With summertime winding down and cooler nights ahead, Back-to-School is inevitable. It also means we can fire up the oven for Friday Night Pizza Night.
Now that you know how to make your own pizza dough from my previous post, it's time to get down to making the pies. I recommend you start making your dough by 3pm if you're planning to use it for dinner the same day. Alternatively, you can make it the night before and let it proof overnight in the refrigerator. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before using, about 3o - 60 minutes beforehand.
TOOLS:
There are a few tools I recommend for pizza making, specifically a peel and a baking steel or stone. You can find a full product list with links here. But, don't worry if you don't have them. While they do make life easier, you can make substitutions. For example - tongs and a cutting board or a rimless cookie sheet can take the place of a peel, and you can even use a clean floor tile for the baking stone (under $10 at Home Depot for an 18"x18" travertine tile). You can also bake the pizza on a cookie sheet if you don't have a baking steel or stone.
If there's one thing I can't emphasize enough it's that your oven needs to be hot... like really hot. Preheat it to 500° Fahrenheit or higher while you collect all your ingredients, and set a baking steel or stone on the lowest rack. You want it to be at this temperature for at least 3o minutes before baking.
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
Toppings of choice
Flour for board or counter
Cornmeal or semolina for peel
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 500° Fahrenheit and set a baking stone or steel on the lowest rack.
Prepare workspace, and have all ingredients ready.
Place one portion of pizza dough on lightly floured board or countertop, flipping dough to cover both sides.
Begin by pressing fingertips around the perimeter of the dough. This will help form the outer crust.
Next, stretch dough. Start by pulling and rotating. Place dough over the back of slightly closed fists or toss in the air like a true pizzaiolo, and continue stretching until you have a good-sized circle (about 12-14" in diameter).
Spread thin layer of cornmeal or semolina flour onto peel, then place dough onto peel. This will prevent the dough from sticking.
Assemble toppings. (See notes below for tips and favorite products.)
Using shimmy motion, ease pizza off the peel and onto your baking steel starting from the back of oven and letting go as you pull the peel towards you.
Check after 10 minutes and rotate pizza as necessary.
When pizza is finished baking, use peel to remove from oven and place on cutting board. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting.
NOTES:
Here are a few of our favorite products:
Rao's marinara sauce thinned slightly with water.
Galbani whole milk mozzarella cheese. I recommend a block of cheese that you grate yourself, but the grated product works as well.
For Buffalo chicken pizza, sauté chicken, Frank's RedHot Sauce and 2 TBSP butter before adding to pizza.
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