Dry Pizza Crust Mix
Servings: 2 crusts
Ingredients
- 1½ cups flour
- ½ tsp yeast
- ½ cup lukewarm water
Pizza
Now I’ll return to the matter at hand. Pizza. I have experimented a lot with pizza recipes over the years and have finally come up with the best pizza ever! It was quite simple really. I just turned to a traditional Italian recipe and strange as it may sound, the Italians make a great pizza! Traditional pizza should have a slightly sour yeasty crust that doesn’t rise after an initial proving. As with most recipes in Italy, the sauce should not overwhelm the rest of the dish. The pizza itself should be cooked in a clay oven or on a pizza stone.
Ingredients
Sauce Recipe (modified Gin Schelin):
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1/4 cup tomato puree
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2/3 cup chopped onion
- 2 cans tomato
- small bunch of fresh basil roughly torn
- 1 tsp salt
- splash of malt vinegar
Crust Recipe: Based on a recipe by renowned Italian-American food writer Marcella Hazan
- 3 cups durum wheat semolina flour ) I like a mixture of 2c refined Italian semolina and 1c unrefined (usually found in health food stores.
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 sachet dry yeast dissolved in 1 cup warm water
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
Sauce:
- Over low heat saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Add remaining ingredients, crushing tomatoes with back of spoon. Simmer over low heat for a minimum of 50 minutes.
Crust:
- Pour flour onto work surface or mixing bowl, make a hollow in the centre.
- Fill the hollow with the salt, olive oil, and dissolved yeast. Mix all ingredients until they form a ball you can work with. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes until it feels solid and slightly rubbery.
- Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Allow to rise for 3-4 hours until the dough has doubled in size.
- Punch the dough down and roll out to form a circle.
- Place the circle on a preheated pizza stone. I like some cornmeal sprinkled on the stone before adding the crust. That’s how my mom did it!
- Ladle sauce onto circle, cover with cheese and toppings of your choice.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 190°C/380°F
100% Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast one 1/4 ounce package
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons sugar divided
- 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour plus more for dusting
- 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine yeast, water and 1 teaspoon sugar; Let sit for five minutes.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 2 cups flour, salt and remaining teaspoon sugar. Make a well in the center. Add yeast mixture and olive oil.
- Stir with a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment until the dough just comes together. Knead, either by hand or in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, for about 5 minutes (2-3 minutes if using a stand mixer). As you knead, add remaining 1/4 cup flour in small increments, just until dough is no longer sticky. (You may not need to add the full 1/4 cup)
- Shape dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, turn once to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour (up to 2 hours).
- Punch down risen dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Shape dough into a ball. Either wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate/freeze for later use, or bake right away.
- To bake, preheat oven to 475 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to desired crust thickness and place on a pizza stone or baking sheet. Add your desired sauce and toppings. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted. Let rest for about 5 minutes before slicing.
Chicago-style Deep Dish Pizza Dough AKA Rocky Rococo’s
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water about 110 degrees F
- 1 packages active dry yeast 1/4-ounce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup semolina flour
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil plus 2 teaspoons to grease bowl
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, and sugar and stir to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the semolina, 1/2 cup of the oil, and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until all the flour is incorporated but the dough is still slightly sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes. Oil a large mixing bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil.
- Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Divide into 2 equal portions and use as directed.
Sicilian Pizza With Pepperoni and Spicy Tomato Sauce Recipe
The Spicy Spring from Prince Street Pizza, with its thick, olive oil–infused crust; spicy tomato sauce; mozzarella and Pecorino Romano cheese; and crisp-edged pepperoni, is an insanely good pizza with only one real problem: It doesn’t exist anywhere else. No longer. Here’s how to make that pizza anywhere in the world. Using the food processor for dough very rapidly builds up an elastic gluten network for good texture. Letting the dough rise in a pan coated with olive oil ensures that it doesn’t stick while baking and that it acquires a crunchy, golden-brown crust. Layering the cheese under the sauce prevents the crust from getting soggy. Natural-casing pepperoni curls as it bakes, giving you textural contrast from the crispy edges.
Ingredients
For the Dough (see note above):
- 17.5 ounces bread flour 500g; about 3 1/2 cups
- 1/2 ounce salt 14g; about 1 tablespoon
- 1/4 ounce instant or rapid-rise yeast 6g; about 1 1/2 teaspoons
- 0.35 ounce extra-virgin olive oil 20g; 2 tablespoons, plus 1/4 cup olive oil (60ml; 40for the pan
- 11.5 ounces room-temperature water 325g; about 1 cup plus 7 tablespoons
For the Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 9 medium cloves garlic roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon (about 4) dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons (about 3) dried red pepper flakes or more to taste
- 1 can (28-ounce) whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Kosher salt
To Assemble and Bake:
- 1 pound sliced deli-style mozzarella cheese
- 4 ounces ground Pecorino Romano cheese
Instructions
To Make the Dough in a Food Processor (recommended):
- Combine flour, salt, yeast, 0.35 ounce olive oil, and water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade or dough blade attachment. Process until a dough that rides around the blade forms, then continue processing for 30 seconds. Continue with Step 4 below.
To Make the Dough in a Stand Mixer:
- Combine flour, salt, yeast, and 0.35 ounce olive oil in the bowl of a stand mixer (see below for mixer-free version). Whisk to combine. Fit mixer with dough hook attachment. Add water to mixer and mix on medium speed until dough comes together and no dry flour remains. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until dough is stretchy and smooth, about 6 minutes. The dough should stick to the bottom of bowl, but pull away from the sides. Continue with Step 4 below.
To Make the Dough Using the No-Knead Method:
- Combine flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add 0.35 ounce olive oil and water and stir by hand until dough comes together and no dry flour remains. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. Continue with Step 4 below.
- Pour remaining 1/4 cup olive oil into a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet and spread over entire inner surface with your hands. Transfer dough to baking sheet and turn in oil until thoroughly coated. Spread gently with your hands. (It will not stretch to fill the pan; this is fine.) Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature until dough has slackened and started to spread out toward the edges of the pan, 2 to 3 hours. Carefully remove plastic wrap from pizza dough. Using oiled hands, and working as gently as possible to maintain air bubbles, push and stretch dough into the corners of the pan by pressing out from the center, lifting each corner, and stretching it beyond the edge of the pan. It should pull back until pan is just filled with dough. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes while you make the sauce.
For the Sauce:
- Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until softened and aromatic, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes. Using a pastry cutter or a potato masher, break up tomatoes into fine chunks. Stir in sugar. Bring to a bare simmer and allow to cook for about 15 minutes to let flavors meld. Season to taste with salt. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.
- Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 550°F.
To Assemble and Bake:
- Spread slices of mozzarella cheese evenly over surface of pizza. Spoon sauce on top of cheese and spread with the back of a spoon. (You will not need all the sauce; use as much as you like, but be sparing.) Spread pepperoni slices evenly over surface. Sprinkle with half of Romano cheese. Transfer to oven and bake until pepperoni is crisp and curled and bottom of pizza is golden brown when you peek by lifting the corner with a thin spatula, about 10 minutes. With some ovens, you may need to loosely tent the top of the pizza with aluminum foil and continue baking until the bottom is golden and crisp.
- Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle with remaining half of Romano cheese, use a pizza wheel to cut it into slices, and serve immediately.
Notes
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: Food processor (recommended), rimmed baking sheet, pizza wheel
NOTES: All dough quantities are given in mass measurements (ounces, not fluid ounces). For best results, I strongly recommend using a precise scale, set to either ounces or grams, to weigh out dough ingredients. If using a food processor, you can place the food processor bowl directly on the scale and tare it, then add the ingredients directly to it. To get pepperoni that curls as it bakes, look for a high-quality natural-casing, stick-style pepperoni and slice it yourself. Check out our taste test for recommended brands.
Grilled Pizza
The dough for this grilled pizza is easy to make in the food processor and proofs for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator, where it develops complex flavor. To ensure that it cooked up thin, it uses a tiny amount of yeast to reduce air bubbles and a relatively high percentage of water, which made a relatively slack dough that easily stretched. Stretching the dough on a generously oiled baking sheet prevents it from sticking to your hands or the grill and also helps the exterior fry and crisp. To ensure that the toppings cooked quickly on a grill, preheat the sauce and use a combination of fast-melting fresh mozzarella and finely grated Parmesan; sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the dough to create a flavorful barrier against moisture before dolloping (rather than slathering) on the sauce and scattering chunks of cheese, all of which helped maintain the dough’s crisp texture. To prevent a hot spot at the center that would burn the crust, we placed the coals only around the perimeter of the grill rather than spreading them in an even layer.
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 3 cups 16 1/2 ounces King Arthur bread flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
- 1 ¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons ice water 11 ounces
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus extra for counter
- 1 ½ teaspoons Salt
SAUCE
- 1 14-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, drained with juice reserved
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano
- ½ teaspoon sugar plus extra for seasoning
- Salt
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
PIZZA
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
- 3 ounces Parmesan cheese grated (1 1/2 cups)
- 8 ounces fresh whole-milk mozzarella cheese torn into bite-size pieces (2 cups)
- 3 tablespoons shredded fresh basil
- Coarse sea salt
Instructions
FOR THE DOUGH:
- Process flour, sugar, and yeast in food processor until combined, about 2 seconds. With processor running, slowly add ice water; process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let dough stand for 10 minutes.
- Add oil and salt to dough and process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball that clears sides of bowl, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer dough to lightly oiled counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide dough into 3 equal pieces (about 91/3 ounces each). Shape each piece into tight ball, transfer to well-oiled baking sheet (alternatively, place dough balls in individual well-oiled bowls), and coat top of each ball lightly with oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap (taking care not to compress dough) and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 3 days.
FOR THE SAUCE:
- Pulse tomatoes in food processor until finely chopped, 12 to 15 pulses. Transfer to medium bowl and stir in reserved juice, oil, oregano, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper flakes. Season with extra sugar and salt to taste, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
- One hour before cooking pizza, remove dough from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature.
FOR A CHARCOAL GRILL:
- Open bottom vent halfway. Light large chimney starter three-quarters filled with charcoal briquettes (4½ quarts). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour into ring around perimeter of grill, leaving 8-inch clearing in center. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent halfway. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.
FOR A GAS GRILL:
- Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes. Leave all burners on high.
- While grill is heating, transfer sauce to small saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Cover and keep warm.
FOR THE PIZZA:
- Clean and oil cooking grate. Pour ¼ cup oil onto center of rimmed baking sheet. Transfer 1 dough round to sheet and coat both sides of dough with oil. Using your fingertips and palms, gently press and stretch dough toward edges of sheet to form rough 16 by 12-inch oval of even thickness. Using both your hands, lift dough and carefully transfer to grill. (When transferring dough from sheet to grill, it will droop slightly to form half-moon or snowshoe shape.) Cook (over clearing if using charcoal; covered if using gas) until grill marks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Using tongs and spatula, carefully peel dough from grate, then rotate dough 90 degrees and continue to cook (covered if using gas) until second set of grill marks appears, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Flip dough and cook (covered if using gas) until second side of dough is lightly charred in spots, 2 to 3 minutes. Using tongs or pizza peel, transfer crust to cutting board, inverting so side that was grilled first is facing down. Repeat with remaining 2 dough rounds, adding 1 tablespoon oil to sheet for each round and keeping grill cover closed when not in use to retain heat.
- Drizzle top of 1 crust with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle one-third of Parmesan evenly over surface. Arrange one-third of mozzarella pieces, evenly spaced, on surface of pizza. Dollop one-third of sauce in evenly spaced 1-tablespoon mounds over surface of pizza. Using pizza peel or overturned rimmed baking sheet, transfer pizza to grill; cover and cook until bottom is well browned and mozzarella is melted, 3 to 5 minutes, checking bottom and turning frequently to prevent burning. Transfer pizza to cutting board, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon basil, drizzle lightly with extra oil, and season with salt to taste. Cut into wedges and serve. Repeat with remaining 2 crusts.
Notes
The dough must sit for at least 24 hours before shaping. We prefer the high protein content of King Arthur bread flour for this recipe, though other bread flours are acceptable. For best results, weigh your ingredients. It’s important to use ice water in the dough to prevent it from overheating in the food processor. Grilled pizza cooks quickly, so it’s critical to have all of your ingredients and tools ready ahead of time. We recommend pargrilling, topping, and grilling in quick succession and serving the pizzas one at a time, rather than all at once.
Detroit Style Pizza
Ingredients
70% Hydration Pizza Dough – Enough for one 10 x 14 inch Detroit Style Pizza Pan (or a 9×13 baking pan)
- 3 g yeast use 6 g if doing in 2 hours
- 210 g water
- 300 g flour
Toppings
- Low moisture mozzarella or Wisconsin brick cheese if available
- Simplest pizza sauce recipe below
- Pepperoni, Peppers, Pickled onions
Simplest Pizza Sauce
- 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ onion
- oregano
- red pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
Mix the dough
- Add the yeast to the warm water along with a spoonful of the flour. Stir until dissolved. Let stand for 5-10 minutes until light foam surfaces and little bubbles are visible. Note: Proofing is done to test the viability of the yeast. If there is no foam surface or little bubbles the yeast is likely dead and should be discarded for new yeast.
- Meanwhile, add the flour, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Once the yeast is proofed, pour in the mixture and mix the dough with your hands until no dry flour remains in the bowl and a cohesive mass forms.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes which will allow the dough to relax before kneading.
Gluten Development + Bulk Fermentation (1st ferment)
- After resting, knead the dough in the bowl for 6-8 minutes.
- Cut off a piece of the dough and stretch the dough thin to test for a gluten window. 2 hour: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until roughly doubled in size, about 60 minutes.24 hour (or more): Add the dough to a large container (or keep in the bowl) and place in the fridge. Let the dough cold ferment for up to 4 days. Once ready to make pizza, set the dough on the counter at room temp for 1-2 hours and proceed as normal from step 3.
Proofing (2nd Ferment)
- Drizzle olive oil into a 10×14 Detroit style pizza pan until the bottom is lightly covered. Turn the ball of dough into the pan, grease both sides, and lightly flatten dough out to the edges.
- Cover the pan and let the dough proof for about 60-90 minutes, during which the dough will relax to the edges of the pan. At the end of proofing, the dough should be slightly puffy. Spread the dough out to the edges of the pan with your fingers and pop any really large air bubbles that may leave a thin spot in the dough.
- During this time, make your sauce and prepare any toppings you want. Preheat a conventional oven to 450 F, or the Ooni Koda to max heat.
Add Toppings
- Sprinkle a little oregano and garlic powder evenly over the bottom of the pie.
- Add the toppings of choice (meats, veggies, etc.) next and spread the low moisture mozzarella (or Wisconsin brick if available) all over the pizza ensuring it touches the edges of the pizza so we get the crispy edges when it bakes. Note: Some places put the toppings over the cheese (like crispy pepperoni's), do it how you want it!
- Finish the pizza with a couple of spoonfuls of the sauce. I like doing it in 3 to 4 straight lines.
Bake
- Ooni Koda 16 directions: Set heat to maximum flame and let the stone heat to 900 degrees F, about 15 minutes.Turn the flame to the lowest setting. Place the pan lengthways on the far right side away from the flame. Let cook for 3 minutes, rotate the pan once, then cook for another 3 minutes. Slice into 8 pieces and enjoy.
- Conventional oven directions: Set heat to 450 degrees F.Add the pan to the oven and let cook until the top is starting to brown about 15-20 minutes. Slice and enjoy
- Sprinkle with fresh parm, basil, or any last accouterments. Slice into 8 pieces and enjoy
Simplest Pizza Sauce
- Add the can of tomatoes, butter, garlic, onion, oregano, red pepper, and a small pinch of salt to a saucepan. Stir to combine. Set heat to medium-low and let cook undisturbed for 15 minutes. Stir once and let cook for another 15 minutes.
- Blend the sauce (optional). Taste the sauce, add salt if needed.
- Store in the fridge for up to a week.