Pizza!!!

Pizza is one of the great foods of the world. I would venture to guess that there are very few people in the world that have not tried pizza in some form or another. Its such a great food that lends itself to so many variations and options. And its a really simple menu item you can add to your skills and master in very little time.

As a kid I ate many a Kraft “homemade” pizza where you simply added water to the flour mix, and then used sauce that came in a can. You could then add whatever toppings you wanted to make it your own. But it is really a simple thing to make, and the recipe that follows is pretty straight forward and works for me every time.

Now, you will notice in both the video and in the recipe that I provide a series of ratios for the pizza dough. Most bakers work with what’s called bakers math, meaning that every ingredient is scaled or measured as a ratio of the amount of flour that is being used. What this means is that you begin by weighing the amount of flour that you are going to use, and then the rest of the ingredients are a ratio of this weight.

So, as example in the dough I make in the video, the weight of the flour is 200g, and the salt needs to be 2% of that weight, so I used 4g of salt. Here is the remainder of the recipe, with volume measurements for those that don’t have a kitchen scale at home.

 RatioWeightVolume
Flour100%200g1⅓ cup
Salt2%4g1.5 tsp
Yeast (instant) or1%2g1 tsp
Yeast (active dry)1.5%3g1.5 tsp
Oil/fat8%16g2 tbsp
Water60%120g1/2 cup

Simply toss all the ingredients into a bowl, mix until you have a fairly smooth and elastic dough, and then cover and let rise. Its really not that hard, and for all my Newfoundland peeps, or fans of Newfoundland’s cuisine, this works great as a touton dough as well. More than once I have doubled this recipe just to have touton dough for breakfast the next day.

My dough is ready to rise.

The dough will take about 45-60 minutes to double in size, which is the perfect time to get everything else ready to go on the pizza. And this is the perfect time to make a quick pizza sauce for yourself. Again, this is pretty easy from what you will be able to see in the video, and it allows you to really develop the flavour that you want for your pizza. I always start with a fair amount of olive oil and then add sliced onions, letting them cook slowly so that they don’t brown too much. When they are ready, I add a LOT of garlic and then some dried herbs. Today, I used oregano, but sometimes I use basil or thyme, or a combination of a few different. The amount you add is up to you. Next, its time to add the tomato. Now, you can simply go with tomato sauce, and there has been many a time that I have used diced tomatoes, because that’s what I had on hand, In today’s video I used San Marzano tomatoes, which really pack a lot of punch in terms of flavour. Give them a shot if you see them at the grocery store. Allow your sauce to simmer until its the consistency that you want, and finish with salt and a bit of sugar if you prefer a sweeter sauce. But like I suggest in the video, its like making tea or coffee, everyone has their own taste preferences from the amount of sugar and milk, etc.

My sauce is all ready to go.

Once you have all your ingredients ready, you can go ahead an assemble your pizza. Its probably a good idea to turn on your oven before you assemble your pizza, and pizza always cooks best in a really hot oven, especially when using a cast iron pan like I did. If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you could use any oven safe skillet, or a sheet pan, but its best to use a heavy duty one so that it doesn’t buckle.

I always suggest a layer of Parmesan on top of the sauce since I find it helps to keep everything in place, plus it packs a significant amount of umami, (one of the major flavour profiles). Next is the cheese, and again, go with what you like. Don’t let anyone tell you its the wrong kind of cheese. I always go with my meats next, and then finish with any veggies I am going to add. And of course, a little extra Parmesan on top, and into the oven it goes.

Ready for the oven

If your oven is good and hot, it should take no more than 7-10 minutes to cook, but keep a close eye. Its much easier to cook it for a little longer than to reverse overcooking your pizza.

Fresh from the oven

With a little practice you can become a pizza pro in no time. There is something very rewarding about making your own food. And for those of you with kids, this is a great activity to do together as a family.

Enjoying a bite of the pizza.

Please have a watch of the video and let me know what you think.

I love making pizza!!

2 Replies to “Pizza!!!”

  1. My favourite! Pizza
    Thanks for posting the teaspoons to cups never heard of bakers math lol maybe this is what my mom did she never measured always went by eye or touch

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