Pizza

I’ve made a lot of pizza over the last few months. Here’s my current process and what I’ve learned so far:

Prep

Note: You’ll need to prepare each of the parts in this section (without baking the crust) before proceeding to the “Putting It All Together” section.

Sauce

This is my favorite sauce: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17319/exquisite-pizza-sauce/

It has a rich flavor (with a bit of spiciness) and it doesn’t require heating for hours on the stove.

I’ve been leaving out the anchovy paste and I think it’s best prepared in a small Tupperware container to allow mixing the ingredients by sealing and shaking.

Crust

Since your home oven probably doesn’t go to the 400 - 550°C / 750 - 1020℉ required for Neapolitan pizza, we’ll be making a New York-style pizza.

It’s important to pick a recipe that matches your type of flour, because the amount of water required is different for each type of flour. I think these are the best New York-style pizza recipes for each type of flour:

• Bread flour or all-purpose flour: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20171/quick-and-easy-pizza-crust/
• 00 flour: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016230-robertas-pizza-dough

Tips:

• Both recipes are great, but I think the 00 flour recipe tastes more similar to restaurant pizza.
• I prefer fluffier crust and have never regretted giving the dough a few hours to rise. You’ll need to cover it while it rises or it will dry out.
• Spread the dough into a cast iron pan while rising to allow for more even cooking later.
• Use a scale to measure the ingredients. A little bit of extra water and/or flour can make a big difference when it comes to the consistency of your dough.
• Both of the recipes above make two pizzas that are a little more than enough to feed one person. You can pinch the dough in half and save half in the refrigerator for another day.
• Add the oil after mixing the flour and water to allow the flour to absorb its maximum amount of water. This also makes the dough less sticky and easier to handle.
• You can mince garlic and put it on the edges of the crust to improve flavor.

Cheese

I think fresh grated low-moisture mozzarella melts the best and tastes the most similar to restaurant pizza. Fresh mozzarella also works, but it makes more of a mess when it melts.

Tips:

• It’s probably a good idea to grate the cheese into a container that’s in your sink to avoid a mess.
• If you have it, you can improve the flavor by using a hand crank grinder to grind 1-2 tbsp of a stinkier cheese (like Parmesan) on top of your Mozzarella.
• I’ve regretted going heavy on the cheese, so I’d recommend just enough cheese to cover the sauce.
• Sprinkling onion powder and garlic powder on the cheese improves flavor.

Toppings

You can’t go wrong with pepperoni. If you’re using sausage, you’ll probably want to cook it first.

Putting It All Together