Erbium:YAG
Well-Known Member
I have always been a fanatic for real thin crust pizza. I'm not talking about your standard pizza. I'm talking about a cracker thin crust that's light and crisp. Anyway there are a few good places I'll go to here in New Jersey - Federici's in Freehold or Pete and Elda's in Neptune. After a while I got tired of having to run out to get good pizza, so I decided it was time to make my own. After some trial and error, I finally have a killer recipe and I thought I would share it.
This recipe will make 6 pizzas about 12 to 14 inches in diameter. If you want to make less, just freeze the unused dough and refridgerate the unused sauce.
Ingredients for the crust:
3 cups flour, sifted (I've used bread flour and all purpose, and both work fine)
2 tsp of granulated sugar
1 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 packages of rapid rise yeast
1/2 cup of 70 to 90 degree water to start
Ingredients for sauce:
3 small cans of tomato sauce (unflavored is best)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp of sugar
1/4 cup of olive oil
Toppings:
Cheese - Use a mozzerella and asiago cheese blend. 2/3 mozzerella to 1/3 asiago - use only freshly grated whole milk mozzerella and freshly grated asiago - grate up as much or as you like
Pepperoni - I like to slice up a stick of pepperoni rather than use the presliced stuff
Anything else you like
Making the crust
Mix together all the dry ingedients in a large bowl. Add your yeast to the warm water in a measuring cup and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Add the yeast mixture to the flour along with the olive oil and begin kneading. This is where it's great to have an automatic mixer with a dough hook. Keep adding more warm water until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. When mixed to the proper consistency, the dough should feel sticky but not slimey. If you added too much water, just add a bit more flour. Knead for 3 to 5 minutes then cover the bowl to prevent any drafts and let the dough rise for at least 1 hour. After the dough rises, then roll it into a log shape on a floured surface. Now cut it into 6 equal pieces and put aside. If you're not in a hurry, it's even better if after the dough initially rises, punch it down and let it rise again, overnight in the refrigerator. Then roll it into a log and cut into six equal pieces.
Making the sauce:
Put all the ingedients into a blender with the exception of the olive oil. With the blender running at a slow speed, slowly pour the olive oil into the sauce. Once the olive oil is blended, stop and put the sauce aside.
This is when I would begin preheating my grill and pizza stone. A pizza stone is a must. The pizza will cook best when the temperature begins to climb above 400 degrees F. If your grill has multiple burners, it's best to keep the burner directly below the stone, turned down just a bit. The stone will retain plenty of heat and we don't want to burn the bottom of the pizza before the top thoroughly cooks.
Assembling:
Take a piece of dough and work it into a ball. Then roll it flat into a diameter of 12 to 14 inches, thoroughly dusting with flour as you go. Place the rolled dough onto a pizza peel that has been thoroughly dusted with corn meal (this helps the pizza slide off of the peel). Now take a fork and randomly poke holes in the crust. This is called docking and it prevents large air bubbles from forming while the pizza is cooking.
Now ladle sauce onto the pizza and begin spreading it all the way to the edges.
Next add your cheese blend and then your toppings.
Grill the pizza until the cheese and the sauce thoroughly combine. The top of the pizza will become a beautiful bubbling orange mixture and all those flavors will completely blend. Keep the cover of the grill closed as much as possible. After the crust begins to cook a bit, every so often rotate the pizza a 1/4 turn to safeguard against any hot spots. Keep a close eye on it. If your grill is too hot, it will cook up in a flash.
Now sit down and enjoy with your latest homebrew!
Even though the recipe seems a bit long, once you've done it once, you'll find that it's actually incredibly easy and it's guaranteed to be some of the best pizza you'll ever have.
The pizza can also be made on a pizza pan in the oven; but the crust will not be quite as crisp. Of course you could put the pizza stone in the oven.
Another variation, which I have done before, is to add some presoaked mesquite wood chips to a smoker box. This also makes for a great pie. Enjoy.
This recipe will make 6 pizzas about 12 to 14 inches in diameter. If you want to make less, just freeze the unused dough and refridgerate the unused sauce.
Ingredients for the crust:
3 cups flour, sifted (I've used bread flour and all purpose, and both work fine)
2 tsp of granulated sugar
1 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 packages of rapid rise yeast
1/2 cup of 70 to 90 degree water to start
Ingredients for sauce:
3 small cans of tomato sauce (unflavored is best)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp of sugar
1/4 cup of olive oil
Toppings:
Cheese - Use a mozzerella and asiago cheese blend. 2/3 mozzerella to 1/3 asiago - use only freshly grated whole milk mozzerella and freshly grated asiago - grate up as much or as you like
Pepperoni - I like to slice up a stick of pepperoni rather than use the presliced stuff
Anything else you like
Making the crust
Mix together all the dry ingedients in a large bowl. Add your yeast to the warm water in a measuring cup and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Add the yeast mixture to the flour along with the olive oil and begin kneading. This is where it's great to have an automatic mixer with a dough hook. Keep adding more warm water until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. When mixed to the proper consistency, the dough should feel sticky but not slimey. If you added too much water, just add a bit more flour. Knead for 3 to 5 minutes then cover the bowl to prevent any drafts and let the dough rise for at least 1 hour. After the dough rises, then roll it into a log shape on a floured surface. Now cut it into 6 equal pieces and put aside. If you're not in a hurry, it's even better if after the dough initially rises, punch it down and let it rise again, overnight in the refrigerator. Then roll it into a log and cut into six equal pieces.
Making the sauce:
Put all the ingedients into a blender with the exception of the olive oil. With the blender running at a slow speed, slowly pour the olive oil into the sauce. Once the olive oil is blended, stop and put the sauce aside.
This is when I would begin preheating my grill and pizza stone. A pizza stone is a must. The pizza will cook best when the temperature begins to climb above 400 degrees F. If your grill has multiple burners, it's best to keep the burner directly below the stone, turned down just a bit. The stone will retain plenty of heat and we don't want to burn the bottom of the pizza before the top thoroughly cooks.
Assembling:
Take a piece of dough and work it into a ball. Then roll it flat into a diameter of 12 to 14 inches, thoroughly dusting with flour as you go. Place the rolled dough onto a pizza peel that has been thoroughly dusted with corn meal (this helps the pizza slide off of the peel). Now take a fork and randomly poke holes in the crust. This is called docking and it prevents large air bubbles from forming while the pizza is cooking.
Now ladle sauce onto the pizza and begin spreading it all the way to the edges.
Next add your cheese blend and then your toppings.
Grill the pizza until the cheese and the sauce thoroughly combine. The top of the pizza will become a beautiful bubbling orange mixture and all those flavors will completely blend. Keep the cover of the grill closed as much as possible. After the crust begins to cook a bit, every so often rotate the pizza a 1/4 turn to safeguard against any hot spots. Keep a close eye on it. If your grill is too hot, it will cook up in a flash.
Now sit down and enjoy with your latest homebrew!
Even though the recipe seems a bit long, once you've done it once, you'll find that it's actually incredibly easy and it's guaranteed to be some of the best pizza you'll ever have.
The pizza can also be made on a pizza pan in the oven; but the crust will not be quite as crisp. Of course you could put the pizza stone in the oven.
Another variation, which I have done before, is to add some presoaked mesquite wood chips to a smoker box. This also makes for a great pie. Enjoy.