Pizza 101 - The Crust



This week I am going to feature a tutorial about how to make your own homemade pizza. Homemade pizza is a simple enough thing for many cooks out there, but for a lot of us, our experience with enjoying pizza includes a phone call to the local pizzeria or a few overpriced, underflavored frozen pizzas tossed into the cart at the grocery store.  Since one of the goals for my blog is to teach how to cook great food with real, fresh ingredients, I'm going to spend the week discussing basic pizza making, beginning with the crust.

As I discussed in my Spinach and Feta Pizza Thin Crust Pizza post, there are a few tools worth investing in; a pizza peel and a baking stone.  Since some of the very best pizzas in the world are baked in stone hearths, a baking stone will help tremendously with crisping and evenly heating the crust for a perfect pizza every time.  I purchased mine (actually, I own two which are rarely removed from my oven) at a local shop for about $30 each; usually they cost from about $30 to $40, but whatever your investment, if you choose to regularly make your own pizzas, your investment will be justified after just a few pizzas (if you order out often, you might even recoup your investment with your first dinner).  A peel is simply a wooden or stainless steel board with a handle and beveled edge so the pizza can slide off onto the stone.  A decent one can cost anywhere from $15 - $40, depending on what you choose (mine were on the $15 end).  I own two large ones because I always make two largish pizzas, and with two stones in the oven, the texture is not compromised by making two at a time.  I've added a few choices for the stones and peels to my Amazon store (under the heading "other items") for you to consider if you still need to purchase these items.

Additionally, I use my food processor to make the dough, but a breadmaker will work, as will a stand mixer, or everyone's old standby, a bowl and spoon.

Each of the pizza components (crust, sauce, toppings) I am going to discuss this week will make two 12-14 inch pizzas.  In addition to pizzas, the basic crust recipe can also be used to make up to six calzones or six mini pizzas.

Whether you like thick crust (roll it thicker) or thin crust (roll it thinner) or somewhere in between, use the following pantry staples to make a good basic crust:

• 1 1/4 c warm water
• 1 tsp raw honey
• 2 tsp yeast
• 3 1/3 c flour (I use 2 c unbleached all purpose and 1 1/3 c whole wheat)
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp dried herbs or 1 Tbs fresh herbs, optional
• 2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil, divided

Pour the water into a large measuring cup; the water should be warm enough to notice when you dip your finger into it, but not so hot you need to pull your finger back out (really, you do not need a thermometer).  Stir the honey and the yeast into the water and set aside for about 3-5 minutes so the honey can feed the yeast.  This step is called "proofing", and while it may not be completely necessary, I don't like any dead yeast surprises, so I always do this with this method for making the crust.

I couldn't find my measuring cup, so I used the next best thing

While the yeast is proofing, insert the dough blade into the food processor.  Add the flour(s), salt, herbs if using, and 1 Tbs olive oil.  Pulse a few times to mix it together.



When your yeast looks like it does in the earlier picture (with a fair bit of froth on top), turn your processor on (use the dough mode if you have it - if not, don't worry about it, it will be fine), give the yeast mixture a stir, and slowly pour it through the chute, allowing for the flour to absorb the liquid.  If the mixture seems too dry, add another tablespoon or two of water (temperature will not matter) until the dough forms a ball.  Once the ball has formed, process for an additional 30 seconds (this will be the "kneading" part, so if you are doing it by hand, knead for about 5 minutes).



 Place the remaining 1 Tbs olive oil into a large bowl.  Transfer the dough (it will be sticky, so you might want to put a little olive oil on your hands, too) to the bowl and turn the ball to cover it in the oil.  Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and set aside to rise for about 45 minutes.  Take the rising time as an opportunity to prepare your sauce and get your toppings shredded and chopped.

Preheat the oven (with the stone(s) on any rack from the middle to the bottom) to 500F.

Generously dust a pizza peel with cornmeal. The cornmeal layer will prevent the dough from sticking and allow for easy transfer to the pizza stone, so don't be shy; use about 1/3c - 1/2c, depending on the size of the peel.

Divide the dough (which should have doubled in size) in half.  Using a rolling pin lightly dusted in flour (my preferred method) or your hands, roll or flatten and stretch the dough to a 12 inch circle for a thick crust, a 13 inch circle for a medium crust, or a 14 inch circle for a thin crust. 

The only picture I could find of the crust rolled out already had sauce on it, but you get the picture.

Naturally, at this point, you will add your sauce and toppings, which we'll talk more about later this week.  If you are only making one pizza, you can choose to halve the recipe, freeze the remaining portion to thaw for later use, or pre-bake the crust.  To pre-bake the crust, simply roll it out on the cornmeal dusted pizza peel, brush it with some olive oil, poke it with a fork several times so you won't get bubbles, and bake it in the preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Once your crust is pre-baked, cool it and then wrap it in waxed paper if layering, or plastic wrap or foil, and freeze until ready to use.  To bake it, top the frozen crust with what you like and bake it at 450F (usually for about 15-20 minutes).  Frozen crusts are especially nice for busy nights when you are tempted to call for delivery; by the time the pizza guy finally arrives with your pizza, you could have already made your own.

Now that you know how to make a basic pizza crust, you can make many possible alterations to the original recipe; different herbs, changing the kind of flour you use, adding garlic or cheese, etc.  Yes, there are different methods to make pizza crust, but I learned with this one, and it's the one to which I always return because it has never failed me, so this is the method I wanted to share with you.

Next up, the sauce!