend parchment paper (which helps keep overflowing cheese from turning into a hardened mess on your pizza stone and also makes getting the uncooked pizza into the oven so much easier) and a flat wooden baker's peel (available at finer kitchen stores everywhere). These investments will definitely pay off after a few pizza-making sessions, and they'll make the whole process a lot more enjoyable.

Ingredients

Dough

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 10 oz or 300 g)

1 envelope active dry yeast

3 Tbl semolina flour

1 tsp sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup extra warm water (120 - 130 °F)

1 Tbl olive oil

1 tsp lemon juice

Fillings

Totally up to you. I prefer chopped onions, sliced black olives and a few sliced green olives.

The tomato (or pesto!) sauce can be homemade or store bought.

Cheese

250 g (about 8-9 oz) mozzarella cheese (NB save your knuckles—small slices work just as well as grated cheese).

A little cheddar, parmesan or provolone never hurts.

Directions

Place pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 500 °F.

Combine flour, semolina, undissolved yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

Mix warm water, lemon juice and olive oil in a measuring cup. Gradually add the water mixture to the center of the dry ingredients, mixing outward toward the edges of the bowl. When mixed, dump the dough out of the bowl onto a floured kneading board.

Knead until dough gets smooth, about 5 minutes, sprinkling small amounts of extra flour as necessary.

Cover with a tea towel and let dough rest for about 15 minutes.

Get out your baker's peel and cover it with a piece of parchment paper big enough for the 12 inch pizza and some overflow. Divide the dough in half and put one half aside. Gently roll out the dough on the kneading board (don't overdo it or the crust will be tough) and pinch the crust all the way around the outside. Transfer the rolled dough from the kneading board to the parchment paper.

Ladle sauce onto the center of the pizza and work out toward the edges with the bottom of the ladle.

Add the cheese and your toppings.

By now, the pizza stone should be nice and hot in the 500 degree oven. Carry the pizza over to the oven on the baker's peel and gently slide the parchment paper and pizza together onto the stone. Cook for 10-12 minutes until the edges of the crust are brown and the cheese is bubbly. Slide the finished pizza and parchment paper back onto the baker's peel and transfer the hot pizza to a cooling rack. Repeat above steps with the second piece of dough.

Here's the finished pie:

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