Pizza

Serves 4

Ingredients

Day 1 - Pizza dough ingredients
1 ½ teaspoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water (110-115F)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
2 ½ cup bread flour

Pizza sauce ingredients
1 garlic clove, minced (or ½ t garlic powder)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried basil
3 T tomato paste
1 cup chopped tomatoes with sauce
1-2 T water, to thin sauce if necessary

Day 2
7 ounces mozzarella cheese
2 toppings of your choice (3 oz pepperoni, ½ cup sausage, 2oz canadian bacon, olives, red onion, basil, green bell pepper, pineapple, jalapeno, fresh tomato, etc)

Method

Method for pizza dough
Place the yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Measure 1 cup warm water (110-115F) in a glass liquid measuring cup. When you have the correct temperature, add the yeast/sugar combo and gently stir with a spoon until the yeast and sugar have dissolved. Set aside for about 5-7 minutes and watch the yeast grow and bubble!

To a large bowl add the flour and salt, mix. Make a well in the middle. Add the oil and the foaming yeast mixture. Gently mix with a wooden spoon. When the dough becomes too stiff to stir, flour your hands and your countertop and place the dough onto the countertop. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes so you build the gluten in the flour, adding flour to keep it from sticking to anything. The dough should feel soft and smooth and no longer sticky when it has been kneaded enough.

Place dough inside of your LABELED (label with kitchen name and period ) Ziploc bag, and place it on the tray on the runway.

Method for pizza sauce
Place all items in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and balance acid, sweet and salt flavors. When you think you have the perfect balance, pour sauce into a container, cover and label with kitchen name and period and place it on the runway with pizza dough.

Day 2 - assembling pizza

Preheat the oven to 475-500 F convections.

Knead dough two times to work out any air bubbles. Dust hands with flour and form dough into a round pizza patty and let rest for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, stretch the dough to the thickness you like. Let gravity do a lot of the work. Go thinner than you think, really stretch it, you may be able to get two pizzas out of this! Place crust(s) on cookie sheet(s) and with your fingers pinch a little raised rim around the edge of your pizza dough shape (it does not have to be round).

With a spoon, spread the pizza sauce over the dough. Sprinkle with cheese and additional toppings.

Place pizza on bottom rack and bake until the cheese has melted, the crust is a dark golden brown and the underside of the crust is dark golden brown and crunchy looking, about 10 minutes, move to the upper rack half way through. Use a spatula to lift the pie to check the bottom.

When golden brown on the bottom, remove from the oven. Either cut with kitchen shears on the cookie sheet or move pizza to a cutting board if you use the pizza cutter.