Saturday night is Pizza Night for my family. When this once came up in a friendly conversation, it was greeted by surprise that I would schedule a weekly indulgence in junk food. But I don’t consider pizza junk food. It doesn’t have to be. Not when you’ve got the built-in potential for all four food groups in one happy slice. It’s also great fun if you make it yourself, so it doubles as dinner and a show.
Consider your basic pie: thick or thin, you’ve got to have a crust. I like a good thin crust with just the right rise to it. It should have a little chew and crunch. This is the kind of yeast dough you can toss—here come the theatrics—and stretch. I’ll even make it up in the morning and, after it’s been pounded, poked and patted by my two enthusiastic apprentices (Noah, age 3 and Laurent, age 1.5), toss it in the refrigerator for later. It’s a very forgiving dough. And spending a short stint as play-dough only helps to create gluten which gives it that satisfying chewiness. Later, howling with delight as I twirl the dough up toward the ceiling, the kids can’t wait to eat the dinner they helped make.
There’s actually no need to throw the crust. Stretching it does just as well, really. But it’s a stunt I learned during my first culinary training, that of pizza cook at Good Times in Caledonia when I was in high school, so I show it off in the kitchen whenever I have an audience.
As to what goes on the crust, that’s up to creative interpretation. For me, having lived in southern Italy where pizza is serious business, and in Boston’s “Little Italy,” where the best of Italian ingredients abound, I’m a bit of a pizza purist. In Italy, you order a pizza from a list of composed choices, it’s made for one (roughly the size of a dinner plate), and is served uncut. You eat it with a knife and fork. There are no piecemeal add-ons or size adjustments to suit the crowd. A pizza Margherita is a pizza Margherita—always and only to include tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and torn basil leaves. Pizza bianca is dough with extra virgin olive oil, coarse salt and maybe some herbs; a recipe that relies solely on top-quality ingredients.
My own pizzas lie somewhere in the middle of the Italian and American styles. Since really great fresh mozzarella is a rare treat stateside, I use ordinary shredded mozzarella with at least 2% milkfat, and fresh basil only when it’s growing outside. And because I like a little more substance in my pizza bianca, I dollop it with ricotta cheese and add various vegetables and cured meats, depending on what I’ve got on hand. I also pump up the nutritional value by substituting up to half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. Here’s my basic dough to get you started.
Pizza Dough*
makes 3 12-inch pizzas
4 c. bread flour, plus more for the counter
1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 ¾ c. warm water
Whisk together the flour, yeast and salt in a medium bowl. Add the oil and water, mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and knead to form a smooth round ball, about 10 minutes, adding flour if necessary to prevent the dough from sticking. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.
Divide dough into equal thirds. Shape each section into a neat, tight ball, tucking it in and pinching it together on the bottom, being careful not to tear the dough across the top. Let rest for 20-30 minutes as you assemble your toppings and set an oven rack to the lower middle position. Place a baking stone or rimless baking sheet on the oven rack and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Place a piece of parchment paper on a rimless or upside-down baking sheet (to use as a pizza paddle). Take one dough ball and flatten it, tossing, stretching or patting into a 12-inch round. Top as desired.
Slide the parchment paper and pizza onto the preheated stone or baking sheet. Bake the pizza 10-15 minutes, to desired doneness. Prepare the second pizza while the first one bakes.
Make-ahead Note: We bake two and freeze one for a quick lunch another day. It can go straight from freezer to oven, reducing the oven temperature to 325 degrees and increasing the baking time another ten minutes or so, until it looks done.
*Recipe adapted from America’s Test Kitchen
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Editor’s Note: Angela Denstad Stigeler writes a food column each week for the Caledonia Argus. She, her husband and their two young children live in Caledonia.
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