Tuesday Dinners

Step by Step Directions

Sauce

Start by chopping/shredding/grating your garlic. Some people like chunks of garlic, others like the taste but not in chunk form.

Personally, I like to add some crushed red pepper flakes to the sauce to give it a little kick, but if that’s not your cup of tea then no big deal.

Throw all your ingredients together in a bowl. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons, but I’ve also seen the olive oil measured in “glugs” out of whatever container you have, so 2 tablespoons or 2 “glugs”.

Mix it all together, and then throw it in the fridge for at least three hours.

I don’t know why three. The recipe I had used when I first made this said to for three so that’s what I wrote down and that’s what I do. Really it’s good to go immediately if you want.

Pizza Dough

Warm up your water (I typically do a minute in the microwave for the 2 cups of water, and then just throw the other half on top). Add your sugar and then your yeast and let sit for 10-15 minutes, you should see bubbles starting to form in the water.

Add your vegetable oil, your salt and your flour.

People get really into what type of flour to use, you’ve probably heard someone say to use bread flour. Or double zero flour. You can. And you can probably taste a difference in the crust. But, does that mean that this recipe doesn’t work with all purpose? Heck no. You’re a person who wants pizza, and this recipe is going to get you a pizza. It’ll taste good, you’ll enjoy eating it, and if you’re worried about what type of flour to use then there’s probably an artisanal pizza place somewhere near by.

Mix the dough together. You want to get it to a place where all he water has become a part of your dough ball, it should still be sticky, but it should be in one piece.

Once that happens take it out of your bowl and put it out onto your counter

Knead the dough. You can use whatever methodology you want, I’m a fan of using this time to get some aggression out so I prefer the “put your full weight on it and move it under your hands” method.

If the dough is sticking too much to your hands add some more flour. You want the dough to be sticky to the touch, but not like glue. More like when someone doesn’t do a very good job of cleaning juice off the counter.

Once you’ve reached your sticky, but mostly sticking to itself consistency then throw it in a greased/oil/floured bowl.

You can either cover the bowl with a dish towel or use plastic wrap but it should rest for at least an hour in the kitchen or overnight in the fridge.

After your dough has rested take it out and split it into three pieces. This is usually the time where I would preheat my oven. Higher temperatures are supposed to be “better” for pizza, but really it’s personal preference for you. I like 425 degrees it makes the dough crispy, doesn’t melt the cheese and gives me time to say “looks like it needs one more minute”.

Shape your dough. I can’t do the fancy throw it up in the air, catch it and then repeat to get a perfect circle, but I can make the dough a rectangle, so that’s my preferred method.

If you don’t want to roll out your dough a good method of stretching it is to just hold it up and let gravity work, then turn it like a steering wheel until you get the shape you want.

If you’re using a cooking tray then add a little bit of olive oil to the underside of the tray, this will prevent it from sticking and make the crust just a little crispier.

Add whatever toppings you want. For this recipe I just used the sauce from earlier and then added some cheese on top. I’ve found that you need less toppings than you think to make the pizza taste good, you should be able to see some sauce under the cheese and it will still melt and cover it up. But, it’s your pizza, so if you want the pizza to be 10% crust, 10% sauce and 80% cheese then I can’t stop you.

Throw it in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. You know how you like your pizza, so if you want it crispier then leave it in just a little longer, if you want the cheese almost brown you can do that too. It’s a personal pizza, so do what you want.

Enjoy.

Variations

• It’s pizza, do whatever you want
• Make a rectangle, make a circle, make an octagon
• Use a pizza stone
• Use different kinds of cheese
• Use whatever toppings you want
• Add more sauce, less sauce
• Make it thin and crispy, let it rise

Unsolicited Feedback

• PL: I wanted pineapple on mine.
• PH: Thank you for not being a heathen and putting pineapple on it.
• UP: I think your hydration was off by 2%, you didn’t use 00 flour, and why would you ever dream of not using San Marzano tomatoes?