Friday, November 7, 2014

Holy Crap! Rosie Still Makes The Bestest Pizza Ever.

 

Rosie has been making pizzas for years.
Since the 70s.
Always from scratch - the dough, the sauce, and, of course, I make my own cheeses and pepperoni and harvest olives from the trees on my estate.

That said, let's make pizza!

Tomato Sauce

1 TB unsalted butter
1 shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small can tomato sauce
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp sage

Melt butter in small pan over medium heat.  Add in minced shallot and garlic. Cook for a minute.  Pour in tomato sauce.  Add some water in the can, swirl, and pour the rest into the pan.  Heat over minimum heat for about 30 minutes.  Add in oregano and sage.  Taste test and adjust seasonings if necessary.  Keep warm, covered.

Rosie's Pizza Crust 
1/2 cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar
enough flour to make a nice supple, elastic dough - maybe about 2 cups, added a little bit at a time
It depends upon the humidity.  The tides.  The alignment of planets. And there was a solar eclipse going on today.
1/4 tsp kosher salt

You need to learn to work with dough, and pizza pie is about as basic, simple, and easy as you can get. 

Pour water into a small bowl.  Sprinkle yeast and sugar over top.  Watch yeast grab onto the sugar and gobble it up on the way down.  Stir to dissolve.  Wait for it to proof.  Bubble and foam!

Fork in the flour.  Quarter cup at a time.  When it starts forming a cohesive dough, turn out onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead for about 5 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking.  Form into a ball and place in oiled bowl.  Cover and let rise about an hour.

Heat oven to 450°.   I use a pizza stone in the oven, so when the oven temperature reaches 450°, I let the stone heat for an hour

Start forming the pizza dough.
Take the dough ball and place it on a pizza paddle covered in corn meal.  Start pressing the ball flat, then press out from the center to form a circle.  Make dimples with your fingers.  Finger it out, slowly.  Dimple.  Press.  Rest.  Have a glass of wine.  Go back after the dough has rested.  Dimple.  Press.  Form a built up edge.  Rest.  Have another glass of wine.  Go back and dimple and push out.  Work it.  Relax.  Drink.  Rest.  Keep on keepin' on.  The dough needs to relax as much as the cook does.  Remember that.  Take small steps.

Now, when you've worked the dough and let it rise its final rise for about 15-20 minutes, slide it off the pizza paddle onto your heated pizza stone that's been heating in the oven for an hour.  You want to be sure that stone is heated through.  Cook it for about 8-10 minutes, until it's stiffened up enough to move around on the stone.  Remove dough from oven.


Pizza Toppings:
tomato sauce

red, orange, yellow, green peppers from the garden, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
black olives, sliced
whatever cheeses you have - I used cubed Gruyère and sliced Mozzarella on the bottom, some grated Parmesan, and grated cheddar on top.
good olive oil over top
extra sprinkle of oregano
sprinkles of red pepper


 
  Uncooked here.

 
















I have no idea why there's a big
gap here.
Can't fix it.





















Seriously, I make the best pizzas.

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