THE MENU: Pizza Margherita and with Caramelized Onions, Figs, Bacon and Blue Cheese
THE SONG: This is What We Do by MC Hammer
OK, so you might wonder: MC Hammer + Pizza = Where are you going with this? It may seem far-fetched, but bear with me… I was craving pizza and needing to bake (I have a special relationship with baking), so I set out to make some pizza dough. I plunked my flour bags, yeast jar, and mixer on the counter and cracked open my laptop, contemplating the appropriate soundtrack for my kneading. The go-to options are Italian opera or mafia music — yeah, that’s right, mafia music, you know what I mean — but that’s all so cliche, and being that I don’t have an ounce of Italian blood in me and didn’t grow up eating meatballs with the mafia, they’re not all that personal of a reference.
But pizza IS a big part of my family, in an altogether different way. The first thing pizza reminds me of is my brother, who would subsist on the stuff if given the choice. In our household, there was always some manner of frozen pizza on hand, delivery numbers were practically on speed-dial, and of course, there were frequent battles over where to go to dinner. The dramas of our sibling rivalry played out in these arguments: me wanting to try the Indian place or bean soup at the new cafe, he wanting a place that serves pizza, ideally in the form of a buffet with a Pac Man arcade machine. It still drives me crazy, but alas: the inspiration for my pizza soundtrack. Connor, my brother, also loves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also love pizza (remember “Pizza Power!”?). And MC Hammer laid down some choice tunes for that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack, so that’s exactly what played over the loud churning of my mixer.
It’s hard to wax lyrical about my memories of actually making pizza. Those weird, never-expire Boboli pizza crusts and handful of failed homemade pizza dough attempts were God-awful. Frankly, making pizza at home can be traumatic. Better to just order in. But the desire to bake and eat pizza drove me to try, try again. Sam Sifton’s “Crust Fund” article from T Magazine last summer cheered me on and gave me recipes to work with, and Jill Santopietro‘s “Tiny Kitchen” video on said recipes gave me even better guidance, and I forged ahead.
SAM SIFTON’S PIZZA DOUGH
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour, plus more for dusting
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 1/4 teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (my note: if you don’t have kosher salt, just use sea salt)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1. The morning or ideally the day before cooking, prepare the dough. Using a hand whisk, combine the flours, yeast and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in 1 1/2 cups cold water and olive oil until a rough dough forms. Set the bowl on the mixer and, using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and beat for 4 to 6 minutes, until it becomes a wet and vaguely menacing mass. (If it forms into a ball, lower the miser speed to medium-high. If not, stop the mixer to scrape down the sides once.) My note: add tiny bits of water or flour to adjust dough moisture and give it at least 30 seconds to mix — it’s easy to add too much and throw off the balance.
2. Scrape and pour the dough onto a heavily floured work surface. Keeping your fingers, the counter top and the dough well floured, fold one dough end over the other so that half the floured underside covers the rest of the dough. Let rest for 10 minutes.
3. Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth ball. Place each ball on a well-oiled plate, generously dust with flour and loosely cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it is at least doubled in size, about 3 hours.
4. Punch the dough balls down, shape into rounds and place each in a quart-size freezer bag. Refrigerate dough between 1 and 24 hours.
PIZZA WITH CARAMELIZED ONIONS, FIGS, BACON AND BLUE CHEESE by Sam Sifton
Serves 2 (according to Sam Sifton)
1 large Spanish onion
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
Kosher salt
4 thick slices bacon, cut into 1/4-inch thick batons
1 ball pizza dough (see above)
Flour, for dusting surface
12 dried mission figs, stems trimmed, cut into quarters or small pieces
3/4 cup crumbled Gorgonzola
Extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Freshly cracked black pepper
1. At least 45 minutes before cooking, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 550 degrees.
2. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over high heat. Add the onions, thyme, and bay leaves. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onions begin to wilt. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and turn a deep, golden brown, about 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove the bay leaves and transfer the onions to a small bowl.
3. Place the pizza dough on a heavily floured surface and stretch and pull, using your hands or a rolling pin, into about a 14-inch round. Place on a lightly floured pizza peel or rimless baking sheet. Cover with the toppings, careful not to press on the dough and weigh it down: the caramelized onions first, then the figs and bacon, and finally the Gorgonzola, leaving roughly a 1/2 inch border. Shake the pizza peel slightly to make sure the dough is not sticking. Carefully slide the pizza directly onto the baking stone in one quick, forward-and-back motion. Cook until the crust has browned on the bottom and the top is bubbling and browning in spots, about 7 minutes. Drizzle with a little olive oil and some cracked black pepper. Serve hot. Makes 1 pizza.
MY PIZZA MARGHERITA
Serves 1-2, depending on how much pizza you can handle
1 can of San Marzano plum tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 – 1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 ball pizza dough (see above)
Flour, for dusting surface
1 ball Fresh Mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
Fresh basil
Heat oven to maximum heat at least 45 minutes before cooking, with oven tiles or pizza stone on the lowest possible shelf.
SAUCE In a blender, place three plum tomatoes and about 1/2 cup of tomato liquid along with oregano, basil, marjoram, salt, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Blend on high for about two minutes, until well-pureed.
PIZZA Press, roll, and toss pizza dough using a rolling pin (or wine bottle if you don’t have a rolling pin) and hands into a 14-inch or larger round. The dough should be extremely thin. Place on a floured pizza peel or rimless baking sheet and cover with toppings, starting with sauce, then cheese and basil. Drizzle with olive oil before sliding into oven (jiggle the pizza on the pan or pizza peel first to make sure it isn’t stuck, then quickly slide it onto the pizza stone or oven tiles). Cook until the crust is browned and cheese well-melted, about 8-10 minutes.
A few tips:
You need a pizza stone or oven tiles. Oven tiles tend to be cheaper and work just as well; they’re ceramic tiles that you line up on the bottom of your oven and they help regulate heat while you bake or, in this case, they act as a cooking surface themselves.
You need a really, really hot oven. The recipes below suggest heating the oven to 550 degrees or maximum heat at least 45 minutes before you cook. My friend Hailey also suggests putting your oven on “Clean” mode, if it has one. This will crank it up even hotter. You need the crust and the toppings to cook quickly and evenly, and the hotter, the better.
Plan ahead. Waiting for the dough to rise takes a few hours, so try to make it in the morning or even days early. It can keep in the fridge for a few days, so you can put together a couple of batches over the weekend and then store it for the week. I want to try freezing it, but I haven’t tested that theory yet.
Key supplies, from suppliers I like:
Oven Tiles from Brooklyn Kitchen
Epicurian Pizza Peel from Brooklyn Kitchen
Bacon from the Meat Hook
Fresh Mozzarella and Gorgonzola Cremaficato from Bedford Cheese Shop
