Recipes: Pizza Day — The Gourmand Film Writer

One of my favorite things to cook for friends is Pizza. I have a couple simple rules for myself when I do this.

1) Always make fresh dough. This process takes a little time as you need to allow the yeast to cause the dough to rise before punching it down. Recipe to follow based on Jamie Oliver's recipe.

2) Pizzas should be thin, as thin as possible so even a normal oven can create a crispy crust.

3) Toppings should not be limited to "American" pizza toppings nor should toppings be placed on a pizza like most American pizzas. American tend to love to pile the toppings on pizza, rather than to seek a balance. So when choosing toppings thing of good flavor combinations, keep it to usually no more than 4 toppings and scatter them so they no one bite is overwhelmingly one topping.

4) As hot as your oven will go. If you've got convention, 500 degrees on convention, if you don't 500 on normal. Either way there is this strange correlation between the quality of the pizza and how long it stays in the oven. For a standard kitchen, 10-12 mins at 500 on a sheet tray should produce a crisp bottom without destroying the pizza, but, if you watch master pizza makers they have special ovens (sometimes wood, sometimes coal) that heat to near 800-1000 degrees.

At the bottom with be my Dough Recipe based on Jamie Olivers. Here were the pizzas I made last time we had a pizza party.

This pizza is based upon the delicious slice from Bleecker Street Pizza in New York. The pizza has a traditional pizza sauce (tomato puree, onion powder, garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, and salt) fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, roasted garlic cloves, and marinated tomatoes (can tomatoes placed in olive oil, dried oregano, salt, a little red wine vinegar and allowed to sit at least one day).

When it comes out of the oven, topped with fresh basil.

The first time I had this pizza was with a college professor, Mark Dickerman. He decided that one day we should have class in his office and he said he was going to order pizza. He asked us what we liked and he put in orders for that. He also told us that we have to try the eggplant pizza. I am actually a huge fan of eggplant, but I imagined an overpowering puree of roasted eggplant and a mussy crust. That is not what this is at all. Thinnly sliced eggplant, breaded in panko bread crumbs and shallow fried in olive oil. Then place aside. Start with dough rolled out and add a thin layer of classic pizza sauce, then fresh mozzarella. Place in the oven for 6-7 minutes and then pull out, place the eggplant on top as well as Parmesan and return for to the oven. Top with basil after it comes out of the oven.

This is based off of a pizza I had in Chicago. There is no sauce, and this can only be done when heirloom tomatoes are in season. Slice thin several heirloom tomatoes and place on the dough. Top with grated Fontina cheese and raw small, peeled, deveined shrimp. Bake for 8-10 mins in a normal 500 degree oven. When it comes out top with chives. The fresh tomato turns into a sauce of sorts with the funkiness of the Fontina cheese. The slight brininess of the shrimp ofset by the acidity of the tomato. It's a great pizza.

The best food is so often the simplest. Tomato, Mozzarella cheese, and basil. Always a great choice.

This white pizza relies on age old flavor combinations. Goat cheese, tart and creamy, figs, sweet, and prosciutto, rich and salty go together so well. The pizza begins with just a brush of olive oil. Lay done the prosciutto and dot with goat cheese and homemade fig preserves. Bake 8-10 minutes in the oven, till crisp. When removed from the oven, toss arugula in lemon juice and salt. Top the pizza with the arugula and finally a drizzle of olive oil.

Ingredients

7 cups of Tipo 00 flour or you can use all purpose but it is not the same.

1 tablespoon fine sea salt 2 (1/4 ounce) packets of active dried yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons extra-virgin Olive Oil

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Start with the lukewarm water. Add olive oil and sugar. Stir to combine. Then add in the dry yeast. Stir to combine and let bloom 5-10 mins. Sift flour and salt together in a large bowl. Then, make a well in the middle of it. Pour liquid / yeast in. Flour hands so it does not stick and then stir to combine. Once it forms a dough ball, remove from bowl and place on floured surface. Kneed dough for 10 mins. Or until smooth and silky. Then cut in two, roll into a ball.

Place in a bowl with a little olive oil, rub the bottom of the dough in and then turn over so the oil side is up. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm stop. This should take several the good part of a day. Every once in a while come back and pound it down and then recover. At the end of a day, roll dough into individual balls for pizza. Place in a proofing box bowls you can cover and place into a cooler place (refrigerator can work) let sit for another day.