Pizza Sauce – Let’s Play ‘Hide the Little Fish’

I can assure you that the anchovies in this pizza sauce recipe are there for the subtle saltiness and unique savoriness they provide, and not just so you can tell your friend (the one who really hates anchovies) that they just ate some. Could it be for both? Sure.

This pizza sauce recipe represents a new and improved version of the one we posted way back in 2007. We snuck in some of the aforementioned fish, and we’re also using both fresh and dried oregano. I love this sauce. If there’s a tastier, all-purpose pizza sauce recipe out there, I haven’t tried it.

Convention wisdom says that great pizza is all about the crust. Which is certainly a huge factor, but if you were given the choice between a great crust topped with a bad sauce, and a grocery store crust made with a delicious, world-class sauce, which would you prefer?

Texture aside, no mater how theyre combined, flour, water, and yeast can only taste so bad. But, a terrible sauce can actually make a slice of pizza inedible. I can’t remember ever not eating a piece of pizza because the crust was so awful, but Ive given up after biting into an inferior sauce before.

Of course, around these parts the argument is completely academic since we’ve not only provided you with a plan for perfect sauce, but given you several great pizza dough recipes, like our famous no-knead pizza dough, as well as the venerable Wolfgang Puck California-style dough recipe. I hope you make pizza soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes about 3 cups):

3 tbsp olive oil

2 anchovy filets

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled “San Marzano” tomatoes

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

very small pinch baking soda

Read More..

Daring Bakers Basic Pizza Dough

Life has been hectic lately but I simply couldn’t pass up a reason to make pizza. I was really psyched for this months Daring Bakers challenge because its been a while since I last hauled out made Steven haul out the pizza stone. Thanks for choosing and hosting this month’s challenge Rosa! Even though I made the pizzas, I still screwed up because I didn’t take any pictures. I apologize for the boring all-text post and I’ll try to keep it short.

My go-to pizza recipe is my no knead pizza dough recipe (the no-knead concept definitely isn’t mine but I’d like to think the pizza recipe itself is my own creation, but eh semantics aside). It has great flavor, has a chewy crumb and crispy crust, and involves zero kneading so it requires next to no effort. Everyone can make it because you don’t need a KitchenAid. Good times. The recipe that the DBs are using this month comes from The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, which is one of the best cookbooks available for bread baking. Basically, my goal this month was to compare the two recipes.

The Reinhart recipe definitely requires a KitchenAid because even youre willing to to put in some serious elbow grease kneading, the dough will most likely be too sticky to handle so a KitchenAid is really your best bet. Both the no-knead and this recipe involves a long, slow rise (no-knead at room temp vs. Reinhart dough in the fridge), which results in good flavor so neither dough is lacking in the taste department. You can keep the Reinhart dough in the fridge for up to three days and you can transfer the no-knead dough to the fridge after the initial room temp rise for both storage and increasing flavor. While the Reinhart dough is still on the tacky side, it isn’t nearly as sticky as the no-knead dough, making it much easier to work with. On the other hand, the extra water in the no knead dough makes a crispier crust and chewier crumb. In the end, Steven preferred my usual no-knead recipe, which is fine with me because that dough is much faster to make. But the Reinhart dough is still excellent. Really, whichever way you go, you’re guaranteed to have great pizza crust.

Now that you have good dough, you just need good sauce and good cheese. I made the sauce with the roasted tomatoes I made two months ago. The roasting process really brought out the sweetness of otherwise pathetic run-of-the-mill store tomatoes and added a hint of smokiness. Or you can just use a can of decent tomatoes because honestly, who has 6 hours to spare waiting for tomatoes to roast? I certainly dont anymore. It’s also really important to use fresh mozzarella. If you live close to a Trader Joes or Costco, you can get fresh mozzarella without breaking the bank. I think itll run you about $5/lb. It simply doesn’t compare to the part skim low moisture bricks from the store - there’s no going back.

Basic Pizza Dough
Recipe from
“The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart

4 1/2 cups flour (I
used 3 cups of bread flour and 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour)
1 3/4
teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups
cold water
1 Tablespoon sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for
dusting

DAY ONE
Mix the flour, salt and instant yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer.

Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well. Knead with the dough hook for 5 – 7 minutes. The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl, add a tablespoon or two of flour. If the dough is not sticking to the bottom of the bowl, add a tablespoon or two of water.

The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky (if will stick to your hands), not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

Divide the dough into 4 balls of dough. Brush the tops with a little olive oil, cover and keep in the fridge. Let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days. You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO
On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the cold oven. After the pizza stone is in the oven, then preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C). If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

Generously sprinkle the back a cookie sheet with no lip with some cornmeal . Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss (optional). Instead of tossing, continue to stretch the dough over your hands, or place on the cookie sheet and using your palms to stretch it into the desired thinness. Make only one pizza at a time.

During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully, then try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 6 – 10 minutes. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.


Roasted Tomatoes
3 lbs tomatoes

Cut the tomatoes in half and get rid of the goopy stuff (I don’t know what else to call it) and the seeds).

Arrange the tomatoes in a large nonreactive baking dish like pyrex or corningware.

Roast in the oven at 350 degrees F for 4 – 6 hours or until the tomatoes start to shrivel and dry up but make sure they don’t burn. The roasting time will depend on how watery the tomatoes are.

After roasting, allow the tomatoes to cool. The skins can be slipped off really easily. Store in the freezer or use in soup or sauces.



Quick Tomato Sauce

(makes about 3 cups of sauce)

1 28 oz. can diced or whole tomatoes, pureed in a food processor, blender, or put through a food mill
2 tbsp olive oil
2 - 4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
About 1/2 C fresh basil leaves, chopped or chiffonade (optional, if you have it)

Add garlic and olive oil to a (unheated) saucepan or skillet and heat them up together over medium heat. When the garlic starts sizzling and smells fragrant (dont burn it), add the tomatoes, pepper, and some italian herb mix. Simmer uncovered until the sauce is thickened.

Season to taste with salt and stir in the basil off heat.

Read More..

Chicken Ranch Pizza

  Its no secret we are big pizza lovers here at the Lofthouse pad. Our favorite BBQ Chicken Pizza is one I make a lot, so I decided it was time to try a new kind. I saw this Chicken Ranch version on one of my favorite food blogs, Fake Ginger, but forgot about it until I saw it on Pinterest a few weeks ago. I printed the recipe and added it to our menu last week.

  The results were absolutely DIVINE! There are literally no words to describe how delicious this pizza was. The flavor... was simply perfect. It definitely ranks as high as my beloved BBQ Chicken, and thats saying a lot!



Chicken Ranch Pizza

1 pizza crust (try my favorite homemade pizza dough )

For the sauce:

2/3 cup Ranch dressing
2 cloves garlic, minced

For the toppings:

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 chicken breast, cooked and cut into small pieces
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced

Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a 16-inch round pizza pan with olive oil. Stretch pizza dough to fit in the pan.

In a small bowl mix together the Ranch dressing and minced garlic. Spread mixture evenly on the crust.

Evenly sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese and all of the cheddar cheese over the sauce. Then spread the chicken, tomatoes and green onion over the cheese. Top with the remaining cheese.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until pizza dough is golden brown and cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Slice and serve. Enjoy! ♥

 

 

 

 

Read More..