Pizza recipe

You read it right. Yup. Pizza - the round thingie.

Dough: 4 -5 crusts

Makes 3 servings (4 if you eat healthy)

1. 1 kg wheat flour (and have some more handy! crucial)
2. 1.5 - 2 glasses of water
3. 1 egg (optional, frowned upon by many, but makes the pie more fault-tolerant)
4. Pea-sized chunk of fresh or half a packet of dried yeast
5. 2 tbsp sugar
6. 3 flat tsp salt
7. 4-5 tbsp olive oil
8. 1 tbsp semolina (this is a gamechange)

Hardware

1. Large bowl
2. Rolling pin (optional; the pros knead and stretch)
3. Clean table

if you have admin rights just run sudo make pizza

Directions (for mere mortals)

1. Mix 1 glass lukewarm water, sugar, yeast - leave it for couple minutes for the bugs to wake up.
2. Olive oil - pour it over your hands so the dough won't stick that much
3. Add flour, eggs and water into a large bowl and mix it your bear hands (it's good for your spine and it helps reduce RSI)
4. Important - judging the dough structure:

• when kneading, it should feel sticky but should come off your hands. If it doesn't and feels gooey add a bit of flour and continue kneading.
• the dough should always feel sticky but it shouldn't stick
• when you leave it in the bowl it will eventually stick but it should also slowly come off

4. Let the dough rise. Rise! Dough!
5. Beat it up and divide into 4-5 pieces and store in plastic bags.
6. Let it sit in the fridge for at least a day.
7. (when hungry) reheat the oven to the max (if you have pizza stone - use it) and make sure it is damn hot
8. take the pie out of fridge to warm up to room temperature (it should feel soft and fluffy) - but don't knead or fold it!
9. prepare your toppings (watch out for tomatoes, mushrooms, meats, etc - in excess they can make your pizza soggy)
10. Spread some olive oil on the tray and dust it with semolina - this makes the crust dry and crispy but not hard. Or sprinkle your wooden paddle with semolina, flour and a tiny pinch of salt to make your pizza slide off it easily.
11. Bake at middle rack, so the cheese won't burn, watch the cheese and the crust at sides.

Pro tips

1. When using broccoli or similar veggies as a topping, blanche it - it will taste better
2. Let the dough warm up after you take it from the fridge - it will be easier to roll.
3. Make the crust higher on the sides - it is a great indicator of how well the pizza is done.
4. Use a bit of cheese over grated garlic and herbs so it won't burn
5. Use a slice of tomato, to avoid drying up the meats (and add a tiny bit of salt for each tomato slice)
6. Use perforated tray so the moisture can escape or even better, use pizza stone for extra crispiness
7. If you have overdone it and it's rock-hard place the pizza on the aluminium foil - it will get softer after a short while
8. Order of toppings is important: cheese, garlic / dried herbs, thin and delicate toppings, then the rest
9. It really needs that day in the fridge - the yeast make that interesting structure and the dough can be stretched without getting torn.
10. Try not to knead after you let it sit longer - it will destroy the structure and make rolling/stretching more difficult.
11. You can leave it in the fridge for couple days and it will continue working - make sure to tie the bag or it will walk out ;-)

Feel free to fork and send me pull requests.

p.s. it takes about 20 crusts to get a good understanding of pizza mechanics.

TODO

Tomato sauce recipe

1. 2-3 tbsp olive
2. 2-3 cloves garlic
3. 2-3 bay leaves
4. some herbs
5. 1 tspn seasoning (coriander, cumin, powdered paprika; optional)
6. 1 liter tomato passata or tomato paste
7. heat up the olive, add garlic, don't burn it. Then add tomatoes, bay leaves, seasoning.
8. Herbs go in last.
9. reduce until you get a thicker, creamy texture

Read more detailed write up on napoletana at:

• Jeff Varasano's NY Pizza Recipe