I have been making pizza in my home oven (and my outdoor pizza oven) for the last 16 years. The recipes have changed over time. But my latest pizzas are as follows:
Napoletana Style
- 20 g salt
- 0.5 g dry yeast
- 700 g bread flour
- 438 g water
Add salt, yeast, and flour to a 2.5 L mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add water and mix until fully combined. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Stretch and fold dough. Repeat 3-4 times until dough is smooth and strong. Allow to ferment at room temperature until size increases by half. Refrigerate overnight.
On baking day, remove dough from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. Divide dough in halves, shaping each dough into a thick proto-pizza shape. Cover and allow to rise again until dough increases by half again. An hour before baking time, preheat convection oven to 285°C (550°F) with a pizza steel on the middle rack.
Shape each dough ball into a 36 cm (14-inch) pizza, being gentle with the edges. Press each ball flat from the center out, slightly stretching with each press. Continue until dough is big enough to stretch over balled hands and continue to gently stretch to desired size.
Top as desired. Bake for 5-6 minutes, or until crust is toasty brown. Remove from oven. Allow 3 minutes before cutting.
Detroit Style
- 20 g salt
- 0.5 g dry yeast
- 700 g bread flour
- 515 g water
Add salt, yeast, and flour to a 2.5 L mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add water and mix until fully combined. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Stretch and fold dough. Repeat 4-5 times until dough is smooth and strong. Allow to ferment at room temperature until size increases by half. Refrigerate overnight.
On baking day, remove dough from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. Liberally grease two deep dish pizza pans with olive oil (about 3 Tbsp each). Divide dough in halves, being careful not to degas it too much. Place each half into the pizza pan and gently dimple dough, stretching it out closer to the size of the pan. It will pull back each time a little, so let the dough rest and rise for 30 minutes and come back later to dimple and stretch again. Repeat until the dough fills the pan.
Cover and allow to rise again until dough increases by half again. An hour before baking time, preheat convection oven to 260°C (500°F) with the rack in the middle.
Top as desired. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until crust is a deep brown. Remove from oven. Allow 5 minutes before cutting.
Sauce
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- water
Mix all ingredients except water together. Add water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, mixing well, until sauce reaches desired consistency.
Notes
- Substituting 100 g whole wheat flour for bread flour adds more flavor to the crust.
- Favorite toppings are:
- Pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, smoked mozzarella
- Salami, fresh mozzarella, fresh ricotta, hot honey
- Smoked ham, fresh pineapple, smoked mozzarella
- Italian sausage, pickled onions, smoked mozzarella, hot honey
- For Detroit-style pizzas, the cheese is traditionally Wisconsin brick cheese and mozzarella. A reasonable substitution for places without that cheese is Muenster and mozzarella.