Pizza magic:
Living Garlic
Olive oil
Fresh yeasty bread
Cheeeese
Spicy stuff
Sweet stuff
Aromatic herbs
Magic is defined here as
outcomes that exceed expectations beyond the degree to which excess outcomes
are expected.
i.e. Things that work better
than you think they would.
* All About CRUST *
For each pizza:
3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon active dry yeast (if necessary, 2 packets)
1/2 teaspoon salt
About 2 cups Bread Flour (1)
2 tablespoons olive oil
The water should be very
warm but not hot. Stick your finger in
it. If it stings,
cool it until you could just barely stand a
bath in it. Pour the
water in a bowl of at least 8-cups
capacity, dissolve the sugar
in it and sprinkle on the yeast.
Let this sit until the yeast
rises to the surface, which should
occur in five minutes or
less. Add a cup of flour and the salt.
Stir it up and add more
flour a little at a time until the dough
starts to grab the sides
of the bowl. Use a stout wooden spoon
to stir the dough some more.
It is finished when it is stiff
enough to hold its shape,
but still a bit sticky on the surface.
Roll the dough into a ball
in the bowl and pour in the olive oil.
Turn the dough over a time
or two so it gets oiled all around.
Cover the bowl with a dinner-plate
or any suitable cover, put it
in a warm place (2), and
let the dough rise until it is at least
doubled in volume.
If you are making more than
one pizza, each crust should rise in
its own bowl. You
may mix all the dough at once, just divide it
up into multiple olive-oiled
bowls to rise.
(1) Bread flour is
best. Unbleached white flour is OK. Plain
all-purpose flour isn't
too bad. Do not use self-rising flour.
I do not use whole-wheat
flour. Try it if you must.
(2) Dough will rise very
slowly if it gets cool. If you are in a
hurry, preheat the bowl
by filling it with hot water.
* Yeast Magic *
Once the dough is in the
bowl, set it over a large saucepan of
warm water. This is
very helpful in cool weather, but make sure
the water isn't too hot.
Give it the finger, as before. If it
is uncomfortably warm for
you, the yeasts will not like it either
and they will spite you
by dying. Ultimate revenge, for sure,
but yeasts are simple-minded
creatures, not much smarter than
fungi, I'm told.
* SAUCE *
1 small onion, finely
minced
1/4 cup olive oil
28 oz. can Progresso
"Crushed Tomatoes with Added Puree"
10 large cloves garlic
or 15 small ones, pressed or minced
5 tablespoons Louisiana
hot sauce (2-3 teaspoons if Tabasco)
4 tablespoons sugar
(don't wince, do it!)
2 cups water
Place the onion and olive
oil in a stainless or enameled frying-
pan or shallow saucepan
and turn up the heat. Saute until the
onion turns yellowish, but
don't let it brown much if any. Add
tomatoes and everything
else. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and
simmer for at least 30 minutes,
stirring occasionally. Cover,
and let it sit until ready
to use. Reheat to boiling before
applying to crust.
The sauce should be fairly thin. If it holds
its shape, add more water.
The Progresso tomatoes listed
are the best for this recipe. If
you can't get them, then
use what you have, and some adjustments
can be made. If the
tomatoes are whole or in big chunks, chop
them up before adding to
the pan. If they are in a watery
liquid, supplement them
with 2 or 3 tablespoons of tomato paste
to make it a tomatoey liquid.
Actually, you can make a
functional pizza sauce with
just tomato paste and water, provided
that you add plenty of garlic,
hot sauce and sugar. Your guests
will say it is great, but
you will know better.
Do taste the sauce to ensure
its flavor. It should have a bite,
tempered with sweetness.
If it doesn't sting a bit, add more hot
sauce. Remember that
you will be using only a thin layer of
sauce along with a lot of
other things, and if it isn't strong it
won't come through.
Hot pepper mellows out as it cooks, so taste
the sauce shortly before
assembling the pizza.
This recipe makes enough
sauce for about five normal-sized
pizzas. It freezes
well. Don't throw it away. To use frozen
sauce, place a chunk of
it in a pan with a little water, another
clove of mashed fresh garlic
and a dash of hot sauce. Bring it
to a boil before the crust
is cooked. Freezing sauce seems to
deplete the flavors of garlic
and hot pepper, so freshen it up.
* GETTING IT TOGETHER *
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
To assemble the pizza, grease-up
your fourteen-inch round pizza
pan or a 9 x 14 inch oblong
pan by spreading 2 or 3 tablespoons
of olive oil on it.
Use your fingers. Wash your hands. (Not
necessarily in that order.)
Hold the dough-bowl over the pizza
pan, flip it upside down,
and hold it there until the dough flops
out. Press the dough
down in the middle with your fingers, and
keep pressing downward and
outward to make a flat, even crust-
shape to the edges of your
pan. Do not touch the outer edge of
the dough with your fingers
if you can help it. The edge of the
crust will be edible if
you leave it puffy, a tooth-breaker if
you don't.
If you prefer a light, tender
crust, let the mashed-out dough
rise in a warm place for
five to ten minutes. If you want a thin,
crunchy crust, put it in
the oven immediately.
Put the pan with the crust
in the preheated oven. Yes, that is
right, you should cook the
crust a short time before you put on
the sauce and toppings.
And yes, that sounds strange but do it
anyway. Pre-cooking
the crust is part of the magic of this recipe
and not knowing to do it
is one reason most people can't make
good pizza. The degree
to which you pre-cook the crust
determines how crisp it
will be.
When the crust just begins
to brown at the bottom edge, take it
out and spread on the sauce.
Sprinkle the sauce heavily with
sweet basil, a tablespoon
or so. You might also sprinkle lightly
with oregano, a half-teaspoon
or so, but I am not sure this is an
improvement. Then
put on the cheese and toppings, as described
below. Return to the
oven and bake another 10 minutes or so
until the cheese becomes
bubbly. Do not let the cheese brown.
Browned cheese tastes like
death. Slice and serve hot with lots
of beer or red wine.
**************************
* HARD & FAST RULES *
**************************
> Warn your guests:
Hot pizza bites back! They may be accustomed to
the barely-warm pizza that
is delivered in a restaurant or by
truck. Oven-fresh
pizza is dangerous and may scald the
uninitiated.
> Use only fresh garlic.
There is no substitute for it.
If you use garlic powder
please do not blame the result
on me.
> The same goes for olive
oil. It adds a distinctive flavor to
the crust. Olive oil
needn't be expensive. You can buy large
cans of Italian or Spanish
olive oil for about $13.00 nowdays.
In general, Italian oil
is lighter and more refined, Spanish oil
more pungent and aromatic.
Exceptions abound. Extra Virgin
olive oil is more expensive
but worth the cost, as it provides a
wonderful aroma and flavor.
Introversion olive oil stays in the
can. Unless you will
use it in a month or so, olive oil should
be kept in the refrigerator
or it may become rancid.
* THE ORDER OF THINGS *
If you are starting from
scratch, start the dough first. It will
then be rising while you
prepare the sauce and will reduce the
overall preparation-time.
You should expect pizza from scratch
no sooner than 2 hours from
the time you start. Once you have
polished your procedures
you may reduce this time to an hour by
having sauce ready-frozen
and using extra yeast in the dough.
The crust should be pre-cooked,
as described above. The sauce
should go on next, with
a good sprinkling of sweet basil. If you
are going to add meat, do
it now. Pepperoni or sausage should be
in direct contact with the
sauce. If you have guests that are
vegetarian or just picky,
save a few pieces to decorate the top
so they can tell what is
in each pizza. You might have to tell
them to look at the pizza
in order to know what is on it.
Parmesan or Romano cheese
should be on top of the sauce and/or
meat, followed by the Mozzarella
or Provolone. It is permissible
to mix the cheeses, but
some of the distinctiveness of the
flavors is lost. High-moisture
Mozzarella may heal back into a
lump after it is cut up.
This may be averted by tossing the
chunks of mozzarella with
grated parmesan, giving them a dry
coating.
Vegetable toppings go on
top of the cheese, to ensure that they
get cooked at least a little.
* TOPPINGS *
Minimum cheese is 1/4 pound
shredded mozzarella and 1 oz shredded
or grated Parmesan.
Provolone and Romano cheeses substitute very
well for mozzarella and
Parmesan, respectively. "Casino Brand"
mozzarella is not bad, but
whole-milk cheese like "Polly-O" is
better. Fresh-grated
Parmesan or Romano is both better and less
expensive than the pre-grated
green-can kind. Packaged chunks of
Kraft or Stella Parmesan
are usually available at Publix, but the
cheese specialty shops often
have better for less. If you can
find a good pecorino (sheeps'
milk) romano I heartily recommend
using it. It is rich;
moderation is required. I like to mix
1 part pecorino romano with
2 parts parmesan. Locatelli Romano
is a very good brand, often
available at Publix.
* HOW MANY & HOW MUCH OF WHAT *
Many new pizza-chefs overdo
the toppings. Perhaps this is
because of our exposure
to commercial pizza establishments and
their glowing descriptions
of the pizza "with everything." This
kind of hype tends to support
the notion that a "kitchen sink"
pizza must be the best.
It may be edible, but chances are it
would taste better if some
of the toppings were put in the salad
instead. Many toppings
conflict with each other and with the
pizza itself.
My suggestion is that you
first make a few cheese pizzas with no
extra toppings. If
you must have toppings, try just one at a
time or one of the combinations
listed below. This will allow
a better evaluation of your
efforts and encourage appreciation of
the pizza itself.
I like to use one meat and
one vegetable topping per pizza. Some
classic combinations include:
Pepperoni and
Mushrooms
Sausage and
Black Olives
Pepperoni and
Green Peppers
SAUSAGE
Use Mild Italian Sausage.
Do not use "Breakfast Sausage"
as it is seasoned with a
lot of sage which is incompatible with
the other flavors common
to pizza. Avoid "Hot" Italian Sausage, it
is seasoned with too much
red pepper. One-third pound of sausage
is enough for a pizza.
Slit the skin and remove the ground meat.
Lay it in a frying-pan,
sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of sweet
fennel seeds and 1/4 teaspoon
of fresh-ground black pepper. Turn
on the heat and mash up
the meat with a spatula while it cooks,
breaking it into little
chunks. When all the pink is gone, it is
done. Cover it and
set aside until you are ready for it.
Italian sausage does not
keep unless frozen. To use frozen
sausage, cut off as much
as you want, slit the skin and run water
over it until you can remove
the skin. Then cut it into thin
slices, like pepperoni.
This procedure actually improves its
texture, as Italian sausage
tends to be coarsely ground.
PEPPERONI
Pepperoni should be sliced
as thinly as possible and cut into
four wedges. You can
stack a bunch of slices and cut them in
unison with a sharp knife.
You get better and cheaper pepperoni
from an open deli-case than
in the sealed packages, as the close-
fitting plastic allows the
packer to sell you more water.
MUSHROOMS
Mushrooms should be as fresh
as possible. Don't ever decide to
buy mushrooms before you
look at them. Have an alternative in
mind in case you can't find
any that are really fresh. Good ones
will be a bright grey-white
color, plump and round with no
bags under their eyes.
Wash the mushrooms, slice
them about 1/4 inch thick or thinner
and put them in a stainless
or enameled saucepan. Do NOT add
water or salt. They
will produce their own juice. Adding salt
will make them lose too
much juice, they will shrink and be
tough. Cover them
and cook over medium heat until they just
begin to boil. If
you must have your mushrooms salted, drain
them and sprinkle some on
them just before they go on the pizza.
SAVE THE JUICE from the
mushroom pan! It is primo mushroom
stock. Put in and
a few of the mushrooms in a plastic container
and freeze it. Use
it in your next gravy, or heat it with some
milk, butter, salt and pepper
for an excellent cream of mushroom
soup.
Another fun way to prepare
mushrooms is to "squeak" them. Wash
and slice as above.
Melt two tablespoons of butter in a frying
pan, preferably cast iron,
over HIGH heat. If you don't have
real genuine cow-salve BUTTER,
use your best olive oil. Do not
use margarine. Heat
the butter until it starts to brown, or the
olive oil until it starts
to smoke, and throw the mushrooms in.
Keep the heat up.
Stir them around frequently: If the pan is
hot enough, they will soon
squeak when you stir them. Cook
several minutes until the
juice has evaporated and they begin to
brown. Sprinkle with
a little bit of thyme. Try one, being
careful to notice how good
it tastes. Imagine what else you
could do with them, and
who you might invite over to try your
invention. Me, for
instance. Then distribute the mushrooms on
the pizza in a planfully
random manner.
Jimmy Yawn * 7/26/85
rev again 11/19/94
and again 2/16/95
and once again 8-30-98