The very first thing I ever learned to cook was pizza. I started around grade 8 and spent the next 472 years trying to perfect it. I'm about halfway there.
The first big breakthrough I had was years ago when I started to BBQ my pizza. Then I decided I'm an all or nothing kind of person and built my own wood fired pizza oven. Don't scoff, it's actually easier than you think.
Finally, after realizing that maybe not EVERYONE wants to build their own wood fired pizza oven, I should probably really figure out how to make pizza at home in a regular oven. If you don't happen to have an outdoor pizza oven, s soon as you make this dough I want you to read this post on making perfect pizza in your home oven. If you're a pizza enthusiast that one post will change your pizza life, I promise.
If I hadn't figured out that a BBQ produces a really great pizza, I'm sure I would have built a pizza oven by now with random things from my shed. Leftover patio stones, some plastic pots and half a bag of solidified Miracle Grow.
Anyhow ... I'm rambling. As you may know I got the Earth to Table cookbook for Christmas and I've been trying out recipes since I got it. The first recipe I had to try was pizza dough. I've tried a few homemade pizza doughs in my time but none of them seemed any better than that big blob of dough you can buy in a plastic bag at the grocery store. The faux dough. So I've always used the gloppy dough from the grocery store to mixed results. Sometimes it's O.K., other times I roll out the dough to a 9 " circle r and by the time I grab my sauce the dough has reverted to a 3" circle. And it's smirking.
So I was pretty excited to have a promising pizza dough to try out. Nothing gets me more excited than the possibility of coming to the end of my quest for the perfect pizza. Except maybe a new episode of Modern Family.
So on New Year's Eve I opened the cookbook and gave it a shot. Sure enough the recipe was a complete and utter success. It was perfect. The dough was perfectly crisp on the outside and light on the inside. (not gummy ... sometimes the grocery store glop is gummy inside for some reason) I ate so much I cursed the dough, the pizza, the cookbook, the recipe, Jeff Crump, the fella, my cats and my 3rd grade teacher. I felt kindda sick. Totally my fault. (and the fault of the dough, the pizza, the cookbook, the recipe, Jeff Crump, the fella, my cats and for some reason ... my 3rd grade teacher.)
After I calmed down and digested a bit I knew I had to let you all in on this recipe, so I stood on my porch and screamed at Jeff Crump. HEY!!!!! JEFFF!!!!!! CAN I PUBLISH YOUR PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE???!!!! I didn't hear a "No." back, so I figure, we're good.
Gather your ingredients.
Notice my local honey? It's my pal Russell's honey. No wait ... it's his Uncle's honey. I already ate all of Russell's honey.
Combine flour, yeast and salt in stand mixer.
(If you don't have a stand mixer, use a Cuisinart or mix the ingredients in a bowl by hand with a wooden spoon)
Add one cup of water, oil and honey. Mix with flat beater on low speed until combined.
Remove flat beater.
Add dough hook.
Gradually add the remaining water (you may not need to add all of it) while continuing to mix on low speed. When dough pulls away from sides of bowl and hangs off of hook, you're done.
(Again ... just mix by hand with wooden spoon until dough forms into ball)
Knead dough until it's smooth and elastic. About 3 minutes.
Place in a large greased bowl, turning dough so it's greased all over. Cover with damp towel and let rise for about an hour or until ...
it's about doubled in size. Ta da.
You can either divide the dough in half for 2 normal sized pizzas, or you can divide into 4 for individual sized pizzas.
Work each ball of dough by pulling down the sides and tucking them under the bottom a few times.
See all that stretched gluten? That's what you're lookin' for.
Roll the dough under the palm of your hand until smooth.
It should be soft and smooth and perfect feeling. If you've fallen in love with your ball of dough, you've done it right.
They will be 4 little things of beauty. That need to be protected.
At this point you can either freeze your dough, refrigerate it for use the next day or GET READY TO MAKE PIZZA RIGHT NOW!!!
If you plan on making pizza right away, then cover the dough up with a damp towel for 15 - 20 minutes and let it rest.
Once you've done that, you can roll it out and make your pizza.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I BBQ my pizza all the time now. I bought a couple of non stick pans for the job. They're just circular pans with holes all over the bottom to allow the bottom to crisp up. You can read my entire post on BBQ pizza here (it's kind of a love story not unlike Pioneer Woman's Marlboro Man story, only there's more swearing and a monster involved) or I can give you the quick version.
Preheat your BBQ to HOT. As hot as possible. 500 degrees at least. Make your pizzas on their pans and then put them on the BBQ. Close the lid immediately and turn the burners down to medium or medium low so you don't burn the crusts. Leave them for 8 - 11 minutes depending on how hot your BBQ gets. Remove the pizzas and then stick them under your broiler for a few minutes to get a bit of crisping on the pepperoni and some browning on the cheese.
A flavour the fella gets when we go to Jeff's restaurant "Earth to Table, Bread Bar" is bacon, scallions and goat's cheese pizza. It's DELICIOUS. Just not as delicious as a classic pepperoni, which is always my choice. (when I make it at home I add fresh basil leaves after it's removed from the oven)
So, the quest for the perfect pizza is almost complete. I have the sauce, the dough and the method. The only thing remaining?
I am now on a quest, for the perfect pizza cheese. I expect it will take me approximately 3 years, 4 mental breakdowns, 7 bottles of sedatives and quite possibly a black eye.
Wish me luck.
p.s. I would like to thank Jeff Crump who kindly gave me permission (for reals) to publish his pizza dough recipe.
karla
About the stand-mixer dilemma: I have a wonderful tool called a Danish dough whisk that is far easier than using a wooden spoon, and far less expensive than any mixer. You can find them on Amazon.
Christina
So, how exactly is this better? I'm really intrigued by the picture... What size do you use (they come in several lengths)?
karla
Christina, I have the 11". I generally make single loaves starting with about 3 cups of flour, but it was great for a triple batch as well. The wire sort of cuts through what you're mixing rather than shoving it to one side or the other as a spoon does. There is far less resistance, so it is easier, and it causes more...turbulence?, so it mixes more quickly.
Nancy
Those little balls of perfection are just beautiful to behold..sniff..Thank you Karen..and Jeff cause I probably can't afford your book and will have to wait to buy it second hand..!
Barbie
I am SO going to try the BBQ for my pizza next time! I can hardly WAIT to try that! Thanks so much Karen!
KatyKazoo
There are few things in life so gratifying than kneading a perfect ball of dough. The smell, the texture, the warmth of the dough.
Beautifully documented, Karen!
Sean
I'm similarly pizza obsessed and found a recipe calling for equal parts smoked gouda and mozzerella. Squeeze as much moisture out of the mozz as possible and chunkify it. With your pizza dough recipe and my sauce and cheese source I'm fairly confident I will be a big fat man in a very short time. Damn!
Karen
Sean - Yup. It sounds entirely possible you will become a big fat man. Re: the cheese ... I've found the maker of the cheese is as important as the cheese. All mozzarella's are *not* created equal. ~ karen!
Beth
Hi Karen!
In the hopes that you'll find the perfect pizza cheese a little sooner (with less mental anguish) so you can share your findings with the rest of us, I'm giving you the web address to the menu of my favorite pizza place in northern Virginia--Fire Works Pizza. They wood fire their yumminess, too. I'd suggest trying the Grana Padano cheese in your experiments . . . I find it's a great cheese that fits somewhere between parmesan and goat/feta with a hint of sweetness like mozerella.
Of course, my recollection of that scrumptious cheese may be scewed a bit by the combo of all the other flavors with which I typically inhale it--my favorite is their Baa-baa Black Sheep. See the bottom of Page 2 for their cheese list.
http://www.fireworkspizza.com/Menu.html
Good luck!
dana
http://www.etsy.com/listing/90807271/retirement-chicken-original-mixed-media
Hmmm. Can't eat gluten, but I did used to love to make my own dough. I don't know if GF dough would go up in smoke immediately in the BBQ--rice flour burns very quickly.
Anyhoo, this painting reminded of you. And not because it's flat as a board. No eggs in that recipe either. I don't know what a "Retirement Chicken" is exactly, but I think I want one.
Paulina J!
Avoiding gluten also. I think I'm going to give this recipe a try with gluten-free all purpose flour, add xantham gum and just cook it in the oven. Dana, do you think it would work?
Also, I clicked on the link an per the artist "When my sweetheart and I retire someday, then, he says, we can get chickens. Hence, the title."
Melissa
Karen, quick question. Is "BBQ" a Canadian term for a gas grill --- like one that lives outside? Or, do you have one of those uber ovens that has bread warming drawers and flame-throwing capability? We use an old school grill (charcoal required) but have been thinking about getting a gas grill so's I can bake bread outside. Just wanted to clarify what you meant, as this is my goal: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/2009/05/19/kicking-off-the-outdoor-baking-season-with-a-boule-on-the-gas-grill
Karen
Melissa - Yes, most of us (Canadian folk) use the term BBQ interchangeably with coals or gas grills, even though technically it should only refer to cooking over coals or wood. I have both an outdoor gas grill and a lump charcoal smoker used for ribs, bacon, etc. Oh! And my oven does have a warming drawer. :) ~ karen
Langela
If you ever come across the problem of shrinking dough again, just leave it to rest for a few minutes and try again. It's all tense and stressed out and needs to relax. I will give this recipe a try even though I have a wonderful one I use. I'll try yours and see how it compares. I also have the perfect sauce. I won't be switching that, though. No need to mess with perfection.
Melanie Marie
For individual thin crust pizzas we use a handful of dough and either press it in a tortilla press or slide it through a pasta roller until you achieve the desired thin crust. This means many variations of pizza in one sitting. I love pizza as an event not just a food.
Jan
Your dough is beautiful! Kneading dough for any recipe brings on my worst fears and self-doubt. I hate to ask this (but, apparently, not enough), have you tried No-knead pizza dough recipes?
Karen
Jan - I have not. I've done the no knead bread, but not pizza dough. This dough really is super easy though so I'll probably stick with this one. You only knead it once and only for a few minutes. ~ k
Belinda Philp
The perfect pizza cheese is homemade mozarella....go on, give it a try, it's easy when you get the stretching technique right, and fun...and tastes like self-satisfaction. ;)
Karen
Belinda - I can't seem to find rennet around these parts. ~ karen
Carol
Have you ever heard of the internet? The internet sells these types of things.
Karen
Clearly, yes. I'm pretty familiar with the Internet. I prefer to buy it from a local shop if possible.
Karen M
Belinda, I haven't had much luck using our homemade mozzerella on pizza- it seems be too wet and just looks all weird ! any tips for me ? we had a hard time finding rennet local so we have to order online.
Belinda Philp
my mozarella doesn't look exactly like store-bought, definitely more stringy, but I haven't had it be too wet..I get my supplies from a local (New Zealand, but they deliver to the States)supplier called Mad Millie. After the curd has been made and cut, it needs to drain through muslin for 5 mins before you start heating and stretching it. Then put in salted, iced water to 'set'
Karen M
Belinda , Thanks for the getting back to me, i will try the the 5 minute drain with the muslin.
Eric
maybe a place like whole foods carries it?
Karen M
Eric, my local whole foods didn't carry it. we bought a kit at a local cheese shop that had everything we needed in it to make mozzarella. New England Cheese making supply Company - they have a website you can order from too.
RubyDu
I can get rennet locally from a fairy farmer who sells raw milk, but that won't help you way up in Canada. I remember from reading the Little House series that Laura describes cheese making with her mother. If I remember correctly, the rennet that they used was from the stomach of a calf. So perhaps you could copy that method and get rennet from a local butcher.
gloria
I have to say, I'm rather disappointed that you missed an obvious (well, to me anyway) gag opportunity. Back up to paragraph 4. You mention "faux dough". Which in itself is funny. But the first thing that came to my mind when I read that was, "faux dough, not to be confused with Frodo, because who wants pizza with hairy feet."
But maybe it's just me.
Anyway. I will be trying this recipe (sans hairy feet) some Saturday pizza night in the future. Thanks, Karen.
Karen
Hah! ~ karen
Gollu'em
But Frodo comes with a beautiful golden ring and the finest undershirt imaginable... Sorry. Wrong forum for that discussion but I bet Smaug the Golden could fire up a few hundred pizza crusts to a golden born in seconds... Stop it stop it You're scare them you is. Precious likes the recipes... Better than that awful elven crusts Masters had that little walk... Back to your regular scheduled fandom...
Marti
Also are you repurposing a marble table-top there?
Karen
Yes, I believe that's what it is. Some kind of small carrara marble tabletop. One of my sisters picked it up for me at a flea market when I first bought my house. ~ k!
Marti
It's really gorgeous! Doesn't look like the knife has ever hit it wrong. Never seen one shine that way. Is there a secret to that?
Karen
Thx. Now that I'm looking at the pics., it's clearly not carrara. Definitely marble, just not carrara. I never noticed the shine before, but yup it's shiney. Must just be polished marble. ~ k!
Aimee
What about those of us who don't have stand mixers? Recipes that say "in your stand mixer" "bread hook" "etc." lose me right away. I'm not well-versed enough in bread making to translate.
Help!
Karen
Aimee - Sure! Just mix by hand with a wooden spoon until the dough becomes one big ball. Then proceed with kneading. Thanks for bringing it to my attention that I'm a stand mixer snob. I'll add this amendment to the original post! ~ karen
Aimee
Thanks! There are tons of recipes on blogs with stand mixer assumptions. I usually click right past them, but this one was worth asking for. :)
Karen
Aimee - It also may take a little more kneading to get it to the right consistency/smoothness/elasticness. ~ k
deb
I've made pizza dough using a bread machine (on the "dough" setting) for the past 16 years. It does the kneading and it also rises at just the right temperature.
Annie
You cannot sneak that beautiful wooden cookbook holder into a photo without a solid explanation of how we can purchase said item. It looks beautiful, and it holds the damn book open. Dear, darling Karen, please share?
Marti
In the living room. With the leftover tree skirts, 4 leftover fur coats, one big comfy leather chair (and matching ottoman), 26 balls of hand-dyed yarn, two yoga mats, extra footstools, six dozen pint canning jars, lonely-unused pizza stone and of course, the plans for a chicken coop... if'n I ever buy a house?
Uh, sure, Karen. I'll put that on my list. Which is sitting next to the "50 Things I'm Getting Rid Of," by the way.
Karen
Good. ~ karen
Lisa
what's a leftover fur coat? :-)
Marti
Great to have a recipe, but all I have is a pizza stone. Permission to attempt this anyway? Along with my fennel-laden, chunkier pizza sauce?
Karen
No. Permission not granted. Go buy a BBQ and put it in your living room. Otherwise NOOOOO permission granted. As you were soldier. ~ karen
Karen
Uch. Fine. Use the pizza stone. That's what Jeff recommends. Not that he knows anything. He's just a chef. Who trained a little with Heston Blumenthal. No big whoop. My experience is vastly superior. I trained with all the PBS cooking shows that air on Sundays. ~ karen
KittyCardea
I;m so gonna have to try that! Thank you, Karen. And thank you Jeff for giving permission (for reals).
Sandy
Oh, I love you!! I will be trying that recipe and will try it on the bbq!! I've been trying to find a great pizza dough recipe with no real luck. Thanks, Karen!