If it's Friday Night...It's PIZZA NIGHT!

   Maybe it's the time I spent living in Chicago or maybe it's the influence from my darling hubby, but for the last million years, Friday Night means Pizza Night.  More often than not, that means hitting a favorite pizza spot (Giordano's, I'm talking about you!).  But you know that if this girl can make it herself, this girl is gonna make it herself. 





  It's safe to say that my hubby fully supports my home made pizza desires.  Ivy and Zander don't like pizza (which all falls into that ARFID spectrum that I've covered in other blog posts) but that just means more for me.  

  While I'm up for being adventurous with pizza, my hubby is as much of a selective eater as his kids, so it's pepperoni, sausage or cheese all the way.  



For us, the real key to an amazing pie is the crust, no matter what you decide to put on it.   The key to an amazing crust isn't some special artisanal flour or super complicated ingredient list.   The real secret, my friends, is patience.  To really get the most flavor out of your dough, you're going to need time and lots of it.  18 to 24 hours of it to be precise.  And that means planning ahead.  Jim Lahey is the godfather of all the long ferment, no knead doughs you see all over the internet, so you can do some more homework on him and learn even more!




The Tomczak Version of No Knead Pizza Dough (makes 2 - 14" pizzas)

Don't forget this is going to rise for a LONG time, so plan ahead.  

Ingredients

3/4 cup room temperature water

Scant 1/8 tsp active yeast

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

3 cups all purpose or bread flour

Instructions

Combine the water, yeast and salt in a large bowl.  Mix to combine.  Add in flour and mix just until everything is combined.  This will be a shaggy looking dough.  If it's really wet, add some flour.  If it's so dry that you can't fully incorporate the flour, add a little water.  (Flour hydration levels change place to place and season to season, so you've got to adjust until you get a shaggy dough that doesn't have any dry flour hanging around.) Cover with plastic wrap and walk away!  Your dough will be ready to use in 12-24 hours.

One hour before you plan to make your pizza, place a pizza stone or pizza steel in the oven at 500 degrees and let it pre-heat.  I've also had luck with cast iron, but a regular pan probably wont cut it.

When you've given Father Time his due, remove the dough from the bowl and split in half.  Shape each half into a ball and let sit for 10 minutes.  You can stretch with your hands or roll out with a rolling pin but please don't throw this dough in the air.  It wont work and you'll make a horrible mess!  Place your pizza dough on parchment paper on a pizza peel or the back of a sheet pan.  Add sauce, cheese and whatever your heart desires and carefully slide your pizza onto the stone/steel/cast iron surface.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until you get the level of blistering you like.

Remove the pizza with a peel and let it rest for a couple of minutes on a rack (don't rush this) then cut into your pizza and enjoy!

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