Easy high hydration pizza

Here are detailed instructions for a truly delicious homemade pizza.

Today I am making pizza for 2 moderate eaters. I make it every other week or so. I use the dough recipe for Pizza Bianca published in Cooks Illustrated Sept. 2008. My own annotations are in brackets. The original recipe was for a pizza 3 times as large, to be made in a half sheet. I use a 12" pizza pan on a round pizza stone, both of which I got in the dollar store. I'm just saying: you can have really terrific pizza without killing yourself. This recipe takes a little time in the middle of the day, then finishes up in about an hour just before serving. The technique is this: make a highly hydrated pizza dough, bake it partially, then put on sauce, cheese and vegetable toppings and bake some more. The vegetable toppings are refrigerator staples, pre-cooked because they will only cook on the pizza for 10 minutes at 450.The sauce is made quickly and simply.

To make the pizza for serving at 6pm, start between 1pm and 2pm. The warmer your kitchen, the later you can start. If you are not started by 4pm, you should make something else for dinner, or eat later.

Equipment needed: 12" pizza pan. Baker's stone if you have one. Stand mixer.

ingredients:

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour [original recipe called for 00 flour I think, but it is hard to find, and not really any better in this recipe. ]

scant cup of water room temperature [if your yeast is at room temperature. use warm water if your yeast is in the fridge.]

5/8 tsp salt

3/4 tsp instant yeast. do not use regular yeast.

3/4 tsp sugar

sauce and toppings:

1-14.5 oz. can of tomatoes.  I use muir glen chopped fire roasted.

1 tsp honey

5 or 6 cloves garlic sliced thin

4-6 large mushrooms sliced

1 medium onion halved and sliced about 1/8"

1/2 of a 2.25oz. can, drained, of sliced ripe black olives

scant 2 oz. of grated full fat mozzarella cheese, grated with large holes, or fontina or havarti, or any cheese that melts well. I sometimes use raclette, and sometimes my own home made camembert.

a few tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese

olive oil

crushed hot pepper

Directions

1. [warm a stand mixer bowl by running it under hot water]
2. mix flour, salt and water in the stand mixer, [using the paddle, not the hook], until no dry flour remains, scraping the bowl sides and bottom.
3. cover bowl [still on stand with paddle still in it] and let rest for 20 minutes while the flour hydrates.
4. sprinkle yeast and sugar over dough. then mix on high with paddle until dough is glossy, smooth, and pulls away from the bowl entirely, about 3-4 minutes. BE CAREFUL: keep your mixer well away from the edge of the surface that it is on, and do not walk away from it! It very likely will creep on the counter, and you don't want it to fall off!
5. [leave the dough in the mixing bowl]. cover tightly with plastic, and let rise at room temperature [or in a warm spot in the kitchen in winter. do not put it warming oven or rising box] until nearly trippled in volume and large bubbles have formed. [I just leave it until 5pm, when I start preparing the toppings, and sauce, accepting whatever condition the dough is in, because it is just fine.....]
6. [around 4:30 to 4:45, preheat oven, with stone inside, to 450 degrees. If you can't , just return to the kitchen at 5pm to do the rest of the work, preheating before beginning.]  

 return to the kitchen at 5pm- and you have 3 things going: the sauce and the toppings and the dough.

1. start the sauce by draining the tomatoes, pressing well to remove as much juice as possible. put the drained tomatoes in the food processor, and whiz to somewhere between chopped and pureed.If you don't have a food processor, just chop the tomatoes fine-ish. put the juice in a large saute or fry pan, and cook it over medium heat until it is well reduced.remove from heat and set aside. mix the tomatoes back with the reduced juice, and add a tsp. or so of honey, and salt if needed, until the flavor seems balanced. use a light hand with the honey, you are looking for a flavor that is close to fresh, summer tomatoes.  alternately, I often use leftover sauce I have in the fridge, reducing it to make it thicker, if needed, or occasionally some bottled sauce.
2. while working on other things: at 5:15, oil your pizza pan with olive oil, turn the dough out onto the pan, and press it from the center to the edges. it will be very wet and rubbery. if it keeps snapping back, stretch it while lifting it a bit. if it still doesn't cooperate, let it rest for 5 minutes and try again. get it as round as you can, but do not obsess. It will taste wonderful whatever shape it ends up. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. you want it in the oven by 5:30 to serve at 6, so you may have to skimp on the rest, or serve dinner a little late.
3. meantime, the toppings: put a small glug of oil into a large saute pan.cook the garlic on very low heat until tender. add the onions, raise the heat a bit, and cook until almost soft. then add the mushroom, stir everything around until it is cooked, but not crisp. don't cook the olives. You can also do this in a dry teflon pan, if you want to cut down on the oil or the calories. I think the flavors are more distinct from a dry pan.....  anyway, when the veg is lightly cooked, set the pan aside to cool.
4. at 5:30, the dough should be slightly bubbly. prick with a dinner fork, 15-20 times, all over. bake for 15-17 minutes until spotty brown. during this baking time you can finish up the sauce, or toppings. If they are ready, start the salad, if you are serving one, which I always do.

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5. remove from oven, put on about 3/8 or half cup of tomato sauce, about 3/4 cup cheese, then the cooked  toppings spread out all together. then the olives. don't put on too much cheese or sauce. this pizza has the most terrific tasting crust, you want to taste it! put back in oven for 10 minutes, until the cheese begins to brown in spots. set the table. while it is baking.
6. remove from oven, sprinkle with hot pepper and parmesan and serve. you will notice this pizza does not burn the roof of your mouth. yay! after serving the first slices, turn off the oven and put the pizza back in the oven to keep it warm. if you leave it on the table it will get cold, unlike in a restaurant, because it was baked at 450, not 800.

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I gave such detailed timings and instructions, because it can be routine and relaxing to make pizza for dinner, if you have the timings right. I hope your family gets as much enjoyment from this as mine does!