Homemade Pizza

March 3, 2022

I have done pizza experiment with self-rising flour vs AP flour, rising condition (in fridge overnight vs room temp overnight) before, and recently made super quick pizza again through team’s virtual offsite, a pizza cook-off event. Surprisingly, even pizza dough only rests for 10mins before rolling out, the crust still tastes VERY DELICIOUS. Also, even doing a pizza cook-off is not the most stress-relieving event, it’s good learning of new recipe! In my cook-off, I was under time pressure to finish from making a dough to done baking and show off in front of camera within 1 HOUR, I rolled the dough too large, didn’t have a pizza stone, didn’t seal the cheese for stuffed crust with water or tight enough, they ended up dripping down the crust as pizza expand out of the reverse baking pan (which is why I said pizza stone and paddle are great investment if you plan to make more pizza!), oven was filled with smoke quickly, and my fire alarm went off even more quickly, 5 times.

I was ultra-stressed and couldn’t wait to get off the call… After that disastrous cook-off, even though pizza turns out delicious, I got a pizza stone right away and made pizza again. This time, I am NOT under time-pressure to finish the process in 1hr, I have a large stone area to work with, it is finally a “healing” cooking process and the pizza turns out great.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

PIZZA STONE and PADDLE are worth the investment! well-heated, large enough, easy to use.
do not roll the dough too large, larger than pizza stone or baking pan; otherwise ingredients could drop to the bottom of oven, lead to smoke and eventually fire alarm..
if making stuffed crust, use water as glue to press dough edge down on dough tightly to seal the cheese in!
place prosciutto and basils after baking, use the remaining heat of pizza to cook them

RECIPE

(1 pizza)

1 3/4 cup of AP flour
7g instant / pizza yeast (same thing)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup lukewarm water (60-70C, 120-130F) to activate yeast
3tbsp olive oil
toppings of choice!
- tomato sauce
- mozzarella cheese
- basil
- shallot/onion
- prosciutto
- sausage, etc.

STEP 1: combine dry ingredients: 1 3/4 cup AP flour, 7g yeast, 1 1/2 tsp sugar, 3/4 tsp salt and mix well

STEP 2: add in wet ingredients: 3tbsp olive oil, 2/3 cup lukewarm water, mix and form dough. Knead for 4mins / till smooth; add either water or flour if needed. Dough should not be sticky.

STEP 3: wrap dough in plastic wrap, rest for 10mins. Pre-heat oven with pizza stone at 500F.

if no pizza stone, put baking pan upside down as “pizza stone” so it heats up with the oven, retain heat and cook pizza especially the bottom quickly

STEP 4: prepare, cut toppings as needed. If wants to make stuffed pizza crust, cut mozzarella into sticks

STEP 5: on parchment paper, roll out pizza dough; slightly bigger if making stuffed crust. Can use palm to press the down, use hand to stretch it first and use rolling pin if needed to shape better.

make sure the dough size is smaller than pizza stone or baking pan! if too large, cheese or ingredients might drop down, oven starts to have smoke and YES fire alarm WILL GO OFF.

STEP 6: (if want stuffed crust) place mozzarella sticks on the edge, roll the dough towards center, wrapping mozzarella stick in; to help dough seal well and not leaking mozzarella when baking, brush some water as glue to help dough edge stick the dough base better, press down slightly till “seal tightly” 😉 .

STEP 7: assemble toppings:

tomato sauce
shallots / mushrooms (onion, shallots can contain quite some moist, and the dough could get soggy when baking, try not to use too much onion / shallots)
cheese of choice
sausage
usually prosciutto and fresh leaves like basil are added AFTER baking, to use the remaining pizza heat to cook them.

STEP 8: transfer pizza onto pizza paddle or cutting board, open the oven, quickly slide pizza onto pizza stone / reverse baking pan. Watch out hand, arms, elbow and not to touch the HOT oven!

STEP 9: bake for 10-12mins, when the dough is golden and crispy, take pizza out with the help of paddle / cutting board. DO NOT TOUCH pizza stone! super hot.