Good pizza is so easy to make at home. I use a variation on the pizza dough recipe from Franny's restaurant in NYC. Basically, I mix the dough in in my Kitchenaid Friday night. It goes straight in the fridge until Sunday at noon, when it comes out, gets divided into 3 or 4 balls, and then back in the fridge. The two day fridge rise gives the crust awesome flavor and texture.
90 minutes before I'm ready to cook my first pizza, I put my pizza stones in my double wall ovens and crank them to 550. The stones heat at that for about an hour.
30 minutes before I'm ready to stretch the dough, the balls come out of the fridge.
I hand stretch the balls....you can have a fairly wet dough and still be able to hand stretch it if you chill it first. Once stretched, they go into the oven and get cooked a bit. Once the dough has cooked so that you can pull out it with a cookie sheet, it comes out, has the sauce, toppings, and cheese added. Then it goes back in to finish cooking. Par cooking the crust ensures against a soggy crust and gets it done all the way through, and the cheese is perfect without browning on top.
Favorite pizzas around here....Pizza Margherita with fresh mozzarella; bacon pizza; pepperoni pizza with Boar's Head pepperoni; pizza with no sauce, but with spinach, feta, red onion, and a drizzle of olive oil; cheese pizza made with butter kase (that is straight up awesome). Recently I made a pizza with a sauce of ranch dressing spiked with chipotle and ancho chile powder, roasted chicken, and shredded Mexican cheese blend.
I often add a layer of Parmesan cheese on to the toppings before I put the main cheese on, which gives another flavor dimension.
For sauce, I keep it very simple...one can sauce mixed with one can paste, with a hit of garlic salt. That's it.
Can also do pizza on the grill. Key here is to bring the pizza out to the grill, oil one side, put the oiled side down, and then immediately oil the other side. Cook for a few minutes, flip, and then quickly add the toppings. Gotta keep these sparse as the dough will burn quickly on the grill.
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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.
90 minutes before I'm ready to cook my first pizza, I put my pizza stones in my double wall ovens and crank them to 550. The stones heat at that for about an hour.
30 minutes before I'm ready to stretch the dough, the balls come out of the fridge.
I hand stretch the balls....you can have a fairly wet dough and still be able to hand stretch it if you chill it first. Once stretched, they go into the oven and get cooked a bit. Once the dough has cooked so that you can pull out it with a cookie sheet, it comes out, has the sauce, toppings, and cheese added. Then it goes back in to finish cooking. Par cooking the crust ensures against a soggy crust and gets it done all the way through, and the cheese is perfect without browning on top.
Favorite pizzas around here....Pizza Margherita with fresh mozzarella; bacon pizza; pepperoni pizza with Boar's Head pepperoni; pizza with no sauce, but with spinach, feta, red onion, and a drizzle of olive oil; cheese pizza made with butter kase (that is straight up awesome). Recently I made a pizza with a sauce of ranch dressing spiked with chipotle and ancho chile powder, roasted chicken, and shredded Mexican cheese blend.
I often add a layer of Parmesan cheese on to the toppings before I put the main cheese on, which gives another flavor dimension.
For sauce, I keep it very simple...one can sauce mixed with one can paste, with a hit of garlic salt. That's it.
Can also do pizza on the grill. Key here is to bring the pizza out to the grill, oil one side, put the oiled side down, and then immediately oil the other side. Cook for a few minutes, flip, and then quickly add the toppings. Gotta keep these sparse as the dough will burn quickly on the grill.
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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.