Homemade Pizza

1 lb of bread flour

1 tbsp kosher salt

4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp active dry yeast (ADY)

1.5 cups water

Reference: http://www.recipepizza.com/doughs/sicilian_thick_crust.htm

1. Mix together 1/2 cup of warm water (105° F), with the 4 tbsp of ADY, and 2 oz. of flour. Cover and set aside.
2. Mix 10 oz. of flour, 1 tbsp of kosher salt, 1 cup of water, and 4 tbsp of olive oil.
3. Add the mixture from step 1 and mix for 5 minutes
4. Add the remaining 4 oz. of flour
5. Knead the dough by hand or via a machine until the dough appears smooth.
6. Lightly oil the dough and store in the fridge

I am pretty new to dough so my observations lack a baseline, however, the dough appears to come out pretty wet and might be over hydrated. I came across Jeff Varasano's site at http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm which goes into great detail about dough. I recommend reading his site first if you are serious about making pizza.

1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes

7 Roma tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

6 fresh basil leaves

salt

pepper

1. Add enough water to a large pan to submerse tomatoes and bring to a boil
2. To prepare the tomatoes, use a paring knife to remove stems and X the bottom of each tomato
3. Once the water boils, drop tomatoes in for a minute
4. Remove the tomatoes and once cool, remove skins
5. Add oil to a medium sized sauce pan and heat on medium-low
6. Chop garlic and add to the oil
7. Add the 28oz can of whole peeled and the 7 diced tomatoes
8. Chop the fresh basil and add with salt and pepper to taste
9. Cook on low heat (my simmer is too low) for 6 to 8 hours
10. When done, allow the sauce to cool and then blend to remove large chunks. I use a hand immersion blender which works perfectly. A food processor or blender would work equally well.
11. Put the sauce in a mesh strainer to remove any excess water

I love the taste of fresh Roma tomatoes and feel the sauce came out tasting exactly as I intended it. The sauce will have a little more water content then you may want for pizza though so ensure you strain it out.

1 hot Italian sausage

12-14 pepperoni slices

4 thick slices of bacon

3/4 green pepper

handful of cremini mushrooms

1/2 lb of whole milk mozzarella

1. Remove the dough from the fridge and punch down the dough.
2. For 14" thin crust pizza, split dough into 11 oz. balls and allow to rise for 2 hours
3. While waiting for the dough to rise, cook the sausage and bacon in a separate pans
4. Once cooked, remove the sausage and bacon from the pans and allow to cool.
5. Split the sausage and remove the meat from the casing
6. Cut the bacon into bite sized pieces
7. Refrigerate the meat until you are ready to create the pizza
8. Either slice or shred the mozzarella and put aside
9. Slice onions, mushrooms, and peppers to whatever thickness you prefer
10. After at least 2 hours, punch down the center of the dough, allowing about a 1/2 inch rim.
11. Heavily flour your working surface and sprinkle the dough with flour so it is not tacky to touch
12. Slowly stretch the dough using your favorite method onto a floured peel or lightly oiled pan
13. Remove the sauce from the fridge and again drain the water using a mesh strainer
14. Sauce the pizza, the sauce should just cover the dough, it does not need to be thick
15. Add the mozzarella then distribute the other toppings evenly
16. Cook the pizza at 450° F until the bottom of the pizza is medium to dark brown

I had a few problems, mainly with the pizza dough. When I was stretching the dough, it tore some. I patched the dough but attempting to transfer it to a stone in the Big Green Egg, the dough stuck to the peel as I didn't flour it enough and apparently it tore a bit more. The pizza cooked for roughly 20 minutes at 425° F. Once done, I tried to use the peel to pull the pizza back off the Big Green Egg which took some effort and caused the toppings to slide some. However, even with the problems, the pizza tasted great. The sauce provided a real fresh tomato flavor which I enjoyed and the sausage I used was made by Isaac and I a number of weeks ago and was excellent with the other toppings. I also love cooking on the Big Green Egg, for pizza, it really gives it the wood fired taste.

olive oil

1.5 chicken breasts

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup white wine

1/2 lb of whole milk mozzarella

spinach

salt

pepper

1. Cube the chicken breast and season with salt and pepper
2. Add oil to a pan and heat at medium-high temperature
3. Once hot, add the garlic and cubed chicken
4. Stir the chicken until browned
5. Add white wine
6. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and refrigerate
7. Either slice or shred the mozzarella and put aside
8. After at least 2 hours, punch down the center of the dough, allowing about a 1/2 inch rim.
9. Heavily flour your working surface and sprinkle the dough with flour so it is not tacky to touch
10. Slowly stretch the dough using your favorite method onto a floured peel or lightly oiled pan
11. Oil the dough using the olive oil and brush
12. Add the mozzarella then distribute the other toppings evenly
13. Cook the pizza at 450° F until the bottom of the pizza is medium to dark brown
14. Once done, add the spinach

I was much more careful with this pizza and managed not to rip the dough. The pizza was good but would have been better with basil instead of spinach and I would have enjoyed more garlic.

Isaac will have to fill is in on the details of his creations, but below are a few pictures of his creation. The Chicago-style stuffed was great. I couldn't imagine eating more then one of these slices though, they are gigantic. The Pizza Margherita was right up my alley with the minimalist approach. You could clearly taste each component and the additional sea salt.

The amount of preparation for making pizza with fresh ingredients and homemade component is more effort then I had anticipated. I think in the future I will try and have some sauce already on-hand and better streamline the pizza making process. I plan on making pizza once a month and look forward to involving the rest of the family more.

I also plan on trying some cold sauce approaches. I didn't experience any issues with tomatoes burning from being cooked twice but if the sauce can taste as good if not better made cold, then there is no reason to initially cook everything down. I also believe my dough mixing and kneading could also use some help and plan to give Jeff Varasano's site a good read. There are also a number of individuals over at http://www.pizzamaking.com who have done a lot of experimenting with home equipment and have a lot of good experience and information.