Thin-crust pizza

I had a 20-year career in telecommunications engineering in my thirties and forties, at times working alongside an Italian-American guy from New York. Bob had deeply set eyes and a hangdog look, at odds with his pleasant manner. On Fridays, he'd show up at the office with a homemade pizza that he called his "garbage pie”—baked dough, sauce, cheese, and whatever leftovers were in his fridge. Pizza is a dish of humble origins, so when it became known that Margherita of Savoy, the first queen of unified Italy, loved pizza and often asked her kitchen staff to prepare it, the dish was elevated to an honored position, and the Pizza Margherita, in the colors of the Italian flag, was named for her.

On a personal level, some things   about this dish are inviolable. I’ll never let barbecued chicken or sliced pineapple near it. Or broccolli or cannned tuna. That being said, it’s probably the most bastardized, personalized dish in the world, but I keep it simple. I once ate at Da Michele in Naples, at 150 years old one of the oldest pizzerias in the birthplace of pizza. They had two kinds of pizza, Margherita and Marinara. That was it. The toppings I use are familiar to most Americans and Italians, but with enough variation to keep it interesting: anchovies, sausage, pepperoni, clams, peppers, onions, mushrooms, pepperoncini, black olives. Maybe spinach, pesto (in lieu of tomato sauce), capers, or fresh basil leaves. But please, no cheeseburger or broccoli. French fries on a pizza? Get outta here!  

As traditional culture continues to sink under the weight of reality TV, morning shock jocks, Donald Trump, the Kardashians, and Guy Fieri, let’s endeavor to dampen our inner crassness, and show a little refinement.

Don't be afraid to experiment--there is no best recipe, just practices that work under certain circumstances, and ones that don't. I learned a trick from, believe it or not, an ESL textbook I was using in Morocco. In a lesson on sequential adverbs (first, then, next, after that, finally, etc.), there were a few recipes, including one for pizza that suggested pre-heating the dough before adding the sauce and cheese. I tried it, and it really made the thin crust pop. Just a little, don't brown it. When you see it start to bubble up, that's enough.

Sometimes I don't even cook the sauce, just parboil the tomatoes enough to peel them and scoop the seeds out, then add the herbs and seasonings. Other times, especially if I want to make extra sauce for a pasta or a sandwich later in the week, I'll do a nice slow cook, and add a little sugar and a little salt, just to achieve the right balance of savory and sweetness. More on that below.

You aren't limited to red sauce. Pesto works wonderfully, and goes great with diced clams. 

The Dough

I used to use all-purpose flour, but because it was so elastic, it took forever to roll out the dough. Lots of grocery stores have started carrying high-gluten and 00 flour. 00 is an Italian grading which means the flour is extra-finely ground. Most of the 00 flour in the U.S. also has a fairly high gluten content, around 11 or 12%. And it's also much easier to roll out. I tend to use about a 2-to-1 ratio of 00 flour to all-purpose, but I might start using 00 exclusively. King Arthur makes 00 flour for pizza, and you can usually find it at Whole Foods or your local food co-op.

Lately, I've found that making the dough in a warm place and then putting it in a closed, oiled container in the fridge overnight allows it to rise and also makes it a little easier to work with. Even wait a couple of nights if something else comes up. But sometimes I'll just let it set for an hour under the warmth of the hood light.

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This recipe is for a medium, 36 cm (about 14-inch) diameter round pizza. I use roughly this same amount when I bake on a 14"x16" (36 cm x 40 cm) pizza stone, which is around 40% larger than that the round pan, so you can use this same amount for up to a 17" round pan.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 1 and 1/2 cups (about 350 ml) of flour (use 00 pizza flour or high-gluten flour if you can find it)
• 1 tsp. dry yeast (about 1/2 of a packet)
• about 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in a 1/4-cup (about 60 ml) or 1/3 cup (80 ml) of warm water. Mix the flour, salt and olive oil. Add the dissolved yeast, and mix well. Slowly add more water and mix until the dough is firm enough to knead. Knead for about 3-4 minutes, adding water or additional flour to make a nice, pliable dough. 

Oil the mixing bowl, coat the ball of dough in the oil, cover with plastic wrap or a plate, and set aside for an hour to let it rise. Or leave it wrapped and oiled, in the fridge, overnight.

The Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4-5 roma tomatoes, seeds removed
• 1/2 small can of tomato paste
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. onion flakes
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper 
• 1 tbsp. basil
• 1 tbsp. oregano
• 1/4 tsp. white vinegar (optional)

Put everything into a food processor and purée. It's ready to use.

If you want to thicken it, put the sauce in a saucepan, bring to a simmer, then turn it down to low until the sauce thickens.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 205 degrees Celsius.

Toppings (optional)

• green (and/or red) peppers

• onions, garlic

• mushrooms (all kinds, within reason)

• black olives (The brine can make it a bit salty, so maybe don't combine black olives with anchovies)

• artichokes

• capers, peperoncini, etc.

• sausage or pepperoni

• anchovies, clams, or tuna packed in oil

• spinach, pesto, fresh basil leaves

For any vegetables, like green or red peppers, mushrooms, or onion, you'll need saute them before you put them on the pizza, because otherwise the pizza will get too watery. Don't overdue it...you'll want to retain the color of the vegetables, especially if you're using a mixture of red and green peppers.

When the dough has risen to twice its original size, punch it down, and sprinkle a handful of coarse semolina or cornmeal or flour on the pan or stone (I've started using all-purpose flour and it works just fine). Keep dusting the flattened dough with a little flour as you roll it out, and flip the dough as you roll it, keeping each side floured. Roll out the dough to thinly cover the pan. I find it easier to roll it out on the countertop and then transfer it to the pan quickly, so as not to misshape the dough. If you are cooking on a preheated stone, it's easiest to fold the sheet of dough in quarters and then unfold it on the stone. Just remember that you should dust it with enough flour so that you can unfold it on the hot stone.

If you want to pre-bake the dough, put in the oven for just a few minutes, until it starts to blister and puff out--you don't want it to brown. Remove the dough and add your sauce, cheese, and toppings, in that order.

Ladle the sauce on and spread it around, nearly to the edge of the dough.  

Grate the mozzarella (I like to use both low-moisture mozzarella and the boules of flor di latte or bufalo). Don't overdo it on--that's a classic American mistake. There should be enough, but it shouldn't be smothered in gloppy “mootzarell'". 

Add the sauteed vegetables, then whatever other vegetable toppings you have like olives, artichokes, peperoncini, or capers.

Finally, add the meat or the fish. Don’t skimp on the pepperoni, but don’t overdo it, either. Same with anchovies—one or two per slice. If your friends don't like anchovies, find some new friends.

Sprinkle a few more of the herbs over the pizza: basil, oregano, or italian seasoning (optional).

Optionally, add some freshly grated parmesan cheese, a light dusting, and drizzle a little olive oil (garlic or chili pepper-infused oil is nice if you have it) over the whole pie.

Bake until the cheeses are fully melted and just starting to brown, about 10 minutes. 

Remove, sprinkle with some minced red chili pepper flakes to taste, and serve.