I recently typed up directions for my brother to make a pizza
at home. This is heavily influenced by Cook's Illustrated pizza technique so if you see similarities, that's why. Production in a restaurant is a different thing.
There are a few critical parts to making pizza. Perhaps the most important thing to understand is to match the amount of sauce, cheese and toppings to the crust. Thinner crusts need much less sauce and cheese to taste right and they actually cook better, have more interesting texture and are more satisfying because they're better. Most people want to load a pizza up with sauce, cheese and toppings and that's all wrong. Less is more with pizza.
Some specialty tools really help out in making pizza
- Pizza stone (and/or a cast iron pizza pan)--I like the crust better off the cast iron pan than the stone actually-crispier.
- Parchment paper-beats corn meal in every way for getting the pizza onto and off the stone. I get the pre-cut sheets rather than using the commonly available rolls. Much easier to deal with and sized right for a standard rimmed baking sheet.
- rimless baking sheet--I use this to get the pizza into the oven as most home peels are small and the pizza hangs off the edges--disaster.
- Pizza peel or LARGE spatula This is easy way to take the pizza out of the oven. The rimless baking sheet is fine if you just use a pizza stone. The cast iron pan, you can't get it out with the rimless sheet as the pizza pans rim blocks access.
- Bottled water One of the things that makes NY pizza good is they have very good water that needs very little chlorine. Bottled water does make a difference if your tap water is poor.
I use a food processor to prep the cheese and the dough. Do the cheese first and then the dough.
4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons (scant tablespoon) yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablepoons olive oil
1 3/4 cups warm water (bottled preferred)
Combine dry ingredients in the food processor. The standard metal blade is fine, but if you have a dough blade, that's fine too. Pulse to mix. Add the oil, pulse, then the water. Run the Food processor until the motor stalls briefly about the 3rd time--about 45 seconds generally. Remove and knead a few strokes to even out the dough Place in an oiled bowl and cover to rise until doubled, about an hour. Separate into 3 or 4 equal lumps, cover each and let rise about half an hour.
While the dough is rising make the sauce. Another critical aspect of pizza is the sauce. The sauce is the primary flavor ingredient in a pizza. You want tomato flavor and freshness to come through. Don't cook the pizza sauce in making it and use the best tomato product you can get. Muir Glen crushed tomatoes are the best I've found, and I can usually only find them at Whole Foods, or some higher end Kroger outlets.
Sauce:
1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes (Muir Glen preferred)
1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano, rubbed between the fingers to release the flavor
black pepper to taste, just a bit really
Combine, mix and taste. You might want to correct the tomato flavor with a bit of red wine vinegar if you feel it's a bit sweet, or a bit of sugar if you think it's sour. Let the flavors meld at least 1/2 hour.
Heat oven to 500 degrees with a pizza stone or cast iron pizza pan in the oven in the upper 2/3.
On parchment paper stretch out the dough to your desired thickness. i just use my hands and stretch it out. You might find it rebounds. If so, cover it and let it rest 5 minutes or so and it should get stretchy again. I tend to create an oval shape, not so circular. It doesn't matter. Leave a puffier edge if you like. Poke the dough all over with a fork--docking the dough. This prevents air bubbles from getting too large and messing up the pizza. You might like Sarah Moulton's pizza technique better. It's easier, but I think not quite as good.
http://saramoulton.com/weeknightmeals-season-1/episode-120-pizza/
Brush the dough with olive oil. This step is not essential, but it really helps the pizza by forming a barrier between the sauce. So the crust can cook and not absorb water from the sauce. Doesn't have to be a lot of oil either.
At this point, I often sprinkle on some dried oregano or an italian herb mix.
Spread on the sauce. I rarely use up a whole batch of sauce on these pizzas, Probably about 1/5 of the sauce is right for one pizza. Leave the edge unsauced to puff up and get a bit crusty, just like on commercial pizzas.
Top with cheese. Some notes on cheese. I like a blend of cheeses. 1 pound mozzarella, 1 chunk of real parmesan cheese, about the size of large grape and about 4 oz of a nutty white cheese. Provolone is good, but I've used swiss, and I most often use Jarlsberg because it's less expensive than the other two and what I usually have on hand. I just grind this up in the food processor before I make the dough. Then cover and refrigerate. Grind the parm first, then the others in 1 inchish chunks all together with the ground parm. I use the metal blade, not a grater as It's just going to melt together and no reason to dirty the grating disk for this.
Remember to top lightly with the cheese. I usually have a little cheese leftover too.
Top as desired, but remember not to overload the pizza
Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and has brown spots.
Remove from oven to a rack and let it rest a couple of minutes to set up. If you cut it immediately, the cheese will follow your cutter and make a mess.
I've taken to using a pizza stone in the lower third and a Camp Chef cast iron pizza pan in the upper third of the oven at the same time. I start a pizza on the bottom stone. Then prep and put the next pizza on the camp chef pan. I can get the second pizza in the oven and cooking before the first pizza is out, making a better flow for the meal, as otherwise, it can take an hour to bake all the pizzas.
There's usually a few minutes the stone or pan has to recover some heat before the next pizza has its turn as well so you get a more consistent product too.