Have you ever finished a great, perhaps exotic, restaurant
meal wondering how in the heck would I make this at home?
Are you stumped in the kitchen when attempting to prepare
the perfect Kung Pao like the stuff from your local Chinese
take-out joint? Is the Mexican restaurant’s chile
relleno a mystery to you with its puffy, light, crisp coating?
Do you dream of making the ultimate crisp-crusted pizza
at home but always end up with something nary a notch above
Boboli? You are not alone. I am with you, and
I’ve always made the (I think reasonable) excuse that fire
codes and legal limits on the BTU output of household cooking
appliances inhibit certain home-cooking goals.
For
example, it is quite uncommon (and, I imagine, illegal)
to house a self-contained 800-degree wood-burning oven in
most homes and all apartments, studios, lofts or efficiencies.
But that still doesn’t mean we have to settle for Boboli
or DiGiorno and hopefully not Pizza Hut. I have come
to realize that proper technique, rather than proper, insanely
expensive equipment can unravel the most common household
cooking obstacles and produce quite likeable results.
So strap on your apron, Guido. I’m assuming you have
an oven.
To
produce a parlor-like crisp yet tender-on-the-inside pizza
crust, it is crucial that you begin with a very hot oven.
In fact, it is best that you crank your oven up to its fullest
potential and root it on, patiently. It may take 20
to 30 minutes to get to 500 degrees, which is the max for
most household ovens. If yours goes higher, you are
lucky and that much closer to a better pizza crust.
A commercial
pizza stone placed at the bottom of the oven (where
the heating element lies) will certainly retain heat and
perhaps help maintain a circulation of even heat in the
oven (especially if you haven’t cleaned your oven for eight
Thanksgivings and Super Bowls). The oven, and then
the pizza stone (a large slab of granite works well too),
must have time to reach temperature, so give this a good
hour or so.
The
oven and stone are screaming hot. Now you are ready.
You’ve purchased your fresh pizza dough from Trader Joes
(excellent, and just 99¢). You have a little
glass bowl of all-purpose flour for dusting the prepared
work surface so the dough won’t stick to your hands or the
ceiling. You have another little glass bowl of semolina
flour to sprinkle on your pizza
peel which you purchased with your pizza stone (please
see note). You’ve done your best to hand-pull the
dough and throw it or toss it into a perfect circle, but
you end up with an irregular rhombus-like shape. This
is OK, and you claim you are making a rustic pizza.
(Next time you will be a pro, because you’ve watched this
very helpful video clip from Fine Cooking Magazine).
You slide the pulled dough onto your semolina-dusted peel
and shake it around gently so you know it won’t stick.
You are ready to top. Or, if you prefer a thicker
crust, it may be helpful to par-bake the shell a bit before
you slather the sauce and load on the pepperoni and mozzarella.
This way, the crust can finish cooking the second time around
and hopefully be in sync with the melting, sizzling and
bubbling of the toppings.
Now,
top like you’ve never topped before! How about caramelized
onions, dry-aged goat cheese, arugula, and kalamata olives
if you are fancy schmancy? Here’s a tip: try
par-baking the caramelized onions into the crust before
topping it with other goodies. Or, if it is summer,
try fresh heirloom tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and whole
basil leaves with a sprinkling of sea salt. The Mexican
pizza, inspired by a few pies I’ve consumed, can be interesting
as well: ground seasoned meat, cheese, beans and finished
with cool lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream after it comes
out the oven. I’m getting hungry.
It’s
time to slide the topped shell from peel to stone.
Warning: no hesitation allowed. This action
requires one quick, slick, smooth “push-pull” in order to
get your raw pizza onto the hot stone, intact. If
you stop or even slightly pause after the push, half your
pie will be on the stone, half on the peel, toppings strewn
about, cheese burning directly on the stone. Be confident,
never fearfully gentle. Push-pull!
Close
the oven for about 8 minutes, be patient, then check to
see if the bottom of the crust is cooked through and crisp.
If it is, the idea is to have the cheese melted and sauce
bubbly too. Peel the pie out of the oven and smile
because your crust must certainly rival Dominoes.
It better.
A
hot oven. A stone, a peel, adequate dustings of flour
and semolina. A studied video clip for perfectly stretched
dough. A creative eye and stomach for toppings.
Push-pull! You’ve got a parlor-like pie. Now
what about the home-cooked Kung Pao and chile rellenos?
I have some ideas, but I think I need to do some research
first.
Note:
If you are too cheap to invest in a pizza stone and peel,
it may work almost as good just to use the bottom of your
oven as the surface to sear the crust. (This isn’t
guaranteed to work.) An inverted cookie sheet could
work better. For the peel, I suggest saving the pizza
box from your last delivery order to fashion a makeshift
peel by cutting a flap from the box. If you are ambitious
and still stubborn enough to avoid dishing out the 10 bucks
for the real thing, maybe you can duct tape a broomstick
handle to the flap.
Kristin
can be reached at kristin@babblog.com. |
