Homemade Pizza

So, I have caved. After 13 months of living in Boston, I am tired of waiting for Matchbox to open a Boston location. I have only had the fire & smoke pizza TWICE in the past year - once post Marine Corps Marathon 2008 and once a few weeks ago when I took a trip down to the district. That isn't acceptable.

I decide I'm learning how to make my very own fire and smoke pizza. What is it, you ask? AWESOME. Toppings are smoked gouda, spanish onions, roasted red peppers, garlic puree and basil. Yuummm.

First item - make dough. I knew this was going to take a while (not in terms of prepping, but in terms of waiting for the yeast to rise). So, when my boss announced today that the whole team could call it a day at 3 today, I knew today was my chance. I dropped by Whole Foods on my way home, and threw together the dough when I got home. It was actually pretty easy - recipe here (from Cooks Illustrated):

Ingredients

1 3/4	cups water divided, 1/2 cup warm, remaining at tap temperature
2 1/4	teaspoons dry active yeast (1 envelope)
2	tablespoons olive oil , plus extra for brushing dough
4	cups bread flour
1 1/2	teaspoons table salt
	vegetable oil (or cooking spray) for oiling bowl
	semolina for dusting peel

Instructions

1. 1. Measure 1/4 cup of warm water into 2-cup measuring cup. Sprinkle in yeast; let stand until yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add remaining 1/4 cup warm water plus remaining 1 1/4 cups tap water and olive oil. Meanwhile, pulse flour and salt in workbowl of large food processor fitted with steel blade to combine. Add liquid ingredients (holding back a tablespoon or so) to flour and pulse together. If dough does not readily form into ball, stop machine, add remaining liquid, and continue to pulse until ball forms. Process until dough is smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds longer.

2. 2. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface; knead by hand with a few strokes to form smooth, round ball. Put dough into medium-large, oiled bowl, and cover with damp cloth. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Here is my dough, all ready to rise:


So, this is a convenient time for me to go on my 70 minute run. On my way out, I remember I had forgotten to purchase a spanish onion. Well, crap. I have a red onion, but that would overpower the taste of the gouda. So I throw on my camelbak (with the part that holds liquid out of the bag) and stop in at Whole Foods during my run to buy an onion and run home with in my backpack. This was pretty convenient, because I realized I was hungry and thirsty fifty minutes into my run. So, I also ended up with an Owater (they need to make a bottle with a sports top) and a Lara Bar. I got some funny looks. I ran the rest of the way home a few lbs heavier.

I go home and I warm up my pizza tray in the oven at 500 degrees for 30 minutes - this is supposed to ensure a crispy crust. I grill some chicken, because I always ordered the fire & smoke pizza with chicken anyway. If I don't have some protein with a meal, I'll be hungry again in 20 minutes. I mix some regular store bought pizza sauce with some red pepper flakes, slice my gouda, fish my onion out of my backpack and slice it julienne style. The dough recipe makes enough for two large pizzas (or a few smaller ones, your call) so I split the dough in two and stretch one half out. This is key - stretch, don't roll. I was tempted to swing around my hand, but I hadn't cleaned my floor in the past few days. I pull the hot pizza tray out of the oven, arrange the dough on the tray, and cook until most of the way done...when it was just a little brown on the edges. I cover with my red pepper tomato sauce, sliced onion, sliced gouda, brush the edges with some olive oil, sprinkle parmesan over the whole thing and top it with the grilled chopped chicken. I pop in the oven for a few more minutes and when I felt like the edges looked crispy enough and the cheese looked gooey enough, took it out!! I took it out of the oven and sprinkled with fresh chopped basil from my basil plant (I get excited when I can use my basil plant...it is the only plant I own). Here she is:



The result? It was delicious! Take that Matchbox! Next time I'll use a better gouda (I wasn't impressed with the gouda selection at Whole Foods, next time I know I need to hit up Roche Brothers!) and probably more red pepper flakes in the sauce. It was spicy, but not quite spicy enough (fire is for the spicy...smoke for the gouda...get it?). I intentionally left off the roasted red peppers slices, because I always just picked those off and ate them separately anyway. I also left off the garlic puree, because Doug isn't the biggest garlic fan and I felt like I would probably accidentally leave huge chunks and then I'd have a whole pizza to myself. Next time I think I'll mix some crushed garlic into the sauce. But overall, I was very happy, especially for my first pizza attempt. Maybe I'll try something more traditional, like pepperoni with the second half of the dough...good thing we're having visitors this weekend :-). It would also help if I had a wood fired brick oven. Think there is any chance I'll get one for Christmas?