Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Dinner Table: Rustic Pizza

One of my favorite things to do over the weekend is to cook (and bake, of course!), preferably when it is a collaborative effort with my boyfriend, John. On this particular recipe, it was he who took the lead and I played sous-chef and of course, photographer.  For quite some time he has been perfecting not only his recipe for pizza dough but the technique that you actually cook it.  I am proud to announce that he has done both of those things with perfection. This pizza crust is fantastic and in my personal opinion it is like eating a slice of pizza on a piazza in Rome.  Continue for recipe...


The key to making amazing pizza crust is starting out with a great recipe, we used this recipe.  There are many techniques to making great dough, but kneading is the most important.  He kneaded the dough for at least 20 minutes to ensure that all of the gluten in the yeast blended with the flour. Once this was done he rolled the dough until it was fairly thin - this ensured that the crust would be chewy but also a bit crispy.
For the longest time, he was trying to find the best recipe, let alone a way to actually cook the pizza. We tried 500 degree ovens, pizza pans and then a pizza stone, we have this version.  Initially both options failed to produce the crispy crust that a traditional coal or brick oven would create.  But one day after reading countless pizza blogs, he learned the trick - turn on the lower broil (or upper broil if you have one) and place the pizza stone in the oven for one hour to fully heat through.  The next step is to carefully add the pizza, toppings and all (we used fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce), from the pizza peel onto the stone.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust is browned to your liking.  We garnished with a few basil leaves for the finishing touch.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

*All photographs by Alison 


16 comments:

  1. For some strange reason pizza (and pasta) is my fiancé's "spécialité" too! What is it with men and pizza?!
    xoxo
    Eleonor

    ReplyDelete
  2. That looks sooooo good! Thanks for sharing tips on how to get that amazing crust!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh my, that looks so delicious!! I've never attempted to make my own dough...I usually take the lazy man's approach and either make pizzas on pita's, or buy the dough from a local Mom & Pop pizza place that sells it to me. :)

    xo Jenny
    www.crazystylelove.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks delicious and I looove pizza!!
    Thanks for the recipe

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Alison! love so much pizza, congrats it looks very scrumptious!! Have added u on google+:) Happy sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  6. That seriously looks AMAZING!!!!! I'll definitely have to try that out!

    www.clothedwithstrengthanddignity.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. this pizza looks too good. and i want to reach into my screen and eat it

    mmmm

    www.frankvinyl.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Homemade pizza is a favourite meal of mine- this looks amazing! xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. oh my gosh, that looks so yummy! i think i'm going to have to try the recipe next weekend!

    fancy {no}pants

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love pizza!!!
    I follow you:-)
    Anthea

    ReplyDelete
  11. Bufffff it looks delicious!!! It´s around lunch time in Spain right now and seeing your yammi post has made me hungry!! hahah
    Hope you enjoyed it... although I´m sure you did. Congrats to your boyfriend!
    KISSES
    http://sharpenstyle.blogspot.com.es/

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow...you must be some girl for him to do all that work ! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. homemade pizza is a favorite of mine! this looks so yummy right now!

    ReplyDelete
  14. OH my goodness this looks so amazing. Just pinned it for dinner later!

    ReplyDelete