Our Larval Engineer, evidently planning to serve some genuine home-style pizza to her compadres, asked for the Official Recipe.
It goes a little something like this…
T minus 2.5 hours
Blend (manually!) in mixer bowl:
- 1 Tbsp yeast (that’s two packets = crazy spendy → buy in bulk)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar (or whatever sweet you have)
- 1-1/2 C warm water (1 minute in our microwave)
Add on top of liquid:
- 3 C whole wheat flour
- 1 C white flour
- 1 tsp salt
The original recipe called for:
- 4 Tbsp olive oil (or safflower, not vegetable / canola)
- 1/2 C additional flour only if you add oil
Don’t stir, just pause 5 minutes until the yeast gets up & running.
Run mixer until dough becomes rubbery and cleans the bowl.
No mixer? Stir, stir, stir, then knead, knead, knead.
(As you can see, she has experience kneading bread…)
Cleave in twain, about 1 lb per lump.
Oil mixer bowl & one lump, let rise.
Flatten other lump in plastic bag & freeze for next week.
Put 1 unit homebrew pizza sauce on counter to thaw.
T minus 45 minutes
Roll crust to fit pan, generously flour bottom, let rise on countertop.
Grate cheese:
- 2 oz Sharp Provolone
- 2 oz Mozzarella
- 3 oz Monterey Jack
Cube meat:
- 2 oz Ham
- 4 oz Turkey / pork / what have you
Chop veggies:
- handful Broccoli tips (save stalks for tomorrow’s stir fry)
- 1/2 Sweet pepper (Green / red)
- 3 Bunching onions (or small scallions, whatever)
- 1 big Mushroom (or 4 tiddly buttons)
T minus 15 minutes
Fire the Oven! to 500 F
Flour bottom of crust, flop on pan
Spread pizza sauce generously over crust, counter, walls, self
Distribute meat / veggies
Top with cheese
Slide onto middle shelf of oven
Set timer to 10 minutes if preheated, 12 minutes if not quite hot yet
Clean utensils / counter / walls / self
T minus zero
Remove from oven (top should be brown & bubbling)
Pause for coagulation
Cut
Distribute
Nom on!
The original recipe was about the same, plus foo-foo steps like putting oil in the dough, spreading cornmeal on the pan, oiling the crust before applying the sauce, and suchlike. You’ll need the book for all the details:
The Complete Book of Pizza
Louise Love
Sassafras Press
1980 (grin)
I’m sure something different has come along in the last third of a century, but you’ll never hear it from me. Mostly, build a few, tweak the ingredients to suit your style / what’s on hand, and it’ll be all good.
Enjoy…
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 