I have no secrets to making decent homemade pizza. But I've gotten enough requests for my recipe and techniques that it's time to post what works for me. Eternal gratitude to Stephanie Oshman who launched my latter day pizza prowess with the gift of Truly Madly Pizza by Suzanne Lenzer, Rodale Books. Beyond Lenzer's recipes pasted below, I have only two additional tips: (1) use a baking steel (for J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's take on baking steel versus baking stone click here), and (2) use parchment paper to easily slide the pie off your peel onto the steel. I've seen warnings on the web about parchment paper burning. That is not my experience.
UPDATE: Speaking of Kenji, I recently tried his recipe for New York-Style Pizza Dough, and the early returns suggest that it is nothing short of amazing. The flavor and texture took me back to my misspent youth on Long Island! After doing some quick calculations, I figured that adding 2 teaspoons of sugar to the recipe below gets me virtually to the same place.
As for sauce, I had an epiphany the other day. I stopped in for a slice at State of Mind, a local pizzeria that I'd only been to a couple of time before. At first, I was disconcerted when they told me they do not have dried oregano like virtually every other slice shop I've ever been to. But that soon became irrelevant. My first bite of a plain cheese slice was an explosion of bright, fresh flavor. When I inquired about their outstanding sauce, they generously shared that they use California grown Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes right out of the can with just three additional ingredients--fresh oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper. They just toss it in the blender, and do not cook it. I can't wait to try my own take on it, on top of Kenji's dough!
Mangia!
UPDATE: Speaking of Kenji, I recently tried his recipe for New York-Style Pizza Dough, and the early returns suggest that it is nothing short of amazing. The flavor and texture took me back to my misspent youth on Long Island! After doing some quick calculations, I figured that adding 2 teaspoons of sugar to the recipe below gets me virtually to the same place.
As for sauce, I had an epiphany the other day. I stopped in for a slice at State of Mind, a local pizzeria that I'd only been to a couple of time before. At first, I was disconcerted when they told me they do not have dried oregano like virtually every other slice shop I've ever been to. But that soon became irrelevant. My first bite of a plain cheese slice was an explosion of bright, fresh flavor. When I inquired about their outstanding sauce, they generously shared that they use California grown Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes right out of the can with just three additional ingredients--fresh oregano, thyme, and crushed red pepper. They just toss it in the blender, and do not cook it. I can't wait to try my own take on it, on top of Kenji's dough!
Mangia!
*I hope Truly Madly Pizza's attorneys think of this as free advertising rather than a copyright violation.
