I love pizza. i can eat pizza everyday for the rest of my life. i mean it has everything. u can put meat for protein and veggies for vitamins and minerals. also i dont think ill ever get bored of it because of all the different styles and combinations u can do to a pizza.
Heat oven to highest setting possible...
oven stone works well or use oiled pizza pan
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups AP or "00" flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast or 1 cube fresh yeast
1 tsp salt (Kosher works well)
1 tbsp honey
1 1/4 cup water
You can add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the water...it's a personal preference thing...to each their own.
Also, if using tomato sauce, add some fresh basil as soon as the pizza comes out of the oven.
THE DOUGH:
Combine flour,salt, and yeast (if using fresh compressed yeast, rub it between your hands to small granular size particles) into mixing bowl or mixer bowl. Add the water-honey mixture to flour and mix to combine: 1) if by hand, until dough ball forms then knead for about 8 to 10 minutes, until soft, smooth dough is formed; 2) if using stand mixer, mix on slow until dough starts to ball-up, then rest dough for 10 minurtes to hydrate, then knead on medium speed, using dough hook, for about 4 to 5 minutes, finish kneading by hand, until soft, smooth dough forms. You can make pizza dough in a food processor: pulse to combine until a dough ball starts to form, then on high for 45 seconds...finish kneading by hand.
FERMENTATION OR RISING:
Pace dough in a clean mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel, and set asside to ferment/rise until double in bulk (volume); takes from 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on room temp. After the dough reaches double it size, gently deflate the dough in the bowl, recover and set asside to rise a second time (about 45 minutes).
NOTE: you should now have enough dough for about two 14 inch pizzas. You can deflate the dough, place the dough you don't use into a plastic zip-lock food storage bag and place it into the refrigerator for up to three days: bring to room temp before using and forming.
SHAPING THE DOUGH:
Simply shape the dough on a piece of parchment paper using either your hands or a rolling pin. If you are baking directly on a hearth oven or baking stone, you can leave the parchment paper under the dough...if using a pizza pan, place the shaped dough on the pizza pan, or you can simply shape it on the oiled pizza pan.
TOPPINGS:
You can use anything you want as a topping.
Do not use too much topping: keep it sparce!
And, leave a 1/2 inch exposed dough border around the outer edge.
Typical topping applied in following order:
1. grated mozzarella:sprinkled over dough
2. tomato sauce or pizza sauce, not too much!
3. Par fried (partly cooked) meat; ground chuck and Italian sausage is a good combo: 2/3 chuck and 1/3 Italian sausage.
4. Pizza seasonings sprinkled over you creation
5. Top with chunks of mozzarella and perhaps a little, very little, grated Romano cheese
6. Finish with a sparce dribble of olive oil.
Add any fresh herbs (sweet basil) as soon as it comes out of the oven, plus a little drizzle of olive oil.
BAKING:
@ highest oven setting (7 - 12 minutes) check it out after 5 minutes. It customary for the edges of the dough to slightly char, but do not bune the cheese. NOTE: It will take an oven stone about 45 minutes to come to heat after the oven reaches it temp (so plan on heating the oven about an hour prior to baking).
NOTE: If you use too much topping, the pizza dough may not bake through before the cheese burns.
BRIEF RECAP:
heat oven and oil a pizza pan
1. Combine dough ingredients and knead dough as instructed.
2. Set dough asside to ferment/rise twice.
3. Shape dough and apply toppings
4. Bake @ highest oven temp (450*F to 550*F) for 7 - 12 minutes; check it at 5 minutes.
Baking time will be longer at lower oven temps.
NOTE: You can retard pizza dough (slow rise) by placing it in the refrigerator for a few hours up to a few days; let it come to room temp before shaping. You can also retard fermentation/rising time by using less yeast: 1/3 tsp activde dry yeast will provide a slow rise (about 4 hours); the slower the rise the better the flavor! Retarding overnight in the fridge produces a nice dough too.
Depending on whether you knead by hand or stand mixer or food processor, you time investment, not counting fermentation periods, should be from 5 to 15 minutes.
Good pizza requires two things: a good crust and not too much topping. If the crust (dough) isn't good, the pizza will not be good.
You can easily tweak this pizza formula as you like.
Please pardon any typos, I'm doing this in a hurry, as I have time commentments today.
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