Perfecting Pizza

*Recipe in following post* 

This post has been a long time in the making. 

Growing up my mom always made homemade pizza. All the way home made, the crust and sauce, and for some time even the cheese; but my siblings and I can all attest that making the switch back to store bought mozzarella, and away from homemade goat milk mozzarella was the right one. 

So that was my example and in the later years of living in my parents home pizza night was often run by me as my mom was running around getting my siblings to sport events. I know how to do pizza, and I know how to do it right.

Once it was just Wesley and I though, making pizza from scratch just wasn’t worth the work, for some reason cranking out 3 or 4 is better than going through the effort for just one. So, we found ourselves ordering Casey’s or Papa John’s if we wanted pizza, or going to one of our parents house on a Friday night and getting the real deal. 

About a year ago I realized I miss making pizza (probably because living away from our families has meant I didn’t even get the chance to help bulk produce them regularly on the weekends), I wasn’t very happy with using up our eat out budget on something I could make, and over all, I had really quit making pizza because Papa John’s crust was better than mine; this led me to the realization I just needed to find (or create) the right recipe and we’d be in business again. 

First I started using the ‘Master’ cheater sour dough some of my sisters had worked with off and on over our years together. It was okay but way to high maintenance for what I was looking for. Next I tried my family’s traditional ‘No Rise Crust’ the one I’d already been using but decided to let it rise. Still not what I wanted, it was just bread-y, tough, crust. 

Finally I decided to do some research, which places had I been too and liked crusts? What did I like about them? That’s when I discovered Wesley and my preference is different. To me Papa Johns is honestly perfect, bubbly, chewy, crisp enough and the right thickness. To Wesley, fancy Neapolitan Pizza places have it right, thin, chewy, but burnt to a crispy self serving plate on the bottom. I set out to find a compromise, we both liked chewy so I started with that and dug into research. 

Both Wesley and my preferences are of a sour dough style, so I started there, knowing something with a decent rise and rest time would be a good compromise. We like the texture Sour Dough’s offer because the flour gets more broken down and ‘digested’ giving it the chewier feel and with the longer “life” the dough naturally will be more airy. 

Pizza Crusts:

This is going to be an abbreviated version of some things I read and learned. 

1) When making loaf breads it’s fine to, and good even, to knead and knead them to death, and even some pizza doughs, but if you’re trying to mimic a sour dough you either go no mix or very gentle - minimal mixing. The tough dough I was used to producing was a result of dumping the majority of my flour in and leaving the mixer on high to “do its job” but ultimately over working the dough, followed up by only a 10 minute rest period gave it no time to recover. The favored way is to either mix the dry ingredients and slowly add the oil and water, mixing on slow until it’s all incorporated and stretchy looking, or, add your yeast and salt to the water then a cup or two of flour and slowly add the rest, like Tablespoon by Tablespoon; the later being my preferred method. 

2) I’ve been a bread baker for a long time, I even worked at a bakery as one, and I’ve always known not to mix your salt with the yeast because it impairs the growth and therefore rise. After noticing several recipes for dough did the opposite I checked the science. If you’re making a fermented dough and plan on letting it rise for awhile come to find out, you actually do want to mix the salt in with the yeast because you do want to retard the growth to allow a low slow gassy rise. 

3) To get a crispy base working with cold(ish) dough is best. 

4) To get big bubbles in your crust a fermenty sour dough is ideal. 

5) Bread Flour. All purpose just isn’t as all purpose as it advertises, Bread Flour is a must for good soft dough and if I ever get the chance I’d even like to try 00 which is apparently what Italian pizza places use. 

 

After I’d read a book, a bunch of blog posts, and some chefs opinions, I settled on two recipes to try. 

It took a few weeks of trial before I perfected what we have decided is the perfect crust for the average Friday night pizza night. 

I have to start it Friday morning, but if I know Friday is going to be busy it can be started Thursday night. 

I anticipate this crust becoming ‘old and boring’ to me after some time and maybe then I’ll switch it up again. Sicilian Pizza dough..?