patrick Food Journal

(Promoted from the diaries - K)

When Stacey Lynn wrote about her cooking being called "interesting," I was instantly struck by the memory of my first attempt at making pizza. Let's just say it went wrong in several different ways and the resulting pizza was less than fantastic. It was, however, "interesting," as one guest pointed out, and I had to agree. Edible, yes; incredible... not so much.

Fortunately, I don't give up easily when pizza is at stake. I obtained a new dough recipe from a trusted food-loving friend. The old one included some extra steps that complicated things and mixed various types of units, which I thoroughly botched when I cut the portions in half. The new one was simple, easy to follow, and called for easy-to-find ingredients.

My preferred pizza is thin crust style, so that's what I've aimed for at home. My second attempt was a vast improvement over the "interesting" pizza. The crust was light, but crunchy and with a good taste. By the third time, I think I had the method down, and by the fourth, I decided I should document the process. If anything, my intention is to show that pizza should not be a daunting process. It's remarkably easy to make from simple everyday ingredients.

First, add the yeast (8 g packet) to some warm water (3/4 cup) and sugar (1 tsp):

After it's proofed for 15 minutes, it will look like this:

In a separate bowl, combine all-purpose flour (1 cup), salt (1 tsp), and olive oil (2tbsp):

Adding the yeast mixture gives you a sticky batter like this:

Now you need to gradually add about another cup of flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until you have a manageable lump of dough that can be kneaded on a countertop. If it still sticks, add a little more flour. You want it to look like this:

After kneading, drop the dough in a clean bowl and coat it with a little more olive oil. Cover that with a plate for about an hour or two to let the dough rise. After that, it will have doubled in size:

At this point, all you have left to do is roll out the dough with a little more flour, add your toppings, and put it in the oven for a few minutes. It's shockingly simple once you have the hang of it. And to reward you, there's an awesome pizza waiting for you at the end of it:

A few things I've noted...

• When it comes to making a tomato sauce, less is more. The best ones I've made were the ones with the simplest ingredients. A really basic one can be put together in 10-15 minutes using crushed tomatoes, some stock (chicken stock works well), garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, and a hint of sugar.
• Preheat your pizza stone. I've heard differing arguments about the importance of this, but I've had uniformly better results when the stone has been preheated in the oven. For one, the pizza seems less likely to stick to a heated stone.
• I love cheese, but on a thin crust it's easy to overdo it. I stick to using a light amount of mozzarella and punching that up with something a little stronger, like parmesan, romano, or gorgonzola.
• Roasted peppers totally ******* rule as a pizza topping.
• So does spicy salami, like Calabrese.