Pizza, revisited

In August 2009 I started to regularly post recipes on my site. There is so much more to healthy living than just hitting the gym, and I wanted to share all aspects of my life as an active person, managing a nerve disease, a busy job, and trying to have as much fun as life has to offer.  For me, this means sharing the many exploits I get up to in the kitchen!  As I mentioned in one of those early posts, I really learned my way around the kitchen when I lived in Japan.  I discovered that if I wanted the tastes from home, then I would have to learn how to make those tastes.  My early experimentation included attempts at pizza.

Over the years I have tried many pizza recipes.  I started with Delia Smith, who my British neighbour Sara said would help me to learn the basics in an easy way.  Being American, I had never heard of Delia, but I can now say (having lived in London for 14 years!) that Delia really is a good “go-to” for a recipe.  I have tried my hand at deep dish pizza a la Cooks Illustrated (so delicious!)… And I have tried other people’s pizza recipes too, like this one from Charles.

With my job we wind up sitting in meeting rooms, for long hours, with colleagues from all over the world.  Inevitably we wind up discussing food – it must be part of the job description – enjoying good food and wine.  In December last year, I wound up in a meeting discussing homemade pizza with one of my counterparts to a negotiation.  He is Sicilian, and mentioned that he was making pizza with his son for dinner.  He told me he had prepped the dough the night before, so by the time he got home it would be perfect for making.

The meeting minute exchange from that day was hilarious – as it included my counterparty sharing his family’s pizza dough recipe.  I have shared that original email (edited to remove names and companies) with a few people.  Chris made the dough before I did, and shared this picture on Twitter. 

It looked so good.  But I still hadn’t made it.  When would I get around to having pizza again (I only eat it in the UK if I make it… In the US though, I go to Renzo’s in Boca Raton which does outstanding pizza).

I finally got around to preparing the dough on Monday.  Following the suggestions of both Charles (an earlier pizza recipe contributor) and my counterparty Mr XX, I knew I could refrigerate the dough for a day or two without any problems.  So it was going to be Pizza Tuesday for me.  I was excited to see how this would turn out.  Chris had warned that the dough could be tough to handle when swapping in 30% maize flour (which is what Mr XX had suggested doing for added flavour).  I was curious how things would turn out. 

All I have to say is “WOW”…  The dough was the perfect crispy crust.  I rolled it out very thin.  Then I fretted about how I would actually bake the pizza (note to self: invest in a pizza stone!).  I decided to bake this on a cookie sheet until the dough had firmed up and started to cook through, and then transfer to the wire racks in the oven.  This method worked perfectly.

This pizza dough was triumphant.

Some words of advice from Mr XX when he shared the recipe

 

First, he said that using high quality ingredients was a must.  For me, that meant making a tomato sauce.  I include the recipe below.  It also meant that I tried to use both what I had in the refrigerator, but also to make sure that what I put on was fresh and from a good source.

Next, Mr XX said that you can start the yeast off before actually making the dough.  This is a good trick to also make sure that your yeast will activate (especially if you have it lurking in your refrigerator like I do mine).  To start the yeast, you basically add it to warm water, and leave.  It should start to foam after a while, a sign that it is active.  I did not do this, because I knew that if the dough did not rise, as I was making the pizza the next night, that I would have other options available to eat.

Mr XX also said that the trick with this dough is to leave it a long time between the first knead and the final knead.  He said that he will let the dough rise, then refrigerate, and then do the final knead the next day.  Now, I use a bread machine for my kneading, so I didn’t worry about this.  But I did leave it for a long time in the bread machine before transferring the dough to the refrigerator.

Finally, Mr XX said that instead of 100% plain flour (“00” variety was his recommendation) that you could substitute up to 30% with Maize Flour. 

The “00” flour I used, available at Waitrose/Ocado in the UK

He said this would give the dough a nice flavour and texture.  I did this substitution, and it worked very well for me.  Chris said in his experience that it made the dough more likely to tear, but I did not find this to be the case.  Perhaps it was down to the type of maize meal used.

The Maize Meal I used, available at Carluccio’s deli in the UK

Sicilian Pizza Dough Recipe (from Mr XX)

This recipe makes two thin crusts, of a diameter of approximately 30 centimeters (12 inches).

 

Ingredients

270g flour (I used 190g “00” and 80g maize)
170ml warm water (not hot, not cold) – do not use tap water, clear filtered water is key to this
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast

 

Instructions

I just placed into the bread machine using the following order on the dough setting: water, salt, flour, yeast.

If you are going to knead this, you can start your yeast in advance although you do not need to.  Knead together ingredients.  Place in oiled bowl and let proof.  The trick to this is a lot of time between first knead and final knead.  You can even put this in the refrigerator overnight and do the final knead the next day.  Once you do the final knead, leave for an hour or more before rolling out and making the pizza.

Use high quality ingredient for your toppings.

Donna’s Easy Pizza Sauce

This sauce takes no more than 15 minutes to make, it is very easy, and is much better than buying ready made.  It is based on the original pizza attempts I made using a Delia recipe for pizza.

 

Ingredients

1 can tomatoes (I used Ciro)
1 cloved of garlic, minced (I used a large clove, you may want more or less depending on your taste)
2 shallots, minced
olive oil (for the pan to sautee garlic and shallot)
2 teaspoons dried oregano

 

Instructions

Mince shallots and garlic.  Add olive oil to pan (about a tablespoon) and soften the shallots and garlic taking care not to burn or brown these as they turn bitter if you do.  Add tomatoes and oregano.  Simmer for about 10 minutes, until a nice sauce like consistency develops.

Pizza Assembly

For my pizza last night I used fresh buffalo mozzarella, cheddar cheese, and topped with parmesan before baking.  I rolled out the crust, topped with tomato sauce, and then thinly sliced fresh tomatoes and placed on the sauce.  Fresh tomatoes can make the base mushy so take care.  I then added the mozzarella and cheddar.  I then placed thinly sliced mushrooms and jalapeno peppers on the pizza, and organic salami.  I finally added parmesan on top, and baked.

As I do not own a pizza stone, I baked this for about 10 minutes on a baking (cookie) tray, and then slid it off the tray and directly onto the wires to finish the pizza.  The result was a perfectly crispy base.  It was delicious.

I like to top my pizzas with arugula (rocket) before serving.  Rocket is a spicy green leaf and it adds a bit of zing to the pizza.  Health-wise, rocket is an excellent source for Vitamins C, A, K and folic acid.  I also love to use Green Tabasco Sauce on my pizza – I learned to use this on pizza when I lived in Japan, it is a bit of extra spice without any harshness.