Is it apple? Or blueberry? Or perhaps banana cream? Or
Boston cream? Or custard? It’s actually none of the above. Depending on whose
poll you read, America’s pie isn’t even sweet. It’s that savory pie that’s also
known as pizza. You know, when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie… And
Americans do their fair share of takeout and delivery of the humble pie. But
you know what? It’s very easy to also create your own including starting from
scratch!
A little over a year ago, a friend gave us a sourdough
starter that she had been nurturing for several years. Nurture as in remove
about half of the starter every 2 to 4 weeks replaced with a fresh batch of
flour and water, let sit at room temperature until the new mass has doubled in
size then place back in the refrigerator for the next 2 to 4 weeks of
“hibernation”. Of course you don’t discard the cup of starter that you’ve
removed. You simply use it as a base for sourdough pancakes or sourdough
biscuits or sourdough bread or my usual sourdough pizza dough. I simply mix a
cup of starter with 2 & ½ cups of all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of sea
salt. I then add one packet of yeast activated in a half cup of warm water with
a teaspoon of sugar and when the liquid starts foaming, that’s the sign that
the yeast is ready to do their work so I mix everything together and knead the
dough until the dry is totally incorporated then let it sit for 2 to 3 hours to
rise. After one rising, the dough is now ready to be stretched for a perfect
sourdough pizza crust.
If you want to take that extra step in creating your own
sourdough starter, go ahead by all means. It’s “simply” accomplished by mixing
1 cup of whole grain flour with ½ cup of filtered (unchlorinated) water and let
it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Over the next week, you’ll remove half
of the mixture adding another fresh batch of flour and water. I say “simply”
because I have failed on multiple occasions simply propagating a batch of white
or black bearded “creatures” in my mixture. My belief is that since Kaneohe has
so much ambient moisture in the air and house temperatures can reach into the
90s, ANY organism floating in the air attacks my juvenile starter out
multiplying friendly yeast and lactic acid producing bacteria… i.e. those “bearded”
organisms…
No sourdough starter or the same luck as me creating your
own? All you need is 3 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of sea salt, 1
packet of yeast, about 1 cup of warm water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to
make your own regular pizza. Simply activate the yeast in warm water with a
little sugar then knead everything once the yeast and water start foaming. After
a 2 to 3 hour rise, your basic pizza dough just needs to be stretched, topped
and baked.
What if you’re all
thumbs when it comes to bread making?
The Safeway’s and Whole Foods in the 50th sell
packaged raw pizza dough that you simply have to stretch, top and bake so I’m
pretty sure you can find pre-made pizza dough in your neck of the woods. Both
establishments also carry whole wheat pizza dough if you’re creating your own
for a healthier option and I have personally used both products. The Safeway
product is a little sweeter and rises like no one’s business so make sure you
“dock’ the dough after stretching or you might end up with the Hindenburg
pizza. The Whole Foods product has a traditional pizza dough flavor and creates
rustic looking crust and often goes on sale for $0.99 which is half the price
of the Safeway dough. And if Safeway or Whole Foods aren’t viable options for
you, simply visit your neighborhood pizza shop. I’m sure they’d be more than
happy to sell you pizza dough.
Your dough is
rolled, what next?
The first thing you should have done even before rolling
your dough is preheating your oven. I usually set my oven to 450 degrees for
any pizza. After all, the professionals with their wood fired, brick ovens have
surfaces that range from 600 to 800 degrees with the dome coming in at close to
1000 degrees! 450 does seem a little wimpy now, doesn’t it? For a little added
authenticity, I also place pizza bricks on the bottom rack of my oven as the
bricks hold the heat better than any pizza pan.
The next thing I do after rolling out my pizza dough is
to “dock’ the interior surface. Dock? It’s basically piercing the dough with a
fork or docking device to allow gases to be released from the dough as it bakes
so you don’t end up with large “bubbles” of baked dough throughout your pizza
surface.
Next up, the primary flavor base of the pizza. It could
simply be the traditional red pizza sauce but the main mission here is to give
your pie its underlying flavor with each bite. I’ve used barbecue sauce in
place of the red sauce especially when using toppings associated with BBQ like
smoked proteins. I’ve also created “sauces” to match the theme of the pizza
like a clam chowder sauce for a pizza topped with diced potatoes, celery and
clams or a Thai inspired curry “sauce” using thickened light coconut milk
flavored with lemongrass, Thai curry paste and kefir lime leaves topped with
chicken and eggplant. The main goal with these non-traditional “sauces” is to
thicken the sauce to the consistency of a paste so it doesn’t simply roll off
of the crust during baking.
After all, sauces and toppings are limited only by your
own imagination as CPK has made a lucrative business out of non-traditional
pizza pie!
Play like the big
boys!
So you’ve decided that you want to be the next Tony
Gemignani… Where do you start? At the very least, I recommend purchasing pizza
tiles for your oven. They’re available as individual tiles that you can
configure to your own oven or they’re available as single slabs for a more
authentic brick oven feel. I personally feel that the tiles provide a hotter
surface than any pizza pan to create that ideal crisp crust. And they don’t
cost a king’s ransom…
…Of course, if you do have a little extra dough (pun
intended) lying around, there are pizza specific cooking devices that won’t
sacrifice Jr’s college tuition. Pizzacraft makes an outdoor pizza oven that connects
to a liquid propane tank that can reach 700 degrees in just 10 to 15 minutes!
Try getting your kitchen Whirlpool to hit 700 degrees. You’d either set your
kitchen on fire or more likely, burn out your oven. And these Pizzacraft
devices are already equipped with baking stones. If you’re a little leery of
the possible dangers of liquid propane, KettlePizza makes an attachment that
you place on your Weber 18.5 inch or 22.5 inch kettle grill that turns the
kettle grill into a pizza oven and it also includes a pizza stone for that
ideal crisp crust…
…Of course if Jr only decides on a small community
college, the next step up would be an authentic wood fired oven. Almost like
the authentic wood fired brick ovens from Naples so you can create your own
pizza Margherita. But who sells these pizza ovens? Your friendly neighborhood
Costco of course! Just go to their website and click the Patio & Outdoor
then Grills & Accessories then Outdoor Ovens links. Five wood fired ovens
ranging in price from $1699.99 up to $4999.99. Who said everyone needs a four
year college degree?...
…And if Jr decides that college isn’t necessary or if at
least 5 out of 6 numbers match your Mega Millions ticket, then you deserve a
Ferrara pizza oven. Looking almost like a tiled covered igloo, these babies
start at the cost of a well-equipped Camry all the way up to a nice Lexus. But
if money were no object…
Comments