Pizza Tips

I don't claim to be an expert at pizza. Far from it. But I have found some recipes/methods that have helped me and I thought I'd pass them along.

DOUGH

I finally found a dough recipe that is not only stupid simple, but you can make it around 10 or 11 AM and bake pizza for dinner that evening! Even I can plan ahead that much! Usually. The recipe is no secret, in fact, has been out there for quite some time. Every time I saw it mentioned, I thought, nope, tried that, didn't care for it. Well, either I did something wrong when I tried it - or I never tried it. Love the dough, Jim Lahey's No Knead. It can be found on many different blogs, from Food52 to Bon Appetit to SeriousEats to HandletheHeat and more I'm sure.

Blend the dry ingredients (flour, yeast and salt) with a whisk, then add water. Mix by hand in a mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap, put it in a warm place and come back in about 8 hours. Divide it into 2 or 3 pieces, form into dough balls and place into proofing trays in the fridge if you're not using right away. If you're using them all that evening, form the dough balls, cover for 30 minutes or so (so the balls can take shape) and have at it.

SAUCE

It doesn't get any easier than this. The only catch is, I used a food mill and some folks may not have one. What it does is take whole canned tomatoes and turn them into purée while removing the seeds and the stem ends leaving a smooth purée with none of the bitterness. And it doesn't turn the tomatoes orange, which seems to happen with food processors for some reason. I guess you could do this (sorta) with a food processor and a fine mesh strainer, but I prefer the mill. Or, you could just buy canned purée I suppose.

Anyway, once you have the purée and have opened your dough, ladle the purée onto the dough (don't go overboard, remember, less is more), sprinkle it with a pinch of salt, a few grinds of pepper from a mill, a dusting of dried oregano and another of garlic powder. Et voilà, your sauce is done, no cooking, no stirring. Top as desired and bake. Don't forget the drizzle of evoo right before it goes into the oven.

BAKING

I've been using my oven for the last several years. Used to use the egg, but see no advantage. Anyway, I have a 1/4" steel plate that lives in my oven, center rack. I turn on the oven, set to 550° and let it come up to temp (check steel with IR thermo). Once there, change to broil a couple of minutes before launching the pizza. After the broiler heats up a bit, in goes the pie. (My oven is a freak of nature and will go to 725°F if I want. I've done that a number of times and the results are good. But not really much better than with the steel and broiler at 550°.)

Even at 550°, my pies take only about 3 minutes. I have an 8" round aluminum turning peel so I rotate the pie once or twice because my oven has a hot spot toward the back (just like my egg). I sometimes use that to remove the pizza from the oven too. More often, my old faithful wooden peel from 20 years ago.

Here are a few pics of my last pie using this recipe. A simple pepperoni and onion pie. I know how you guys LOVE your pics!