Many families rely on pizza for a once-a-week day off for the
cook. Pizza as we know it,
 hot and gooey and sticking to the top of its cardboard box
(despite those little plastic table things in the middle), is an
all-American treat. What is pizza exactly?
Many families rely on pizza for a once-a-week day off for the cook. Pizza as we know it, hot and gooey and sticking to the top of its cardboard box (despite those little plastic table things in the middle), is an all-American treat. What is pizza exactly?
According to cookbook author and Italian-American cook Lidia Matticchio Bastianich,”Take a piece of bread dough, roll it out with a rolling pin, stretch it further with the tips of your fingers, top it with whatever comes to mind, dress it with oil or lard, cook it on a hearth, and you will know what pizza is. So wrote De Bourcard in the middle of the 18th century. Although he was of French descent, he became Neapolitanized, and that means familiar with pizza and its delights and diversities.”
According to Bastianich, “focaccia” is the form from Liguria and Tuscany; Calabria calls theirs “pitta,” and the Veneto (the area around Venice) call theirs “pinza,” but “pizza napoletana” is the basis of the food that has become as American as hot dogs.
As De Bourcard says, they all start with dough very similar to bread dough. It is now possible to buy dough that only needs one more brief rising before baking in supermarket refrigerator cases, but it is not hard to make from scratch.
Pizza Dough
(from “Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen” by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Alfred A. Knopf, 2001)
Makes enough for four 12-inch margherita pizzas, two 8-inch square Sicilian pizzas, or fifteen 4-inch calzones.
1 tsp. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 1/2 tsp. salt
olive oil
Step 1: Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a medium bowl, and let stand until dissolved.
Step 2: Toss the flour and salt together and stir into the dissolved yeast, using a wooden spoon or your fingers, until you have a soft dough.
Step 3: Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead 5 to 10 minutes, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Step 4: Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn the dough to coat all sides with oil and over with a damp cloth. Set the bowl in a warm draft-free spot until it doubles in volume, about 1 1/2 hours.
Step 5: When the dough has doubled in volume, punch it down and divide into the number of portions you are making. Place the dough balls on a lightly oiled baking sheet and cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly against the dough. Refrigerate until the dough is once again roughly doubled in bulk, 12 to 24 hours.
Pizza dough can be frozen for up to one month. Thaw and bring to room temperature before shaping.
To shape the pizzas, I found the most useful method in the Gourmet cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl:
Step 1: Do not punch down dough. Carefully dredge it in a bowl of flour to coat, and transfer to a dry work surface.
Step 2: Hold one edge of dough in the air with both hands. Let the bottom touch work surface. Carefully move your hands around the edge of dough (like turning a steering wheel), allowing weight of dough to stretch dough into a rough round of just under the size you want.
Step 3: Lay dough flat on lightly floured work surface and continue to work edges with fingers, stretching dough to its final shape and size.
Pizza Margherita
This pizza is thought to be named in honor of the visit of Italian Queen Margherita to Naples in the late 19th century, soon after Italy had been unified. The red tomato, white mozzarella and green basil echo the colors of the then new Italian flag.
This version is from the Gourmet cookbook.
1 pound plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, or 1 28- to 32-oz. can whole tomatoes in juice, drained, seeded and chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated mozzarella (about 6 oz.)
Basic pizza dough
1-2 Tbs. cornmeal, for sprinkling baking surface
6 – 8 medium fresh basil leaves
Recommended equipment: a pizza stone and a baker’s peel, rubbed with flour. A pizza stone (also available as bricks) will give your ordinary oven the characteristics of a true baker’s oven and is also useful for bread baking projects.
The peel is a large wooden paddle that allows you to slide the floppy pizza onto the pizza stone neatly, then retrieve it when done without burning your fingers. Both are available from The Baker’s Catalogue, pizza stones from Williams-Sonoma.
Step 1: Put pizza stone on oven floor if using a gas oven, on lowest rack if using electric. Remove other racks in either case, and preheat oven to 500-550 degrees. Allow about 1 hour to preheat stone. If you are not using a pizza stone, use a large baking sheet, and simply preheat oven.
Step 2: Prepare the topping: Combine the tomatoes, salt and 2 tablespoons oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet and bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to 1 cup, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
Step 3: Toss together grated mozzarella and remaining 1 tablespoon oil.
Step 4: Shape the dough according to directions above.
Step 5: Assemble and bake the pizza. Sprinkle baker’s peel or rimless baking sheet with 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Carefully slide dough onto peel or pan and jerk it once or twice; if dough sticks, lift it and sprinkle a little more cornmeal underneath.
Step 6: Spread tomato sauce evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border, and top with mozzarella.
Step 7: Line up far edge of peel or pan with far edge of stone (in the oven) or baking sheet (outside the oven), jerking it gently to start pizza moving. When edge of pizza touches stone or pan, quickly pull back peel to transfer pizza to stone. Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted and bubbling, about 8 minutes.
Step 8. Slide peel under pizza to remove from oven, then scatter basil leaves on top.
