Yes, I think we finally did it. After no less than a dozen tries, I believe we've found our go-to pizza dough. If you've tried to make pizza at home, you may relate to how it can make you feel like Goldilocks. The crust is too thick, it's too thin, it's too crispy, it's soggy. But this one. This one! It's nearly perfect. Nearly. I think it deserves a few more tries.
We have Anthony Falco of Roberta’s in Bushwick, Brooklyn via The New York Times to thank for it.
The dough is very simple to make. You really only have two challenges: one, be gentle with the dough; two be confident and cautious at once when transferring the pizza to the molten hot stone. That sounds intimidating. It's not that bad, I promise, and well worth the effort.
This won't be the last you hear of pizza from me. I've got a few more combinations to try - I definitely want to try Roberta's Green and White.
Then on to the next challenge: success making pizza on the BBQ. You know, without it sliding to the ground just before serving, or having the pizza stone split in half shocked by the shift from 850° to the non-Hades temperature of a summer's day.
Onward!
Homemade Pepperoni and Kalamata Olive Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cake flour 153 grams
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 153 grams
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt 8 grams
- ¾ teaspoon active dry yeast 2 grams
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil 4 grams
Pizza Sauce
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes drained
- 2 cloves garlic
- pinch crushed red pepper
- salt and pepper to taste
Toppings
- 6 ounces shredded whole milk mozzarella divided
- 4 ounces sliced pepperoni divided
- 24 kalamata olives halved, divided
Instructions
- Combine flours and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup warm water, yeast and olive oil. Pour in to flour mixture and use your fingers to knead mixture until well combined. Cover and let rest 15 minutes. Refrigerate.
- About 1 ½ hours before you’re ready to eat, place a pizza stone into the oven. Heat to 500° and let the pizza stone preheat for an hour.
- When the pizza stone has been heating for 15 minutes, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for 30-45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine diced tomato, garlic cloves and crushed red pepper in a blender. Blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- To make pizza, place a dough round on a floured work surface. Gently use your fingers to stretch it, then pass the round back and forth between the palms of your hands to to stretch and shape it into a 12-inch round.
- Top round with ½ of pizza sauce, spread evenly leaving ½ inch of bare dough at the edges. Sprinkle half of the mozzarella, pepperoni, and olives evenly over the top.
- To transfer round to pizza stone, use a floured pizza peel or floured cutting board.
- Transfer pizza to pizza stone and bake 6 to 7 minutes until center is bubbly and edges are lightly brown.
- Transfer pizza from oven to cutting board. Cut and serve.
- Repeat with second dough round.
Notes
- Please note that total time does not include dough rising time.
- The second dough round will keep up to 3 days in the refrigerator. Remove from refrigerator 30-45 minutes at room temperature before shaping.
Always looking for the perfect pizza crust, this looks amazing!
It's an endless search, isn't it? It always seems like it could be just little bit better....I promise though, this one won't disappoint!
Marissa, it's 11am and I haven't had breakfast. This looks SO good! Just the way I like a pizza. I showed it to hubby and said "I want this!" 😛
I love that, Lorraine! I think I owe him a pizza for that drinking vinegar he didn't like... 🙂
I just made grilled pizza last night with the boys. The recipe is from Sunset magazine and it is our go to recipe. I was especially happy with the combination of toppings on my pizza, very thinly sliced zucchini and mushrooms, black olives, mozzarella cheese, a asiago and two other cheese blend, and some prosciutto. Yum! The boy had pepperoni of course.
Will have to try this recipe. Can't go wrong with pizza for my family.
That combination sounds so good Beth!