Williams Music

AW’s Pizza

Make the Pizza Crust 

Ingredients

1. 1c. warm water
2. 1tsp. sugar or honey
3. 1 ½ tsp. yeast 
4. 3 cups bread flour 
5. 1 tbsp. olive oil
6. 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Into mixing bowl, add the warm water, sugar and the yeast. Stir lightly. Let stand until it gets a good proof. 
2. To the yeast mixture add the flour, oil, and salt.  Mix with dough hook until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. 
3. Kneed and shape into a ball. 
4. Place dough into a pre-greased bowl. Let rise for about 1 ½ hours. 
5. Divide into 4 units. 
6. Cover each section lightly with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator to let rise over night. Cold dough is necessary for it to slide off the pizza peel when it’s time to bake. 
7. Use pizza dough within 3 days. 

Make the Pizza Sauce

Ingredients

1. 3 cloves of garlic, minced. 
2. Olive Oil enough to cover bottom of saucepan 
3. 1 28 oz can Italian crushed tomatoes 
4. Fresh basil – approx. 4 large leaves worth, chopped
5. 1/4 tsp. sugar
6. Pinch of salt

Method

1. Place garlic into saucepan with olive oil. Saute low until golden. 
2. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, basil leaves, and pinch/1/8^th tsp. salt. 
3. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally until thickened and smells just right. 
4. Let cool and refrigerate overnight. Refrigerated sauce will be less watery and thicker so it will not make the dough too soggy and will allow it to slide off the peel better. 

Make the Pizza

1. Preheat oven to maximum convention bake (550 degrees F.) NOTE:  Convection will engage the lower heat and fan. Without convection, you’ll need to increase the cooking time. This recipe may not work without convection. The preheat may take longer than expected. Be sure oven is fully heated to maximum convection bake (550 degrees, or may vary by oven). 
2. Do not roll out the doughballs. They must be stretched by hand and stretched by throwing and spinning them until the centrifugal force shapes them into a pizza shaped disc. If you can’t spin them, form them by hand, gently stretching the dough as if it is clay until it forms the pizza-shaped disc.
3. Transfer the disc onto a dry pizza peel pre-dusted with cornmeal. 
4. Paint the edges of the disc with garlic powder infused olive oil. 
5. Place the ingredients in this order:
   1. Sauce first in a thin layer – not too much or a soggy pizza will result. 
   2. Fresh Mozzarella cheese, crumbled or slightly shredded by hand
   3. Add any other cheeses except for parmesan. 
   4. Onto the cheese add your choice of toppings (e.g., prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes, olives) 
   5. Finally, sprinkle freshly shredded parmesan cheese on top. Not to much. Be artistic. 

Bake the Pizza & Enjoy! 

1. Slide the pizza disc off the pizza peel, and onto hot stone. You may need on hand a wooden spatula to assist in de-peeling the pizza as it can get sticky (esp. with too much sauce). 
2. Bake pizza for 4 minutes. That’s it. No more. Or the crust will be hard and like a breadstick. 
3. Remove pizza off the stone using the pizza peel. 
4. Place onto a wooden cutting board. 
5. Dot the pizza with fresh basil leaves. 
6. Cut into slices and serve immediately. 

Note: When finished, the pizza will have a slightly ballooned crust that appears a bit charred and crispy on the edges. The bulk of the pizza will be flat, with cheeses slightly browned, and the sauce a bit bubbly. It will look and smell fresh and hot. Give it a few minutes to cool before serving. Or you will burn your tongue and you don’t want that.