This New Year's Eve was pretty mellow for lobster and I. Normally we'd go to a club and I'll dance with my girls and lobster will get his shuffle on. But this year, we decided to have a quiet one at home. Another couple friend of ours stopped by (we'll call them sushi boy and friend) and we had a pizza making party, drinks and lobster made a seafood bisque/pan roast concoction.
We decided to make a pizza dough from scratch ever since we got back from our honeymoon. When we were in Rome, lobster and I ate at this AMAZING pizza restaurant. I had done a little research before we went and knew we had to try this place. We were the first customers to arrive when the restaurant opened, but within fifteen minutes, every seat was full. Ever since then, we have been craving the pizza and wanted to re-create the meal at home. I found a bunch of recipes for pizza doughs on the Internet and this one was a winner!!
First up was lobster's pizza. Please do not be distracted by the funny shaped dough b/c this was damn good!!
Lobster cooked his entire pizza on his dalmation (gas grill). He first grilled both sides of the dough, then layered on the toppings. I'd never had grilled pizza before but now I am a believer! I don't think I'll ever go back to oven baked pizzas again. Lobster made his with mozzarella, sausage, mushrooms, and pepperoni. Cooking the pizza on the grill resulted in a perfect crust. Crispy on the outside, but not like a cracker, with a soft middle.
Next up was sushi boy and friend: made with a traditional shaped dough :)
Theirs was equally delicious. They cooked it in the oven for 15 minutes on a pizza pan that I pre-heated for 45 minutes in a 500F oven. It was a "fancier" pizza made with goat cheese, Gorgonzola, Gruyere, sausage, mushrooms, and pepperoni. The cheese gave the pizza a nice tang which was GRUB!
Then, there was my pizza...BOOOOOO!!
I used a different dough then theirs and made a rosemary wheat dough. The dough flavor was a bit strong for my delicate little toppings. I tried to make mine gourmet and apparently, pizza should not be gourmet. Well, I take that back. I think if I made mine with their dough, it would have been much better. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!! Anyway, mine had figs, dates, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and gruyere. In the end I ended up eating the topping like it was a cheese plate, so that made up for it.
After drinking and grazing on pizzas, lobster made a delicious seafood soup to round out the meal, and our final meal of 2009 were my cinnamon rolls. One last glutinous meal to ring in the new year. Happy New Year!!
Peter Reinhart's Napoletana Pizza Dough
Makes 6 10-inch pizzas
Adapted from this website
4 1/2 cups (20.25 ounces) unbleached high-gluten, bread, or all-purpose flour, chilled (I used bread flour)
1 3/4 (.44 ounce) teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast (I used active dry yeast)
1/4 cup (2 ounces) olive oil (optional)
1 3/4 cups (14 ounces) water, ice cold (40°F)
Semolina flour OR cornmeal for dusting
1. Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment), If you are mixing by hand, repeatedly dip one of your hands or the metal spoon into cold water and use it, much like a dough hook, to work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand. Reverse the circular motion a few times to develop the gluten further. Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed. If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.
2. Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment and misting the parchment with spray oil (or lightly oil the parchment). Using a metal dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you are comfortable shaping large pizzas), You can dip the scraper into the water between cuts to keep the dough from sticking to it, Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Lift each piece and gently round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again. Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough generously with spray oil and slip the pan into a food-grade plastic bag.
3. Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough, or keep for up to 3 days. (Note: If you want to save some of the dough for future baking, you can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag. Dip each dough ball into a bowl that has a few tablespoons of oil in it, rolling the dough in the oil, and then put each ball into a separate bag. You can place the bags into the freezer for up to 3 months. Transfer them to the refrigerator the day before you plan to make pizza.)
4. On the day you plan to make the pizza, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator 2 hours before making the pizza. Before letting the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours, dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour. Gently press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. Now let rest for 2 hours. (The dough will not rise like a traditional dough but will become pliable and supple to work with)
5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone either on the floor of the oven (for gas ovens), or on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven as hot as possible, up to 800F (most home ovens will go only to 500 to 550F, but some will go higher). If you do not have a baking stone, you can use the back of a sheet pan, but do not preheat the pan.
6. Generously dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal. (Make sure you use enough cornmeal so the pizza can easily slide off the pan onto the pizza stone or baking sheet) Make the pizzas one at a time. Dip your hands, including the backs of your hands and knuckles, in flour and lift I piece of dough by getting under it with a pastry scraper. Very gently lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, carefully giving it a little stretch with each bounce. If it begins to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue shaping it. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss as shown on page 208. If you have trouble tossing the dough, or if the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax, and try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, though this isn't as effective as the toss method. (I moved it around with my fists first and when the dough became really thin, laid it on the work surface and pressed it out to the desired size with my fingers)
7. When the dough is stretched out to your satisfaction (about 9 to 12 inches in diameter for a 6-ounce piece of dough), lay it on the peel or pan, making sure there is enough semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with sauce and then with your other top- pings, remembering that the best pizzas are topped with a less-is-more philosophy. The American "kitchen sink" approach is counterproductive, as it makes the crust more difficult to bake. A few, usually no more than 3 or 4 toppings, including sauce and cheese is sufficient.
8. Slide the topped pizza onto the stone (or bake directly on the sheet pan) and close the door. Wait 2 minutes, then take a peek. If it needs to be rotated 180 degrees for even baking, do so. The pizza should take about 5 to 8 minutes to bake. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone to a lower self before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone for subsequent bakes.
9. Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes before slicing and serving, to allow the cheese to set slightly.
