Pizza Recipes
Pizza #1
For years, I made my pizza dough with corn meal as in the recipe pictured here. Have fun with it, and don’t be afraid to experiment.
Pizza #2
Ingredients
1 package dry yeast
3 tablespoon butter; softened
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water ; warm (115 degrees F)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
Instructions
To the cup of warm water add the sugar and dry yeast. Let stand 10 to 14 minutes. Add the butter, salt and flour. Stir well, turn out and knead until dough is smooth.
Cover and allow to rise in a warm place. Punch down and allow to rise again.
Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness to fit pizza pan. (I don’t bother rolling. I just press it into the pan and work it with my fingers to fit the pan.) Leave to rise again while you prepare the filling.
I like to bake the dough without any topping for about 5 minutes (400 degrees). Remove and then top with cheese, black olives, spinach, tomato sauce, mushrooms, sausage, etc. Or experiment with other toppings.
One of the best pizzas we ever made was when we topped this crust with some cooked spinach and some left-over peppers and onions (with plenty of grated Mozzarella and Mexican style Parmesan Cheese – they call it Cotija.).
Pizza #3
Or try this: We’ve tried many different topping combinations, and this is one that we did recently with GREAT results.
Forget the spinach and the meat. Cook up a big batch of the peppers and onions (drain well). Slice or chop some black olives. Saute some fresh mushrooms in butter (thinly sliced). Top the pizza crust with a good layer of grated Mozzarella cheese. Cover that with the drained peppers and onions. Top that with chopped or sliced black olives. Sprinkle with pineapple chunks. Top with a light scattering of more cheese. Bake at 400 until the crust begins to turn golden.
Pizza #4
And here’s another way of going about this. We recently tried this method of grilling the crust on the Weber. We used veggies instead of chicken, and skipped on the BBQ sauce. But the smokiness of the crust was fantastic. I messed up by making my crusts too large (hard to handle with spatulas) – I should have divided my dough into fourths instead of into halves. The crusts would have been much easier to manage. But this is definitely worth exploring, my friend.
January 2, 2019:
I did this tonight, and it was a huge success. I warmed up peppers and onions as well as some mushrooms and onions. I cooked some Johnsonville Italian sausage in the oven and allowed it to cool I wilted a bag of baby spinach and set it aside as well. – I was able to stretch the dough across a large sheet pan which I’d prepared with a smearing of olive oil and a sprinkling of corn meal. I baked the crust alone for about 5-10 minutes; then topped with peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach, tomato sauce, oregano, garlic powder, sausage, Mozzarella and Cotija cheeses. I baked it in a hot oven for about 15 minutes (Until the edge of the crust started turning brown). It worked out fantastic! This one’s a keeper!
Pizza #5
Ingredients
¾ cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
Stir together the water, yeast and sugar. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until foamy.
Mix until well incorporated. Then knead for 5-10 minutes or until dough is smooth.
Transfer the dough to a greased bowl; turn the dough to coat with oil. Cover and allow to rise until doubled in size. (About 45 minutes) Punch down the dough before using.
If desired, you may prepare the dough a day in advance. Refrigerate the covered bowl overnight. When ready to use, punch down and allow to stand 30-60 minutes for a second rise.
To cook dough
1. Quarter the dough and shape into balls. Place on a lightly floured surface, cover with a kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the 9 ½” Gotham skillet over medium heat for 10 minutes (Make sure you have a lid).
3. Flatten 1 piece of dough, then stretch into a 9-inch round. Add 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil to the skillet, tilting to coat. Carefully lay the dough in the bottom of the pan and cook for 1 ½ minutes. Using a metal spatula, flip the dough, then cover and cook until the bottom is brown, about 3 minutes. Turn the dough again and, working quickly, spread ¼ cup of the tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle with ½ cup of the cheese, top with choice of toppings, then cover and cook until the cheese melts, about 1 minute longer.
4. Transfer the pizza to a cutting board let sit 5 minutes to cool. Wipe out the pan and repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Pizza #6
Yes, I admit it. I stole this directly from the Washington Post as a service to my loyal readers.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees), plus more as needed
1 small packet active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 1/2 cups flour, plus more as needed and for the work surface
10 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bowl
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
Freshly ground black pepper
Toppings (see related story)
Directions
Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl, stirring to mix well; let sit for 10 minutes to allow the top to foam and become frothy (indicating that the yeast is active). If it does not do that, discard and start again with more water, yeast and sugar.
Lightly flour a work surface; lightly grease a mixing bowl and a rimmed baking sheet with a little olive oil.
Combine the flour, salt and 2 tablespoons of the oil in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Beat on low speed for 1 minute until well incorporated, then add the water-yeast mixture in a slow, steady stream. Beat for about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until a dough forms and pulls cleanly from the sides of the bowl. Add a few tablespoons of water or flour if the dough is too dry or wet. Transfer the dough to the prepared work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding a little flour if it starts to stick, so the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
Transfer to the oiled bowl, cover with a clean, dry dish towel and let sit for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature, until the mixture almost doubles in size. Form the dough into 4 equal-size balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. (Alternatively, the dough may be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)
To roll out the dough balls, lightly flour a work surface. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and have ready additional large sheets of the paper for stacking the rounds of dough.
Shape or roll one of the balls into a thin round between 10 and 12 inches in diameter. Brush the top side with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and flip the oiled side over onto the lined baking sheet. Brush the new top side of the dough with 1 tablespoon of the oil and cover with a piece of parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining 3 doughs and the oil. They may be held at room temperature for about 1 hour in this manner (or refrigerate, tightly covered, for up to 3 hours. If the dough has been refrigerated, let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour, so it will be easier to stretch).
When ready to grill, build a two-zone fire. Heat the back 2 burners on a gas grill on HIGH and the front burners on LOW, or light a large charcoal fire and push most of the coals to one side of the grill, leaving a sparse layer of coals on the other side. When it has reached the right temperature, the hot zone of the fire should be so hot that you can hold your hand a couple of inches above the grill for only about 3 seconds (about 500 degrees, if using a surface thermometer). Clean the grill grates well and oil them lightly with a wad of paper towels.
Using both hands to hold the top of one of the dough rounds (as if your hands were at 10 and 2 on a steering wheel), gently lay the bottom part of the hanging dough on the far side of the hot zone and stretch the top toward you to the other side. Cook, without touching, for 1 minute, so the dough bubbles and starts to get good grill marks. Rotate 90 degrees and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, or until the dough is uniformly browned and crisp but has not burned.
Pull the dough to the cooler zone of the charcoal fire or to the front of the gas grill and reduce the heat on the middle zone of the gas grill to medium-low. Flip the dough over so the seared side faces up. Sprinkle toppings evenly over the pizza (remember, less is more; see related sidebar for topping suggestions).
Once the toppings are in place, cover the grill (with the vents open on a charcoal grill lid). Cook for 3 to 7 minutes, checking every minute or so to rotate the pie 90 degrees so it cooks evenly, until any cheese toppings melt. Transfer to a large cutting board to slice. Top and grill the remaining doughs in the same manner. Serve hot.
Recipe Source:
From food writer Tony Rosenfeld.