I keep getting compliments and requests on my pizza lately.
I've told my friends that I'll publish the recipe and ingredients so here we go...
I've been using a pizza recipe from a really old book I've had for many years: "The complete book of pizza."
I started cooking again recently and we've really tweaked it to where we like it. Here's the recipe for two 12" pizzas:
BASIC PIZZA DOUGH
4-1/2 cups sifted flour. The recipe says unbleached all-purpose white flour but I use Caputo '00' Pizza flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 pkgs dry yeast (I use 4-1/2 tsp of yeast)
1-1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp light brown sugar
Measure 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees) in a measuring cup and stir in 2 tsp. of light brown sugar.
- Make sure the water it not hot or it will kill the yeast
Add the yeast and stir. Set it aside for at least 5-minutes.
While the yeast is rising, put 4-cups of flour in a large mixing bowl with the salt.
Make a depression in the flour and add 3 tbsp of olive oil and 1 cup of warm water.
When the yeast has risen for 5-minutes, add it to the flour.
Dust the surface where you will knead the dough with flour.
Mix all of the ingredients in the bowl with your hands and gather them together and place on the floured surface.
Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.
If the mixture is too wet or sticky, add more flour to your surface. The dough should be a little sticky.
Keep kneading until you have a cohesive ball.
Put the flour in clean bowl.
Pour some olive oil on the flour and rub it all over the flour and on the inside of the bowl.
Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it rise for at least 1-1/2 hours.
TOMATO SAUCE FOR PIZZA
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
5 cups (two 28-oz cans) Italian whole plum tomatoes drained
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried tarragon
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. brown sugar
6 oz (small can) tomato paste
pepper
Heat the olive oil in a pot. When the oil is hot, add the chopped onions and garlic.
Cook on a medium heat until the onions are transparent.
Add the tomatoes. Chop them up with a spoon in the pot
Rub the dried herbs between your hands and put them in the sauce.
Add the salt, sugar, tomato paste and a few grindings of black pepper.
Stir all of the ingredients together and simmer gently for 40-minutes.
Regulate the flame so it does not boil!
If you want a smooth sauce, you can use a stick blender but we like the chunks of tomato in our sauce.
We let the sauce cool before putting it on the pizza.
ASSEMBLING THE PIZZA
Divide the dough into two equal balls.
Flatten the ball with your hand. I use a rolling pin to flatten it evenly and get it really thin. Maybe some day I'll master throwing the dough but I'm not there yet.
Make the dough larger than your pizza peel
Put some cornmeal on the pizza peel so it will come off easily.
Put the dough on the pizza peel and roll up the edges to form a rim to hold in the sauce and ingredients.
Brush the top of the dough with olive oil before putting the sauce on. This helps prevent sogginess.
We use baking steel at the top of our oven.
We pre-heat the oven to 500 degree for 45-minutes to an hour.
Our pizzas take about about 9 to 10 minutes to cook. Start checking on them after six minutes. I like to take it out and turn it as ovens usually don't evenly heat.
NOTE: We live at 6867 feet above sea level and haven't adjusted anything for our higher elevation.
That's it!
TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS
These are the tools and ingredients I am using.
TOOLS
Baking Steel - The Original Ultra Conductive Pizza Stone (14"x16"x1/4")
- I was going to get a baking stone, but I read awesome reviews of baking steel.
- I couldn't be happier with the baking steel. Every single pizza has had amazing crust. Nice and crunchy on the outside/bottom and soft on the inside.
Epicurean Pizza Peel, 21.5-Inch by 14-Inch, Natural
OXO Good Grips Multi-purpose Stainless Steel Scraper & Chopper
INGREDIENTS
Antimo Caputo 00 Pizzeria Flour 10 lbs
- We store this in oxo containers
- It is a lot of flour but we use 4-1/2 cups each time we make pizzas.
Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch
- We store this in an oxo container
Carmelina San Marzano Italian Whole Peeled Tomatoes in Puree, 28 ounce (Pack of 6)
Oregano Leaves | 5 oz - 142 g Reseable Bag, Bulk
- We store this in an oxo container
Great Bazaar Swad Fennel Seeds, 7 Ounce
- We store these in an oxo container
Casablanca Market Preserved Lemons, 26 Oz (Pack of 2)
- These are amazing on pizza!!
Tutto Calabria Crushed Calabrian Peppers, 10 OZ
- Very hot but lots of flavor. You don't need much on your pizza.
Partanna Premium Select Castelvetrano Whole Olives - 5.5 lbs
- I take my knife sideways and crush the olives. The pit comes out easily then. We like chunky pieces of olives on our pizzas.
- The best olives we've ever had. We store these in a big oxo container.
- We are careful to take olives out with a spoon so we don't contaminate the brine.
- It is a LOT of olives. If it's too many for you, consider splitting it with a few friends.
We tried chorizo on a pizza but it made it a bit heavy for us.
We use a combination of mozzarella, asiago, romano and parmesan cheese (50% is mozzarella)
Let me know if you have any additions, corrections or suggestions. I'm always looking for ways to improve the pizza.
NOTE: Links to Amazon.com generally are affiliate links which help support running the web site. Thanks in advance for using them!
I've told my friends that I'll publish the recipe and ingredients so here we go...
I've been using a pizza recipe from a really old book I've had for many years: "The complete book of pizza."
I started cooking again recently and we've really tweaked it to where we like it. Here's the recipe for two 12" pizzas:
BASIC PIZZA DOUGH
4-1/2 cups sifted flour. The recipe says unbleached all-purpose white flour but I use Caputo '00' Pizza flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
2 pkgs dry yeast (I use 4-1/2 tsp of yeast)
1-1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp light brown sugar
Measure 1/2 cup warm water (about 110 degrees) in a measuring cup and stir in 2 tsp. of light brown sugar.
- Make sure the water it not hot or it will kill the yeast
Add the yeast and stir. Set it aside for at least 5-minutes.
While the yeast is rising, put 4-cups of flour in a large mixing bowl with the salt.
Make a depression in the flour and add 3 tbsp of olive oil and 1 cup of warm water.
When the yeast has risen for 5-minutes, add it to the flour.
Dust the surface where you will knead the dough with flour.
Mix all of the ingredients in the bowl with your hands and gather them together and place on the floured surface.
Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes.
If the mixture is too wet or sticky, add more flour to your surface. The dough should be a little sticky.
Keep kneading until you have a cohesive ball.
Put the flour in clean bowl.
Pour some olive oil on the flour and rub it all over the flour and on the inside of the bowl.
Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it rise for at least 1-1/2 hours.
TOMATO SAUCE FOR PIZZA
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
5 cups (two 28-oz cans) Italian whole plum tomatoes drained
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried tarragon
2 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. brown sugar
6 oz (small can) tomato paste
pepper
Heat the olive oil in a pot. When the oil is hot, add the chopped onions and garlic.
Cook on a medium heat until the onions are transparent.
Add the tomatoes. Chop them up with a spoon in the pot
Rub the dried herbs between your hands and put them in the sauce.
Add the salt, sugar, tomato paste and a few grindings of black pepper.
Stir all of the ingredients together and simmer gently for 40-minutes.
Regulate the flame so it does not boil!
If you want a smooth sauce, you can use a stick blender but we like the chunks of tomato in our sauce.
We let the sauce cool before putting it on the pizza.
ASSEMBLING THE PIZZA
Divide the dough into two equal balls.
Flatten the ball with your hand. I use a rolling pin to flatten it evenly and get it really thin. Maybe some day I'll master throwing the dough but I'm not there yet.
Make the dough larger than your pizza peel
Put some cornmeal on the pizza peel so it will come off easily.
Put the dough on the pizza peel and roll up the edges to form a rim to hold in the sauce and ingredients.
Brush the top of the dough with olive oil before putting the sauce on. This helps prevent sogginess.
We use baking steel at the top of our oven.
We pre-heat the oven to 500 degree for 45-minutes to an hour.
Our pizzas take about about 9 to 10 minutes to cook. Start checking on them after six minutes. I like to take it out and turn it as ovens usually don't evenly heat.
NOTE: We live at 6867 feet above sea level and haven't adjusted anything for our higher elevation.
That's it!
TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS
These are the tools and ingredients I am using.
TOOLS
Baking Steel - The Original Ultra Conductive Pizza Stone (14"x16"x1/4")
- I was going to get a baking stone, but I read awesome reviews of baking steel.
- I couldn't be happier with the baking steel. Every single pizza has had amazing crust. Nice and crunchy on the outside/bottom and soft on the inside.
Epicurean Pizza Peel, 21.5-Inch by 14-Inch, Natural
OXO Good Grips Multi-purpose Stainless Steel Scraper & Chopper
INGREDIENTS
Antimo Caputo 00 Pizzeria Flour 10 lbs
- We store this in oxo containers
- It is a lot of flour but we use 4-1/2 cups each time we make pizzas.
Saf Instant Yeast, 1 Pound Pouch
- We store this in an oxo container
Carmelina San Marzano Italian Whole Peeled Tomatoes in Puree, 28 ounce (Pack of 6)
Oregano Leaves | 5 oz - 142 g Reseable Bag, Bulk
- We store this in an oxo container
Great Bazaar Swad Fennel Seeds, 7 Ounce
- We store these in an oxo container
Casablanca Market Preserved Lemons, 26 Oz (Pack of 2)
- These are amazing on pizza!!
Tutto Calabria Crushed Calabrian Peppers, 10 OZ
- Very hot but lots of flavor. You don't need much on your pizza.
Partanna Premium Select Castelvetrano Whole Olives - 5.5 lbs
- I take my knife sideways and crush the olives. The pit comes out easily then. We like chunky pieces of olives on our pizzas.
- The best olives we've ever had. We store these in a big oxo container.
- We are careful to take olives out with a spoon so we don't contaminate the brine.
- It is a LOT of olives. If it's too many for you, consider splitting it with a few friends.
We tried chorizo on a pizza but it made it a bit heavy for us.
We use a combination of mozzarella, asiago, romano and parmesan cheese (50% is mozzarella)
Let me know if you have any additions, corrections or suggestions. I'm always looking for ways to improve the pizza.
NOTE: Links to Amazon.com generally are affiliate links which help support running the web site. Thanks in advance for using them!
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