GeckoFood's Journal: [food] Homemade Pizza revisited (recipe this time)

I caught a little bit of flack for failing to attach a recipe to my JE about pizza recently, so I am including it now. Can I come out of protective custody now, bethanie? ;-)

The Crust

The crust recipe is adapted from the "Pizza Americana Dough" recipe from Peter Reinhart's "American Pie" (see notes at the end of this JE):

• 5 cups unbleached bread flour
• 3 Tbs. sugar or honey
• 2 tsp. table salt or 3 1/2 ts. kosher salt
• 2 tsp. instant yeast
• 1/4 c. olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 c. whole or low-fat milk
• 3/4 c. water, room temperature

Stir together all ingredients in a 4-qt. or larger bowl until combined. If using a dough hook, allow the mixer to run for approx. 4 mins. until the dough forms a rough ball. Let dough stand 5 mins. Resume mixing, working the dough until it is tacky but not sticky (with an electric mixer, the dough should stick to the bottom of the bowl but should clean the sides). Add water or flour as needed to get the dough to the desired consistency.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, shaping into balls and lightly oiling with either olive or vegetable oil. Place each dough ball in individual zippered freezer bags and allow to rest at room temperature for 15 mins., then put in the refrigerator overnight if using the next day or in the freezer otherwise.

Allow dough balls to warm to room temperature before using.

The Sauce

I took the low road on the sauce. I use Hunt's Tomato Sauce with Basil, Galic and Oregano, right out of the can and unmodified. It is a mild sauce that does not overpower the rest of the pizza. I rightsully should make my own pizza sauce, but I have not bothered to mess with it - yet.

The Toppings

I used about a 50/50 mix of soft mozzarella and hard, aged romano cheeses. Overall I used about 1 1/2 cups of cheese.

Pepperoni. If I made a pizza in that house that did not have papperoni, I would be shot in the public square after a mockery of a trial for sacrilage. :-( I personally prefer bacon and beef for the meats on my pizza, but I am in the minority in the house.

The dough is a relatively strong dough, so do not be shy about loading on your favorite toppings.

Baking

On a preheated baking stone, bake for 16-20 mins at 425 degrees F. You can go a little longer if you like a slightly charred crust (which some people just love).

Notes:

1. The original crust recipe says to divide into 4 pieces of dough. I divide in 2, and get a bigger pizza with a thicker crust. That is my personal preference, but you may wish to stick to the original formula.
2. The easiest way to oil the dough balls when putting them in the freezer bags is to spray canola spray in the bag and drop the dough ball in.
3. The dough freezes very well. The pizza I made on Sunday was from a frozen ball of dough.
4. Baking on a preheated stone requires a peel. If you do not have a peel and/or a stone, a cookie sheet will work but I have not tried this so I do not know how to adjust the bake time.

Thanks!

[Shadow Wrought]

I will be printing this one along with the recent bread recipe;-) Since I will be out of trial mode later this week (I can just see the light at the end of the tunnel;-) I will try one or the other this weekend.

I do have one question though- is instant yeast the same active dry yeast, or are they different?

Re:Thanks!

[GeckoFood]

Reinhart makes a distinction, but I use active dry for everything and have had excellent results.