Roasted Red Pepper and Sausage Pizza
Makes 2 12-inch pizzas
(America)
Many restaurants offer a variety of pizzas including
pizzas topped with roasted red peppers.
My interpretation of this classically topped pizza is unique because the
roasted red peppers aren't just incorporated in the sauce, they are the sauce.
Pizza dough: 3 hours
Roasted red peppers: 1 hour
Roasted red pepper sauce: 20 minutes
Pizza bake time: 12 minutes per pizza
Total time: 3 hours 24 minutes
Ingredients
authentic pizza
dough:
2½ cups Bread Flour, plus additional for work surface
1 cup Warm (105° F) Water
1 Envelope Active Dry Yeast
¼ cup Honey
¼ cup Extra-virgin Olive Oil
4 teaspoons Kosher or sea salt
roasted red peppers:
5-6 large red bell peppers
Extra virgin olive oil
1 large paper bag
roasted red pepper
sauce*:
1 tablespoon of
extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup sliced
shallots
roasted red
pepper (see recipe)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 cups chicken
broth
¼ teaspoon red
pepper flakes
toppings:
1 yellow onion,
peeled, ¼-inch diced
1 cup roasted
red pepper sauce (see recipe)
2 cups
mozzarella cheese, shredded
freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
cheese, to taste
8 ounces sweet
or hot Italian sausage, casing removed and fried until crumbly (still a little pink)
Preparation
authentic pizza
dough:
1. In a 2 cup measuring cup, combine the water and honey stir
to combine and sprinkle the yeast over it. Let sit until the mixture is foamy,
about 10 minutes. If the yeast doesn't "proof" (get
"foamy") pour it out and start again it is important to have a live
yeast mixture.
2. Meanwhile place the flour and the salt into a sifter and
sift it into the medium bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the center of the
flour and pour in the olive oil and the "proofed" yeast mixture. Turn
the mixer, fitted with dough hooks, to knead and turn on. Continue kneading
(mixing) until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and
forms a ball around the dough hooks (scrap the sides of the bowl to move flour
into the path of the hooks as needed).
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead
until smooth but still slightly tacky (add flour gradually as needed to reach
the slightly tacky state), 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl with about 1 1/2 teaspoons
olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to oil the ball on all sides.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap cloth and set in a warm, draft-free place
until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
5. After the dough has doubled in size, remove the dough from
the bowl and form it into a 12-inch log. Divide the log in half and form each
half into equally sized dough balls. Lightly oil a 2 large mixing bowl with
about 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Place each dough ball into its own bowl and
turn to oil the ball on all sides. Cover each bowl with plastic and set in a
warm, draft-free place until the nearly double in size again, about 1 to 1 1/2
hours.
While the dough is proofing, create the sauce and cook the
sausage.
roasted red
peppers:
1. Either (a) position the top rack of your oven as close to
the broiler element as possible and turn on the broiler or (b) fire up your
charcoal(or gas) grill or (c) turn the gas stove top element of your stove on.
2. Coat each pepper with olive oil.
3. If you’re using (a) the stove broiler method, place the
coated peppers on a rimmed cookie sheet on the top rack and cook, turning as
necessary, the peppers until they are well charred on all sides, remove them to
a paper bag, fold the top of the bag over several times to seal the bag and set
the bag aside for several minutes to allow the peppers to sweat or (b) if you are
using the grill method, place the coated peppers on the grill and cook, turning
as necessary, the peppers until they are well charred on all sides. After the
peppers are well charred on all side, remove them to a paper bag, fold the top
of the bag over several times to seal the bag and set the bag aside for several
minutes to allow the peppers to sweat or (c)if you are using the stove top
method, skewer the coated peppers (one at a time) on a long shafted fork and
cook over the gas stove top element, rotating as necessary, until the pepper is
well charred on all sides. As each pepper is finished charring, remove it from
the fork and transfer to a paper bag, fold the top of the bag over several
times to seal the bag. Repeat this process until all the peppers have been
charred and are in the paper bag at this point, set the bag aside for several
minutes to allow the peppers to sweat.
4. After the peppers have had several minutes to cool and sweat
remove them, one by one, from the bag and remove and discarded the charred
skin, the seeds and inner rib and cut the roasted peppers into strips and
arrange them on a serving platter.
5. After all the peppers have been transferred to the serving
platter pour marinate or dressing of your choice over the peppers and set aside
to marinate or serve as is or use as required in your recipe.
roasted red pepper
sauce:
1. Sauté shallots in the olive oil in a heavy, medium saucepan
over medium-high heat until translucent but not browned, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the roasted red peppers, stir in the sugar and sauté for
about 2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken broth and simmer 5 minutes. Allow the broth
and roasted red pepper mixture to cool slightly to avoid an unpleasant blender
incident. When it has cooled and working in batches, puree the broth, red
pepper, and shallots in the container of a blender until a smooth, creamy sauce
is formed (if the sauce is too thick for your tastes, thin it by adding
additional warm broth). Correct seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
construction and
baking:
1. Place an appropriately sized pizza stone on the middle shelf
of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 450° F.
2. Remove the risen dough ball from the bowl and place it on a
lightly floured work surface , flatten it into a thick disk and with your
fingertips and palms, working from the center of the disk out to the edges,
press it into a thin disk of dough approximately 10 to 12-inch round and about
1/8 inch thick (if necessary use a rolling pin to achieve the 1/8-inch
thickness [don’t worry if the pizza isn’t perfectly round . . . that’s called
“rustica” and it’s the way “real” Italian pizza looks in Italy]). If you're
really brave you can try the spin and toss method of forming the pie (this
dough is perfect for it) just remember to use your knuckles when spinning and
tossing . . . fingertips can cause holes). Sprinkle flour over the surface of
this thin disk (this will become the bottom of the pie when you place the pizza
base on the peel in the next instruction).
3. Distribute some corn meal over the surface of a pizza peel
(this will act as “ball bearings” and allow the dough rounds to move easily
over the surface of the peel) and transfer the formed pizza base onto the peel
insuring that the lightly floured side is on the bottom. Lightly spread ½ cup
of the roasted red pepper sauce evenly over pizza base keeping a ½ to 1-inch
border of the base uncoated to form a crust; sprinkle about 2 tablespoons
Parmigiano-Reggiano and ½ the grated mozzarella evenly over the sauce (maintaining
the uncoated border). Evenly distribute ½ the diced onion and ½ the cooked
sausage over the sauce and cheeses and again maintaining the uncoated boarder .
4. Finally sprinkle a little extra-virgin olive oil over the
surface.
5. Gently shake the peel to insure the pizza moves freely (if
it doesn’t gently lift the edges of the pizza and distribute additional corn
meal until it does), using the peel slide the pizza onto the stone and bake the
pizza until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 12 minute in a 450°F oven.
Remove from the oven, slice into 8 wedge shaped slices and serve.
6. Repeat with the remaining dough, toppings, and cheeses.
*roasted red pepper sauce recipe
makes 4 cups of sauce, any leftover sauce can be jarred and refrigerated for
future use as a pasta sauce or the base of roasted red pepper soup
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