Pizza Night

08 February 2013.

All Hands On Deck: Homemade Pizza.

Remember when pizza night was about getting the entire family in the kitchen for hours, allowing the anticipation to build up, everybody picking his favorite toping and simply celebrating the joy of cooking together? Well, maybe you don't, but I do -- once upon a time, pizza dough in my family was made from scratch, the finished product was served fresh out of the oven, and we didn't have an empty, rancid cardboard box sitting around on top of the trashcan for two days. Maybe in your family, pizza night is about the ease and convenience of delivery -- but I'd be willing to bet that even if that is the case, pizza is still a meal that brings the entire family together.

And so it is in my family, party of two. For us, pizza night is a special occasion. We are bringing back the old-fashioned love and care that used to go into pizza baking and making -- for tin and me, pizza night is about getting in the kitchen together and creating something that we couldn't get anywhere else.

So on this special occasion, Pizza Night, I must give credit where credit is due: without tin, I would only have toppings. While she would tell you that she's never finished tweaking her dough recipe, I'll state, for the record, that she's already a dough pro.
If I watch tin create a dough, I have to honestly say that I never see any measuring cups emerge. For her, dough-making seems to be more of a "feeling" than an exact science -- which is to say that her doughs vary in thickness, in chewiness/crispiness, and in overall flavor (not accidentally). To give you a rough idea of what a possible dough might look like, I'll tell you that tin's dough always begins with fresh yeast from the refrigerator section -- never an ancient yeast packet retrieved from the depths of some unexplored pantry closet. Yeast is finicky, and it's pretty important in a dough recipe, so you'll want to get this right. If you've never used fresh yeast before, it can be, admittedly, a little intimidating -- but actually, there are only two relative simple rules of thumb to keep in mind when working with yeast:
1. Don't cook it; and
2. Give it something to eat.
Allow me to explain.
Yeast is alive. Like you and me, it enjoys a warm bath once in a while. A warm bath: not being dunked in a vat of boiling water. If yeast gets too hot too fast, it'll die. So try to avoid that.
Yeast is also hungry. For yeast to grow big and strong, it needs fuel, which can be most readily provided by sugar.
Now, applying these principles to dough-making isn't too hard. tin begins with about 1/2 oz. of yeast; she puts it into a large bowl (preferably a glazed ceramic bowl, or glass -- but definitely not metal) along with 1 1/2 cups of warm water. Note: warm water. You should know what "warm" means -- lukewarm. Like, baby-bathwater-warm.
To the warm water and yeast, she adds some kind of sugar. This is where the variations begin. While you are welcome to add 1-2 tablespoons of raw sugar, there are other ways to feed your yeast that will also bring something special to your dough. We've used honey, and maple syrup, but our personal favorite is a small, overripe banana -- simply mash it with the back of a fork until you achieve a liquid consistency.
There are a couple of other advantages to using banana -- creating pizza dough requires a bit of oil to help everything stick together -- which can be reduced by using banana. And in general, replacing sugar with banana will tend to produce a slightly thicker, chewier dough -- if that's your thing.

You should stir everything together and allow this mixture to stand at room temperature for about five minutes -- the yeast should produce bubbles.

And now, it's time to add the dry ingredients. First things first, lest you forget -- a teaspoon of salt will make everything taste a little brighter.
tin's dough varies not only in the sugar department, but also in the flour department. The two of us try to be conscious about using whole wheat products, and thus, like to use whole wheat flour in our doughs. That said, whole wheat flour tends to be very, very dense, and isn't so great as the sole component in a pizza dough. tin uses something between a 1:3 and 1:1 ratio (wheat versus all-purpose/white) when she chooses to use wheat flour in pizza dough. When using more wheat, she has found that adding up to a couple of tablespoons of gluten flour adds extra "spring" to the dough to offset the heaviness of the wheat flour.
Of course, especially if you're a beginner, it is also your prerogative to use only all-purpose flour...

This is where the real "feeling" takes over. These components need to be mixed together, dumped out on a flowered surface, and kneaded for ten minutes. You should pay attention to how the dough feels -- within the first minute, you ask yourself: is it...
1. Too Sticky: you need to add more flour.
2. Too Dry: you need to add more water.
Within the next five minutes, ask yourself: is it...
1. Too Sticky: again, add more flour.
2. Too Dry:
  2a. Is it crumbly? -- add more water.
  2b. Is it cracking? -- add a tablespoon of olive oil.
Above all, be patient. The dough should, at the end of the ten-minute kneading period, have formed a glossy, smooth ball (no cracks) that feels heavy for its size; it should "spring back" into shape when put under pressure (i.e., when kneaded). You have an entire ten minutes to make this happen, so don't jump the gun and end up adding too much water or too much flour. Relax, be patient, and communicate with your dough.

Put your dough, formed into a rounded ball, into a lightly-oiled bowl (tin prefers a glazed ceramic bowl, though she will accept glass, but, again, not metal -- which gets either too hot or, typically, too cold). You should cover it with a kitchen towel, and put it in a very, very warm place. Our dough ends up wrapped in a bath towel and placed within a few inches of a radiator; in summer, we put it on the back patio in the sun.
The dough should be left alone for about an hour while it rises.
Pizza dough, unlike bread, need only rise once. That said, if you're running a bit ahead of schedule, there is absolutely no harm in allowing yours to stand a bit longer. After one hour, remove the dough from the bowl onto a flowered surface, knead again (five minutes) -- and return it, in the oiled bowl, to its warm hiding place.
If you're ready to get the party started, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. If you have a pizza stone, that's really, really awesome -- you should use it. You can stretch the kneaded dough -- carefully -- out into a flat, ready-to-decorate base on the lined baking sheet/pizza stone (about 1/8" thick).

tin then coats her fingers in olive oil (you can scrape it out of the bowl) and rubs it onto the dough -- this will make the dough take on a nice, golden hue as it bakes. She pokes holes in it with a fork to prevent it from forming air bubbles, and puts it into a preheated oven to pre-bake (450 degrees for five minutes).* Pre-baking is important, especially when using a thick sauce, to ensure that everything stays satisfyingly crispy and, frankly, distinct -- if you don't pre-bake, you'll end up with a strange muddled mess between the dough and the sauce. But if you're into fast-food pizza, that's probably your thing.
*Note: if you're using a pizza stone, first off, chances are, you already know this. But just incase: a pizza stone should be preheated to prevent it from cracking -- place it in the cold oven and allow it to heat up, with the oven, to 450 degrees -- the stone should stay in for up to thirty minutes to ensure that it is, indeed, heated through, before you put the dough on it.

And now, it's time to flex your creative muscles.
While a classic tomato sauce is still an option even for a vegan pizza, that's technically also still an option for you when you're going out for dinner (hold the cheese, please). Instead, tin and I try to come up with our own "sauces" -- this is where your spreads/sauces/dips come into play.

The last time I made bread spreads, I made an extra container of "Just Hokkaido," which I stored in my freezer for later use. I also had a container of guacamole and salsa in there -- I got everything out for this occasion. (Obviously, I did that earlier in the day so that it would all have time to thaw.)

tin and I began the topping-fest by spreading the puréed Hokkaido squash into a thin layer over the pre-baked dough (leaving, of course, about a 3/4" perimeter un-topped).
While the crust was pre-baking, I'd sliced three cloves of garlic and chopped a medium white-onion into thin slices. We spread both out evenly over the Hokkaido, along with about 2 tablespoons of capers. We then added 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley (finely chopped).

We like to finish off our pizzas with "something juicy" and "something green" -- on this particular evening, we chose savoy cabbage and tomatoes. We used about 2 cups of savoy cabbage, finely chopped, spread evenly over the pizza, and topped it with thinly sliced Roma tomatoes. (The juice of the tomatoes will cook out and "into" the raw cabbage, but the cabbage will also get dark and crispy on the edges). We finished everything off with a sprinkle of salt, the zest of a lemon, and fresh black pepper.
We returned the pizza to the oven to bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the cabbage was getting dark in places, the dough was golden-brown, and the tomatoes were starting to look a bit dehydrated.

We enjoyed our pizza plain, and topped with a little bit of the guacamole and salsa (especially good for dipping the crust!).

Should you not be able to devour the entire pizza at once, fear not: you can keep it in your refrigerator for a few days. Simply pop it back in the oven to reheat it when you're ready.