cooking: homemade pizza
Originally published 12/1/19. Updated 9/24/2020 with new photos.
A while back, andy and i took a pizza class at The Pantry (which we loved) and finally decided to try the recipe and method we learned at home. I’ve been hesitant to make this dough because it makes eight 11” pizzas — the recipe cannot be cut down any further. It’s a whole lot of pizza, so I’ve been putting it off. However, I felt an evening itch to create something last night, so I started on the pizza dough, which requires 16-20 hours of rest time.
This pizza recipe/method is p-e-r-f-e-c-t-i-o-n. It’s a light and crispy pizza with the perfect amount of char along the crust, close to restaurant quality! We made a couple of pies tonight and froze the rest of dough for another day. You can keep it up to a month in the freezer or 24 hours in the fridge.
I didn’t include details on toppings, just use whatever your heart desires. However, our instructor advised no more than four (including cheese) for the best results!
pizza dough recipe from The Pantry
(yields 8 - 11” pizzas, the recipe cannot be cut down any further)
933 grams cold water
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of active dry yeast (the former during warm weather)
1362 grams of all-purpose flour
38 grams of kosher salt
- mix the yeast with water in a large bowl and stir until dissolved. Set aside.
- mix the salt with the flour. add the flour mixture to the water gradually, stirring with a wooden spoon. once all of the flour is incorporated, it will be difficult to stir. it’s ok if it doesn’t look even. mix by hand if needed to get all of the dry bits of flour incorporated. do not knead, you are not trying to develop gluten.
- if your mixing bowl is not large enough, place the dough in a larger tupperware and let it rise at room temperature. cover with plastic wrap — not a towel. the goal is for the dough to smell yeasty and a bit sour, and it should grow 2 1/2 times its original size. to get maximum flavor, this should take around 16-20 hours. if it is ready sooner, then note to use less yeast at that temperature. when the dough has finished rising, place it in the fridge to cool completely.
- once the dough has chilled, cut the dough into 270-gram portions.
- shape the dough into boules.
- place the boules a few inches apart on a floured sheet pan. seal tightly and allow the boules to rest for at least an hour, so the gluten can relax. if you are not using them within an hour, they can be chilled in the fridge for up to 24 hours, or frozen for up to a month. be sure to remove them from the fridge 45 minutes before stretching them, because dough that is cooler than 65 degrees is difficult to stretch.
cooking the pizza
- place a sheet pan on the bottom of the oven and line it with quarry tiles. alternatively you can use a pizza stone, but the smaller surface area will not create as much heat. preheat the oven to 500F or as high it will go, with tiles for at least an hour before you start baking.
- one at a time stretch or toss your pizza. it should be roughly 11” in diameter. any larger and it will be too thin, and prone to drying out in a home oven.
- place the stretched pizza dough onto a very lightly floured pizza peel and begin topping. remember that thin crust pizza wants minimal toppings — four max, including the cheese! also, move quickly, before the pizza sticks to the peel!
- give the pizza peel a shake to make sure it isn’t stuck. if it is, lift of the edges and toss some more flour underneath it. open the oven and place the peel all the way in, at an angle, with the pizza directly above where you want it to land. gently shake the peel back, letting the pizza fall into place.
- close the oven and bake the pizza (no peeking, you’ll lose heat) until it’s nicely charred.
- remove pizza from oven and grate with fresh parmesan or grana. slice and serve immediately.
