Weeknight Pizza

**Fair warning: This post ended up much longer than I had planned. I apparently had a lot to say about pizza. Read on for tips and method, but don’t let the length of the post fool you into thinking pizza is complicated. Once you go through the process once, you will understand how doable it is (and you won’t need to read more than the basic dough and sauce recipes to do it again).**

Weeknight pizza? Get the takeout menu, right? Or are we talking about frozen pizza? Or jarred pizza sauce smeared on a Boboli crust? Nope, none of the above. When I say weeknight pizza, I mean homemade crust, homemade sauce, custom toppings. Hot, fresh, delicious pizza. 1/10 the price, and 100 times better than anything that can be delivered in a cardboard box. All in about the same amount of time that it takes the driver to arrive, too (and less on a Friday night when the local pizzeria is packed).

So, how is that even possible? Two things:

1) The book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes; and

2) A little advance planning (but seriously, maybe only 10 minutes of pre-work on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or on an earlier weeknight).

2.5) Ok, I just thought of another essential for homemade pizza happiness: parchment paper.

Oh and maybe #2.75. This one is probably not universally applicable, but Joe is not allowed to “help” when I am making pizza. We are normally a very easy going couple. Surviving and thriving through more than 20 years of marriage wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t get along. We both know how to pick our battles, and are compatible where it counts, so we honestly very rarely argue. But when I tried to leverage Joe’s high school job experience making pizza (RIP, Bella Roma) during my initial attempts, we always ended up fighting. Here’s the thing. Joe has *ideas* about how pizza should be made. He tends toward perfectionism (ha! He lives in PerfectionTown) whereas I am more about “that’s good enough”, so we just could not find the pizza middle ground. Once I got serious about cracking the pizza formula and made rule 2.75, all has been harmonious in the Lucca household. Note: He was allowed in the kitchen to take pictures for this post, and we escaped unscathed.

Cornmeal Olive Oil Pizza Dough ingredients

OK, back to making pizza on a weeknight. First, I need to admit I used to be one of those people afraid of yeast. That ingredient was a so-called "page turner" for me (see the blog Dinner: A Love Story). I was not raised by yeast bakers, so it felt like foreign, uncharted territory, and frankly, not worth the effort to learn. But something shifted some years ago, and I began to be interested in yeast. With all the baking and cooking I did, it seemed pretty silly to be afraid of some little one-celled plants. So, I did what I always do when I decide to tackle something new: I read. I started with some food forums and websites, where I kept running across recommendations for Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes (ABi5). I got it from the library and read it cover to cover in one sitting. A light bulb went off and I was suddenly unafraid of yeast, without even making my first loaf of bread. The book is that approachable and encouraging.

I had made pizza from scratch a few times already, but hadn't been particularly happy with the dough, and hadn't gotten the rising and resting timing down to be able to make it on the spur of the moment (aka a weeknight). I tried making dough one evening and refrigerating it to use the next night, but then the cold dough was too difficult to work with. And everything just seemed like too big a production to do very often. Too much cleanup. Too much prep work.

So, what changed? ABi5. I successfully made their master recipe, which turns out a rustic, crusty boule, a few times, and then branched out to the olive oil dough, which is how I realized I could make pizza on a weeknight.

Tools and toppings ready to go

The genius of the ABi5 method (and similar no-knead recipes) is that you mix up the dough (no kneading!) then store it in your fridge for up to 14 days (depending on the recipe). That means, if I take a few minutes to mix up a recipe of olive oil dough on a Monday night after work, any other night that week (or the next week, even!), I can decide I want pizza and have it ready to eat in about 40 minutes. No frustrating rising times to figure out. No struggling with recalcitrant dough.

The dough recipe that I use most often (Cornmeal Olive Oil Pizza Dough) is adapted from their third book, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day. The Master Recipe or Olive Oil Dough recipes from the original book also work well for pizza. I like the added richness and pliability that olive oil adds, and cornmeal brings great flavor and texture.

Rolling out. About an hour before I want to be eating dinner, I take the dough out of the fridge, portion into 3 balls, and set each one on a separate parchment sheet roughly the size of my pizza pan. Letting the dough rest for a couple of minutes while I get out the rest of my ingredients (toppings, sauce, cheese, cornmeal and flour for dusting), start the oven preheating (make sure your pan or stone is in there!), and set up my work area (rolling pin, pizza peel or cookie sheet, cooling racks, cutting board, pizza wheel) saves frustration later. But remember, this dough should be very easy to work with and not require muscle to roll it out.

Think of this process sort of like stir fry: once you get started it all goes very fast, so you want your ingredients and tools to hand before you begin. So, ready? OK, start the clock and go! Pick up a dough ball, sprinkle the paper with cornmeal and stretch the dough out with your hands to a round or oblong shape. It will be a very thick pizza at this point. Lay it on the cornmeal-covered paper and dust the surface of the dough with flour. Using the rolling pin, roll from the center outwards, turning the paper as needed to roll evenly.

A note on shape: Pizzeria pizzas are round. There is NO rule that homemade pizzas also need to be round. I have found it’s much easier to focus on an oblong that fits my parchment paper than to worry about round. It’s much more important for the dough to be the right thickness than the “right” shape. Do not ask Joe’s opinion about this.

Thickness. There are many opinions about how thin or thick pizza crust should be and you are definitely welcome to make it to your taste. I think thin bakes better in a home oven, and it certainly bakes quicker. Also, there is enough yeast in this dough to still get a nice outer raised edge even if it’s rolled thin. So, I prefer thin. But this is your pizza. You do you.

Pizza needs more than dough to be great, though, so what about all the other components?

Sauce. There are approximately 1 gazillion pizza sauce recipes available in books and on the internet. I tried a few and they were all fine. I mean, they tasted like pizza sauce and played their role (something to exist between dough and toppings), so how did I settle on my favorite? When I realized that, using canned tomatoes, I didn’t need to cook the pizza sauce to make a good one. So many recipes call for a short or long simmer, similar to making pasta sauce. But canned tomatoes are already cooked. And the sauce will be cooked again on pizza, so why spend the time (and dirty pots) to cook it again? Don’t.

This sauce is one of the keys to weeknight pizza, because it seriously takes only a couple of minutes to throw together (less, now that the canned tomatoes I buy have pull tabs. Thank you manufacturers of pull tabs! I hate can openers and so does my lifelong tendinitis). However, because I am me, I like to make a double batch and freeze leftovers (yay!) for extra convenience. This isn’t necessary, because, like I said, it’s so quick, but it’s just how I run my kitchen. To freeze, divide into portions using silicone baking cups or pour into a heavy duty zip top bag and flatten in the freezer. You can break portions off of the frozen slab for defrosting.

Toppings. This is where you get creative. What do you already know you like on pizza? Try that at home. Then branch out to new and different toppings. Homemade pizza is a perfect place for experimenting and using up bits of ingredients in the fridge. A little bit of leftover brie? Yes. Roast vegetables from last night’s dinner that were a little overcooked and no one wants to eat them as-is? Use them. A handful of shredded chicken or pulled pork that is too small for a separate meal? Perfect. Just to get you started, here are a few of my favorite pizza-at-home combinations:

• Trader Joe’s has fantastic packages of Italian and Spanish charcuterie for a very reasonable price that are perfect pizza toppings (the Spanish assortment was used in these pictures). One package makes three good-sized pizzas, one for each kind of meat (e.g., prosciutto, Calabrese salami, and capocollo). I love this with nothing more than some torn pieces of fresh mozzarella and fresh basil, if I happen to have it.
• Feta, shredded mozzarella, pepperoncini slices, and fresh spinach
• Salami and pickled jalapenos
• Sweet potato, sage, red onion, mozzarella, with arugula added after baking
• Any and all the vegetables that need to be used up from the last produce delivery.

A note about cheese. Shredded mozzarella is a great pizza cheese. It’s easy to find, easy to use, inexpensive, and lasts a good long while in the fridge. I have only started using fresh mozzarella on pizza fairly recently. It always seemed too expensive and precious to use on pizza. And how do you get that melty cheese coverage with blobs of fresh cheese? The truth is, it actually works really well to take one log and portion it out for a couple of pizzas. If you don’t concentrate on trying to cover the whole pizza, the torn pieces of cheese melt nicely and definitely provide enough of the required cheesiness. That said, I don’t use it every time (it *is* more expensive). And sometimes I even use it with shredded mozzarella for a nice compromise.

Getting the pizza in the oven and baking. This step took some trial and error on my part before I was happy with my method and felt it was easy enough to tackle on a weeknight. For me, this involves two things: parchment paper (#2.5 from the list at the beginning of this post; what can I say? I like lists) and a cast iron pizza pan.

1. Why parchment paper? I roll out and build my pizzas on it and then slide the whole thing, pizza and paper, into the oven for baking. No cumbersome peels (although they can certainly still be helpful), no worrying about the pizza sticking to whatever you made it on and not releasing onto your baking surface. I like to remove the paper when the pizza is about 5 minutes from being done, so that the bottom of the crust has full contact with the hot surface of my pan, but this isn’t necessary.
2. Baking surface. We received a pizza stone as a wedding gift (waaaaay back in 1996; thanks, Jay Chambers!) and I used it a couple of times pre-pizza baking proficiency. Mostly it just took up space in the drawer under my oven. When I started making pizza regularly, I brought the stone out and used it a couple of times until it broke. I shopped around for another one, but wasn’t happy with prices or reviews, and I was afraid of breaking another one (clumsy? guilty). So, I finally decided to try a Lodge cast iron pizza pan. The price was reasonable and I knew it wouldn’t break. The results seem the same as with a stone and I am happy with it. Nothing wrong with using a stone, but it you don't already have one, consider going with cast iron instead. Note: the bottom of a large cast iron skillet works, too, for smaller pizzas.

Crank your oven as hot it will go (my stops at 500 degrees). Preheat as long as it takes to get it to that temperature (you have an oven thermometer, right?). It takes maybe 12 minutes for each pizza to bake (depending on how thick the crust is), which is the longest part of this whole process. I top one pizza as fast as possible and get it baking. Then I top the remaining pizzas while the first one bakes and do other kitchen chores while I wait (packaging the sauce for the freezer, washing dishes). Check on your pizza after a few minutes to see how it looks. Pop any big crust bubbles with a fork. Remove the parchment paper when the bottom of the crust is set. Bake until the crust is very browned on the edges, the cheese is bubbly, and all of the toppings are cooked. Set a timer if you need a reminder to check on it, but don’t go by time; go by how it looks and feels.

Slicing, storing. When the first pizza is done, I slide it onto a peel (see, I do have one, but I could never get the hang of using it to transfer raw dough to a hot baking surface) or the back of a cookie sheet and then onto a cooling rack. You don’t necessarily want it to cool, but the rack keeps the crust from steaming as it would do on a solid surface. After a few minutes, transfer it to a cutting board and cut with a knife or pizza wheel, then put back on the cooling rack. If you aren’t ready to eat, slide the whole rack into the oven to keep warm.

Pizza makes lovely leftovers (yay!). This is a known fact. But I enjoy leftover homemade pizza even more. It heats up perfectly in the toaster oven. And two pieces, wrapped in foil and toted to the office, make a delightful work lunch.

The rewards of making pizza at home are many. Impress your friends! Save money on the cost of take out! Customize to your heart’s content! Look forward to leftovers for lunch!

Easy No-Cook Pizza Sauce

Here is my very simple recipe for pizza sauce. Makes enough for 8 large pizzas.

(adapted from a 2009 Cooking Light article)

3/4 cup water

1 tablespoon dried herbs of your choice (Italian seasoning blend, or a mix of oregano, basil, and parsley)

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced (or 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder)

28-ounce can whole, peeled tomatoes (diced tomatoes are fine, but I only keep whole tomatoes in my pantry)

12 ounces tomato paste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and blend with a stick/hand blender until as smooth as you like. Use about half a cup for each large pizza. Using a little more sauce than you think you should adds *a lot* of flavor and really ups the pizzeria-ness (this is one of Joe’s tips, and he’s right).

Cornmeal Olive Oil Pizza Dough

This is my go-to homemade pizza dough. It makes enough for 3 large, thin crust pizzas.
(adapted from Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in 5 Minutes a Day)

2 cups lukewarm water (469 grams)
2 teaspoons yeast (7 grams)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (12 grams)
2 tablespoons sugar (26 grams; optional)
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil (124 grams)
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (113 grams)
4 and 1/3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour (562 grams)
1/2 cup cornmeal (94 grams)

1. Measure the dry ingredients in a large, lidded container. Put on the lid and shake until everything is thoroughly mixed.
2. Add water and olive oil and stir until combined. No kneading necessary. You may need to use wet hands to mix in the last bits of flour at the bottom.  
3. Cover (not airtight), rest at room temperature for about two hours, then stash in the fridge. If you need to leave the house right away, you can put the dough in the fridge right after mixing. But without that initial 2 hours at room temperature, it won’t be ready to use for about 24 hours. 
4.  The dough is technically ready to use after that first rise, but it is easier to handle when cold, and flavor develops the longer it sits. Use any time after its overnight fridge rest, up to 10 days later. The dough will develop in flavor but slowly lose its ability to rise. But with flatbread, that’s not a big concern. 

Yay! Leftovers!

That is a magnet on my fridge. As soon as I spotted it in a cluttered, whimsical housewares shop on College Avenue in Rockridge, I knew I had to own it. And, my legendary sarcasm notwithstanding, it is actually a genuine sentiment for me. More than that, it manages to distill my kitchen philosophy into two little words.

For me, successful home cooking involves knowing my priorities and arranging my schedule to fit the things that matter most. My priorities include (not necessarily in this order):

• cook mostly from scratch
• eat homemade meals as often as possible
• eat seasonally
• budget strictly when needed
• spend a moderate amount overall
• don’t waste food
• put my creativity to work to keep cooking enjoyable

Embracing the concept of leftovers helps me tick at least five of those boxes.  

Before I explain how, I think it’s important to discuss what I mean by leftovers, because this word can carry a lot of different meanings, many of which have negative connotations. The word is often used as a joke and I have heard people proudly proclaim, “I never eat leftovers.” In leaner times and before refrigeration, using up every bit of food that was harvested and hunted was simply a way of life. No separate name was needed for food not finished during a meal. All cooks knew how to create soups from scraps and to fill meat pies with the remnants of last night’s roast as a way to keep everyone fed.

Once refrigerators were commonplace and food prices as percentage of household income fell, leftovers began to be seen as a separate category of food and as something to be eaten as a chore. By the 1960s they had definitely entered into their punchline phase and many in my generation have not-too-fond memories of being forced to eat mystery casseroles concocted from leftovers. Later generations may not even think about leftovers at all, if they were raised by parents who just throw them out (after a stint in the back of the fridge to culture mold).

But what if a cook plans to have food leftover to form the basis of future meals, as insurance in the freezer for upcoming busy days, or as a way to have affordable work lunches worth getting excited about? Maybe those shouldn’t be called leftovers but “planned overs”. I’m not here to try to coin a new phrase, but to suggest that leftovers can be problem solvers and workload savers. They are worth creating with intention rather than just being a byproduct.

Here are a few ways this works in my resourceful kitchen:

• Reheat and eat again in the same form (e.g., beef stew, pasta) to take a couple nights off cooking dinner
• Package into meal-size portions, freeze, eat for not-sad desk lunches
• Make a big batch, immediately freeze half for a future dinner
• Use the components as the base for something completely new (e.g., turn roast vegetables into fried rice or corn salad into corn fritters)
• Make extra of one or two components specifically to have on hand for future quick-to-prepare meals (e.g., roast chicken that makes pasta salad a meal, mashed potatoes as cottage pie topping)
• Stale bread becomes bread pudding (sweet or savory), bread salad/fattoush, croutons, or breadcrumbs (which in turn go into future meals)

Find ways to embrace leftovers and your kitchen will become easier to manage and more productive with less effort. Specific ways I plan for and use leftovers will be discussed further in future posts. Look for the Yay! Leftovers! tag.

Resources:

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/an-economic-history-of-leftovers/409255/

http://www.saveur.com/leftovers-secret-history