recipes

Pizza

Pizza dough

The same dough can be used for all kinds of pizza, but you may want to adjust the hydration level depending on the type of pizza you’re making. For example, Neapolitan pizza typically has a hydration level of 60-65%, while Detroit-style pizza can go up to 70% or more. You can even just use the same dough for focaccia.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup water (237 g)
• 1 tsp yeast
• bread flour until it’s not tacky, or if you prefer to measure:
  • Neapolitan pizza: 365-395 g
  • Focaccia or Detroit-style pizza: 279-316 g
• 2 tsp salt

Steps

1. Mix ingredients, stopping when it’s a shaggy dough and sticking too much
2. Knead, adding flour to touch
   • If it gets a little sticky after kneading a bit, let it rest for 5-10 minutes and then continue kneading
   • For higher hydration doughs, it may be easier to stretch and fold rather than kneading.
3. Separate into 4 pieces, then shape those into balls with reasonable surface tension
4. Store in containers with a little olive oil, with any seams down
5. Let it cold ferment in the fridge at least 1 day, preferably 3-5 days. The flavor will improve the longer you let it ferment, but also the gluten will weaken over time making the dough more likely to tear as you stretch it out.

Variations

• Ingredient variations:
  • Up to 1/4 cup olive oil (reduce water to compensate): Supposedly it helps crisp up. Also gives flavor. Typically I just add a little like 2 tbsp
  • Up to 1/4 cup semolina (reduce flour to compensate): Adds a little flavor
  • Some starter: If you need the dough sooner this can get the flavor ready sooner
  • Parmigiano Reggiano: Add just a little on top before the bake for zing

Neapolitan pizza

This requires high heat, so it depends on your oven setup. It uses fresh mozzarella.

Typical hydration level is 60-65%, or 365-395 g flour.

Large convection toaster oven

This is what I currently use and it works well. I prefer it over a full oven because it heats up much faster.

1. Preheat the oven to 480°F or so, convection on, rack on low
2. Stretch out the pizza ball over semolina, then transfer to a pizza pan.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes. You should get some small dark spots but stop before it gets too dark.

Pizza stone in a conventional oven

1. Preheat the oven to 450-500°F. Note that the stone will take longer to heat up than the oven, so you may want to preheat for 30 minutes.
2. Stretch out the pizza ball over semolina, then transfer to parchment or your peel.
3. Options for transferring the pizza to the stone:
   1. Put it on parchment paper on a pizza peel and slide it in that way
   2. Semolina on a pizza peel. This takes some practice to be able to slide it onto the stone without it sticking
4. Bake for about 12 minutes. The crust should turn golden

Tips

• When you open the oven it lets out a lot of heat so try to be quick.
• To keep the crust airy, be sure not to press down on the crust part when stretching it out. Initially press down in a ring just inside the crust then you can pull gently from the underside while turning. Alternatively, if it’s not sticking to the surface at all you can turn and press outwards while you turn.

Focaccia pizza / Detroit-like

1. Coat the inside of a loaf pan in olive oil. Make sure it coats all surfaces, even if the pan feels nonstick-ish
2. Put a dough ball in and stretch it to fill the bottom of the pan
3. Let it rise, covered, for 60+ minutes
4. Sauce and cheese. Low-moisture mozzarella is better than fresh mozzarella for this one.
5. Bake at maybe 375°F for 18-20 minutes

Tips, Variations

• Longer proof = more airy crust
• If your pan is nonstick enough, you can have the cheese touch the side of the pan for crispy edges. If not, avoid at all costs because it’s a huge pain to clean
• You can do the same approach for plain focaccia. In that case, dimple the dough, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. You can also add toppings.
  • Halved cherry tomatoes, Mama Lil’s peppers, black pepper, coarse salt: This worked great. I prefer to put the cut side of the tomatoes down, otherwise they can burn my mouth a bit. I grate some Parmigiano Reggiano on top after baking also.

Cast iron pizza

I forget the specifics… I was inspired by Kenji’s video below. The nice thing is that cast iron is easy to clean.

If I remember correctly, the main challenge is getting both the top and bottom of the pizza to cook properly. So I’d cook on the stovetop at first for a couple of minutes to get the bottom hot, then transfer to the oven to heat all the way through.

References

• Bon Appetit tries to make the perfect pizza, episode 1
• Kenji pan pizza
• Charlie Anderson’s channel has a lot of good pizza videos
• King Arthur Flour has some good ones too. I think I got the loaf pan idea from this video

Notes

• After you take it out, let it cool on a wire rack for 2-4 minutes before cutting. This helps keep the bottom of the crust crispy. If instead you put it directly on a cutting board, the bottom of the crust will steam itself and can get soggy
• Bread flour will help it stretch without tearing
• You can make your own sauce but I don’t think it’s worth it compared to a can of decent, plain tomato sauce. To make it yourself, blend a can of San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes, and then if it’s thin you can reduce it in a pan to the thickness you like.
• When using fresh mozzarella, I prefer to rip it into pieces rather than cutting coins. I think I got this from Bon Appetit
• For Neapolitan pizza, it’s a good sign if you get lots of micro bubbles on the crust