TrouterUSA

Well, I finally did it! I managed, after much trial and error, to make a pizza that I love and is easy to make. I have tried many different recipes and techniques. The closest I have come to making a pizza that I loved and thought tasted pretty good was after reading another blog post. While this pizza tasted wonderful, I’m not too sure I would make it this way again for a couple reasons:

1. I like hand-tossed dough because it assures an evenly round crust, preparing the dough to be hand-tossed makes the dough nice and tight (I’ll explain later), and, heck, it’s just plain fun!
2. I, and several cookie friends of mine have a hard time slipping the pizza onto the peel with a loose dough (especially after it contains the 1 to 1½ pounds of toppings I prefer on my pizza.

The technique I describe here requires several hours, but is also very easy. In other words, this is a great recipe to use on a weekend (or other day off work) when you have several hours to be home (unless you can finagle a way to get around the babysitting of the dough).

Here’s what you do:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup high protein cake flour
• 1 to 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons yeast

I have not noticed a difference using different types of yeast, but the cake flour is pretty crucial. If you don’t have any on hand, your crust will still come out OK, but the mixture of the high protein flour and all-purpose flour in a 500° oven makes for a crisp crust on the outside and a very fluffy crust on the inside.

If you are mixing this by hand, or in a standing mixer, mix the flours, salt and sugar together. Pour the oil into the water and dissolve the yeast into the water mixture. Gradually add the water mixture to the dry mixture until dough forms. With floured hands and a floured work surface, knead the dough several times until you can roll the dough into a ball — you can form a ball by holding the dough between your two hands, fingers spread out, and make small, circular motions with your hands. Do this for about two to three minutes.

If you want to mix the dough in a bread-making machine (and it is sooo nice — I do this all the time. It allows me to do other things while I would normally be wrist-deep in dough), add the ingredients in the order I have them listed. When the dough cycle is finished, dump the dough onto a floured work surface and flour your hands. Roll the dough into a tight ball using the technique above.

After rolling your first ball (and the next ball you roll), flour it and put it in a bowl. Let it rise for about an hour. Roll another ball and set it aside for another hour. After rolling your third ball, and flouring it, set it on a 14 or 15 inch piece of parchment paper and cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap for about half an hour. The parchment paper helps slide the pizza onto the peel and prevents cleanup of the stone afterward, yet the dough cooks no differently than placed on the stone directly.

Put your stone in the oven and preheat to 500° while the dough is resting for the final half hour.

Now is the time to make your pizza crust! Make a 14 to 15 inch round (any way you’d like to) on the parchment paper. I like to pinch a lip around the dough round — this might or might not keep all the toppings on the dough, but it also makes a nice, even crust for dipping. Evenly brush the outside edge of the dough with olive oil. Spread the sauce on and load the toppings and cheese.

Slide the pizza onto the peel (parchment paper and all). Pop the pizza into oven for six minutes. Trust me, this is all the time you’ll need to make a perfect pizza. The cheese will come out slightly browned and bubbly.

If you need to re-heat leftover pizza, preheat the oven (with the stone) to 500°. Put the leftover slices on the stone for two minutes. The pizza won’t cook any more, but will come out nice and hot.

Enjoy!

Dave