Hawk, The Pizza FREAK!!

Posted by Michael on Sep 29, 2008 in Recipes | 2 comments

At least once every couple of weeks, it’s time for a good old pizza. Sometimes I feel like loading it an inch thick with sausage, pepperoni, genoa salami and other meats. Sometimes I like a bunch of red peppers, olives, sweet onion and fresh tomato. Sometimes I like just a classic, thin margherita, which is just really good tomato sauce with good mozzarella and some torn basil leaves. There’s obviously a pizza for every mood. There’s an underlying theme with all them though: A good, homemade crust. The only special equipment I’d recommend is a pizza stone (about $12 to $20 and available at most grocery stores). Here’s a recipe for a basic, homemade, margherita pizza.

Pizza dough

2 cups all purpose flour (or use half Italian “00″ flour and half all purpose)
3/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon dry active yeast (I like “Traditional”)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Put the water in a microwaveable container and microwave for about 45 seconds on high. You’re looking to get the water to about the temperature of a warm bath, or 120 F. Stir in the sugar and add the yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes to proof. The water should be opaque brown with a nice head of foam on it now. Add a cup of flour to a bowl and add the water-yeast mixture and the olive oil. Add the salt as well. Stir it all well with a spoon and add more flour, a quarter cup at a time, until you have a mass you can pull from the bowl to a work surface. Flour the board and begin kneading the dough, folding it, punching down and folding, for about five minutes until you have a smooth dough. Add more flour as necessary if it gets sticky on your hands or the board. Once done kneading, form it into a ball and drop it in a glass bowl. Add more olive oil and turn the dough to coat. Let stand for at least one hour or up to two hours (you can make sauce and grate cheese and other toppings while it’s rising. Have everything ready when the dough is ready). Now here’s where technique matters. Don’t use a rolling pin. Just remove your risen dough to a well floured board and punch it down a bit. Use your fingers to start spreading the dough out to a round pizza shape. Feel free to pick it up, place it over your two fists and do some stretching that way as well. Try to get it nice and even and into the size of pizza you want. Place on a floured pizza paddle (or similar flat surface that you’ll be able to slide it off of and into the oven). Top with your tomato sauce and other toppings. Preheat the oven to 500 F with a pizza stone in it. Slide your pizza in and cook for six to eight minutes, or until the cheese on top is just starting to brown in spots. Remove, let cool and slice it up.

Easy (but awesome) tomato sauce

28 oz can whole tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
pinch of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
pinch of dried oregano

Open the can of tomatoes. With your fingers, remove each tomato and bust it up with your fingers into a bowl. Add the garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and oregano. Mix it up and that’s that! Spread on your fresh pizza dough and top with a good amount of mozzarella. Surprisingly great!!

Smoked (and ridiculously awesome) tomato sauce

1 cup hickory wood chips for the barbecue
7-10 very ripe plum tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
pinch of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
pinch of dried oregano

Soak the hickory chips in water for at least an hour. Drain the chips and wrap in aluminum foil. Punch holes in the foil. Start your barbecue (preferably charcoal but propane will work in this case, grudgingly). Place the foil pack directly on the coals and drop the top. Wait for smoke to start appearing. Place the tomatoes on an aluminum foil plate, or a double-thick layer of aluminum foil and put that on the cool side of the barbecue. Place the cover on the BBQ and let the tomatoes smoke gently for about 30 minutes. The idea is to smoke them lightly, not cook them, so lift the top to release excessive heat on occasion during the 30 minutes. Remove the tomatoes and place in a sauce pot. Use a knife or fork to just bust them up a bit and release their liquid.  Season with salt and pepper.   Bring to a boil over medium high heat then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.   Pass them through a food mill (this removes the seeds and skins. Pureeing in a blender or food processor is a passible option) into a bowl. Add the garlic, the extra virgin olive oil and oregano and stir well.  Taste it and season as necessary, then leave to cool.   Isn’t that the best bloody thing in the history of food? Just wait’ll it gets on your pizza.

Margherita pizza

Make your dough. Spread either the easy tomato sauce or the smoked tomato sauce on top (not too much!). Top with good mozzarella (look for a ball of “stretched” mozzarella. It makes a big difference). Sprinkle with torn fresh basil leaves. Cook the pizza for 6 to 8 minutes on the pre-heated stone at 500 F. Remove and give it a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Let cool for five minutes and serve. Best pizza ever.

- First published May, 2007 and freshly stolen from my Facebook page.