Pizza delivery is one of the great luxuries of the modern world: hot, satisfying food with no effort (other than dialing a phone). Nobody has to cook, everybody is happy. But I love pizza, I mean really love it, and so that makes me want to make it at home from time to time. As a native of Chicago, I love deep dish but as a current resident of New York, I also get into thin crust. Additionally, I spent three years feasting on the super thin crust pizza of Naples via New Haven, where pizza jumped off the boat. I love it all. This dough makes a thin and crispy crust and I promise to devote another whole post to deep dish pizza (but I'm still working on that recipe). Pizza
(makes one 12 inch pizza, can be doubled, tripled, etc.)
The sponge:
3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cups warm water
1 tablespoons olive oil
6 ounces bread flour
Combine the ingredients in a mixing bowl (I use a rigid rubber spatula), cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise to double in volume (about two hours).
The dough:
3 ounces bread flour
1 teaspoons kosher salt
Mix the flour and salt into the sponge until combined (I use my hands). The dough should make a loose, soft ball but it will be a little bit sticky. Knead the dough on a floured surface for 4-5 minutes using the heels of your hands. If it is really annoyingly sticking to your hands, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time. The sponge-dough method is a popular way to make bread but if you are pressed for time, mix all the ingredients from both sections together, allow it to rise to double in volume and then spread it into pizzas. But if you have time, the sponge method makes a bubblier, crispier crust.
Place the dough on a piece of parchment about the same size as your pizza stone and brush or smear it with oil. Cover it with oiled plastic wrap and allow it to rise again until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes. (Or, place it in a plastic bag and freeze it before this rise. When you want to use it, take it out of the bag and put it in a bowl covered in plastic wrap to defrost it. Allow it to rise until doubled in size, then proceed with the rest of the directions.)
Preheat the oven, with the pizza stone on the lowest rack, to 500°F. Using the tips of your fingers, spread the risen dough out into a circle, cover it again, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Then spread it into an even larger circle, into the final shape. (Or this is where you could perform your dough tossing routine, but I can't be bothered with such theatrics.) About 30 minutes should elapse from when the dough is stretched the final time to when it goes in the oven (which will allow it to rise a bit again). Decorate the pizza during this time (see unbaked pizza, right). Bake for about nine minutes, or until the the cheese is melted and the crust is puffed and golden.A note about toppings: If you're using fresh tomato slices instead of sauce, salt them for 30 minutes ahead of time and press out the water. If you are using marinara sauce, thicken it with tomato paste. Fresh mozzarella works beautifully but can also be wet, so pat the slices dry with a paper towel. Fresh herbs like basil leaves will burn in the hot oven, so tuck them under a bit of cheese and they'll stay protected. Also, I do not pre-cook my sausage chunks nor do I make them very big. I typically layer the pizza in this way: sauce or tomatoes (or just olive oil) then leafy herbs and cheese then toppings then a sprinkle of salt, parmigiano-reggiano, red pepper flakes, rosemary, whatever. When placed on top, the high oven heat hits the toppings and cooks them through.
Why use a pizza stone? Commercial pizza ovens are between 800 and 1000 degrees, way hotter than a home oven ever gets. A pizza stone is a cooking surface, not just the air, so it is a hotter surface upon which to bake the pizza to achieve a crispy crust. You can pick one up for around ten bucks if you're a careful shopper and it also reheats pizza beautifully.
