I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standards and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed. - Maya Angelou, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

28.03.24 2319 [PST]
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Home >> Articles >> Recipes

Homemade Pizza

It's taken a lot of research and experimentation but we're now at the point where we're making some damn good pizza at home!

Yields: One 14" pizza



The Setup

- One large chunk of cordierite stone, large enough to completely cover your oven rack. The thickness should be 1 inch. Can be found at pottery supply stores where they'll cut it to size for you.

- 14" Anodized PSTK pizza cutter pan from Lloyd Pans. It's this one.

Making the sauce

Ingredients:

* 1 12 oz can of 6-in-1 tomatoes. Can be found at Lina's Italian Market

* 0.75 tbsp of oregano
* 0.5 tsp of basil
* 1.5 tsp of white sugar
* 0.4 tsp of cinnamon
* 0.5 tsp of hot/red pepper flakes
* 0.75 tsp of granulated garlic

- Add the ingredients, stir, let it simmer for a while, take it off the heat and set it aside. Note that this makes enough sauce for about 5 pizzas, you can freeze the rest.

Heating up the stone

At this point you'll want to start heating up the large cordierite stone that's in your oven. It should be on an oven rack in the lowest position in the oven. Set the oven for 550F. It takes a good 90 min to 2 hours of pre-heating.

Making the dough

Ingredients: (per pizza)

FOR THINNER CRUST: (girl Chris's incorrect version)

- 2.0 cups of flour. A note about the flour though, it should be 'bread flour' which has a higher gluten content and makes for a crispier crust. Here in Calgary, I've found 'Wild Rose flour' in the Italian store which has been the best so far.

- 2.25 teaspoons of instant yeast

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 0.5 teaspoons of sugar

- 1 teaspoon of olive oil

- 0.75 cups of water

1. In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine flour, the yeast, the salt, and the sugar.

2. Heat water and the olive oil until very warm (125F to 130F). With the motor running, gradually pour the warm water mixture through the feed tube. Process, adding up to 1.5 tablespoons of cold water until the dough forms a ball, then process for one minute to knead.

3. Put the dough into a bowl, and tightly cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for about 20 minutes to an hour.

FOR SLIGHTLY THICKER CRUST: (boy Chris's correct version)

- 3 to 3.5 cups of flour. A note about the flour though, it should be 'bread flour' which has a higher gluten content and makes for a crispier crust. Here in Calgary, I've found 'Wildrose flour' in the Italian store which has been the best so far.

- 3.4 teaspoons of instant yeast

- 1.5 teaspoons of salt

- 0.75 teaspoons of sugar

- 1.5 teaspoons of olive oil

- 1.5 cups of water

1. In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine flour, the yeast, the salt, and the sugar.

2. Heat water and the olive oil until very warm (125F to 130F). With the motor running, gradually pour the warm water mixture through the feed tube. Process, adding up to 1.5 tablespoons of cold water until the dough forms a ball, then process for one minute to knead.

3. Put the dough into a bowl, and tightly cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for about 20 minutes to an hour.

Toppings & Cheese

- A note about the cheese, we use Franco's Mozzarella from the Alberta Cheese Company. You can buy it from local grocery stores as well, but it's cheaper at Alberta Cheese, which is the source of it.

- For this size pizza, we grate up 3/4 of one package. Each package is 454g.

- At this point, you should start preparing your toppings. Take everything out of the fridge to give them enough time to bring them up to room temperature. Chop up the vegetables, etc. Ham & Pineapple is my favorite. I use large slices of thinly cut ham.

After the dough has risen

- Take the dough out of the bowl and stretch it out, so it's the same size as the pizza pan. Put 1 tbsp of canola oil into the pizza pan and spread it around with a brush, covering the lip of the pan as well.

- Place the dough in the pizza pan ensuring it is pressed into the corners. I like to make a relatively straight edge for the crust.

- Put the sauce on the dough. We like to leave about an inch from the edge with no sauce. Everything else is covered.

- Put your toppings on. Then top with the cheese. Add a bit of cheese here and there around the edges, on the crust.

- The stone in the oven should be good and hot by now. We're going to put the pizza into the oven, but try and do it as quickly as possible, keeping the door open for as little length of time as we can. Using two people can make this easier. 1...2..3..open the door, slide the pizza pan directly onto the stone, and quickly shut the oven door.

- In our oven, it takes about 12 minutes to bake. I like to get it to the point where all the cheese has bubbled, and the cheese is just starting to brown.

- Take it out of the oven and put it on a wire rack to let it cool a little bit. Then, using a pizza cutter, slice it up and enjoy.






  

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