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Saturday, May 24, 2014

New York Style Pizza


New York Style Pizza
(America)
makes 1 14-inch pizza
Whenever I long for my childhood in New York my taste buds turn to a New York style thin crust slice.  This variation of pizza is a direct descendant of the original Neapolitan “pie” brought to America by Neapolitan immigrants.  This is the pizza preferred by New Yorkers, the original . . . bought by the slice and handled with a “New York fold”, true New Yorkers would never dream of eating it with knife and fork.  The slices are crisp on the bottom, slightly charred, the next thin layer is soft and chewy and topped with a spicy, cooked tomato sauce loads of shredded cow’s milk mozzarella toppings of your choice and small pools of good quality extra-virgin olive oil.  
                                                                  Prep time:             1 hour 45 minutes
                                                                  Sauce cook time:   15 minutes
                                                                  Bake time:             11 minutes
                                                                  Total time:              2 hour 11 minutes

Ingredients

 New York Style Pizza Dough:

7 ounces warm (105 ° F) water
.16 ounces active dry yeast 
.2 ounces honey
.53 ounces extra-virgin olive oil
10.6 ounces (about 2 cups) bread flour, plus additional for work surface
.16 ounces Kosher or sea salt

note: to make more than one pizza the bakers ratio is: flour=100%, water=67%, honey=2%, yeast=1.5%, salt=1.5%, and olive oil= 5%

Spicy New York Style Pizza Sauce:

8 ounces canned San Marzano tomatoes, finely hand crushed or pureed
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus some to drizzle
1 heaping tablespoon dehydrated onions
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

standard topping:

5 to 8 ounces cow’s milk mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preparation

New York Style Pizza Dough:

1.  In an appropriately sized measuring cup, combine the water and honey stir to combine.  Stir in the yeast and let sit for about 10 minutes. 

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 yeast mixture.  Turn the mixer, fitted with dough hooks, to medium (4 on a Kitchen Aid© stand mixer) and turn it 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), the dough may still stick a little to the bottom of the bowl but that is ok.

3.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured flat surface (if the dough is really sticky sprinkle with flour until it is just a little tacky) 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 and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours*. 

*note: if you are making multiple pizzas, after the dough has doubled in size divide the dough into equal sized portions for immediate use or place each portion in its own resealable bag for maturing.  

Spicy New York Style Pizza Sauce:

1.  In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, bring the olive oil to the ripple state, add  the dehydrated onions, the basil, the oregano, the crushed red pepper flakes**, and the granulated garlic  and cook, stirring constantly, until the  herbs are fragrant, about 2 minutes. 

2.  Reduce the heat to low and add the crushed tomatoes/tomato sauce, stirring constantly until the tomatoes combine with the herbs and begins to caramelizes, about 3 minutes.  Raise the heat and bring to a simmer.  Adjust the seasoning to taste with salt, black pepper, and additional red pepper.

3.  Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes over low heat.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
  
*note:  for more than one pizza increase ingredients proportionally
**note:  if you're not sure of how spicy you like your sauce start with 1/8 teaspoon of red pepper flakes and adjust seasoning during cooking.

Constructing and baking the pizza:

1.  Place an appropriately sized pizza stone on the top shelf of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 550° F or as high as your oven will go, to attain the highest temperature allow the oven to preheat for 1 hour.

2.  Place the risen dough ball on a flat, lightly floured work surface and flatten it into a disk, then with your fingertips and palms, press it into a thinner disk of dough approximately 14-inches round and 1/8-inch or less thick (if necessary use a rolling pin to achieve the 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]).  Sprinkle flour over the surface of this thin disk (this will become the bottom of the pie when you place the disk on the peel in the next instruction).

3.  Distribute some flour over the surface of a pizza peel (this will act as “ball bearings” and allow the dough round to move easily over the surface of the peel) and transfer the formed pizza base onto the peel (shake peel to insure pizza moves freely).  Evenly spread 4 to 6 ounces of the Spicy New York Style Pizza Sauce (depending how “wet” you like your pizza) over the pizza base leaving about 1-inch un-sauced margin around the edge for a crust, now evenly distribute the mozzarella cheese over the sauce* and finally sprinkle a little extra-virgin olive oil over the pizza.

4.  Gently shake the peel to insure the pizza moves freely (if it doesn’t gently lift the edges of the pizza that are sticking and distribute additional flour until it does).  Using the peel slide the pizza onto the stone and bake the pizza until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the bottom crust is well browned (a little charring is good!), about 9 minutes depending on how hot your oven is.  After the pie has baked for 9 minutes turn the broiler to high and broil for 1 or 2 minutes until the crust begins to brown around the edges but don’t allow the cheese to char.  Remove from the oven, slice into 8 wedge shaped slices and serve. 

5.  Return the oven to bake at 550° F and repeat, if you are making more than pie, with the remaining dough, pizza sauce, and cheese.

*other toppings can be added at this time


Thursday, May 8, 2014

Lemon Pepper Scampi


Lemon Pepper Scampi
Lemon Pepper Scampi is an interesting twist on classic Shrimp Scampi.  With tails removed and with extra garlic butter/oil sauce they make an excellent topping for pasta especially Linguine.
serves 4
(America)
                                                                                 Prep time     3 minutes
                                                                                 Cook time    4 to 5 minutes
                                                                                 Total time      8 minutes


Ingredients

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons lemon pepper seasoning

white or yellow rice for 4, cooked according to package directions
1 tablespoon chopped  fresh Italian parsley, for garnish

Preparation
sauté the shrimp:

1.   In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the oil and melt butter.   Add the garlic; sauté, stirring, for 30 seconds or until fragrant. (Do not allow the garlic to brown it should just be translucent; when you can smell the garlic it is sautéed just right.)

2.  Add the shrimp and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon lemon pepper.  Sauté the shrimp on one side for 1 to 2 minutes or until the shrimp begins to turn pink and begins to curl.   Turn the shrimp over and sprinkle the remaining lemon pepper over it.  Sauté without disturbing for 1 or 2 minutes more until the shrimp are thoroughly cooked and slightly browned on the underside.

3.  Remove shrimp, browned side up, to a serving platter.  Strain the cooking oil/butter into a small bowl to remove the garlic then distribute the oil/butter over the shrimp and garnish with parsley.   

service:

Serve accompanied by yellow or white rice.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Basic Neapolitan Style Pizza


Basic Neapolitan Style Pizza 
makes 1  14-inch pizza
(Italy)
Brandi di Vincenzo Pagnani in Naples, Italy is the birthplace of the modern pizza and in my view still the home of the best pizza in the world.  The secret to their pizza is a simple, very lean dough made of the fewest ingredients possible, a very simple uncooked “sauce” consisting of only five ingredients, and fresh creamy mozzarella (buffalo is best but hard to get in America) baked at very high heat (their ovens run in excess of 900° F.).  While in our home ovens we won’t be able to match those temperatures, if you follow the instructions here you’ll be able to produce a “pie” that comes close to their world famous product.
                                                                                 Prep time:  1 hour 45 minutes
                                                                                 Bake time:  11 minutes
                                                                                 Total time:  1 hour 56 minutes

 Ingredients:

4 to 6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into large chunks

Basic Neapolitan Style Pizza Dough:

8.76 ounces bread flour, plus additional for the work surface                
6 ounces warm water (105° F)
.13 ounces yeast
.17 ounces salt                                   
 *to make more than one pizza the bakers ratio is: flour=100%, water=70%, yeast=1.5%, salt=2%

Neapolitan Style Pizza Sauce:

8 ounces whole San Marzano canned tomatoes, roughly crushed tomatoes 
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large clove of fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Kosher or sea salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

Preparation:
Neapolitan style pizza sauce:

In an appropriately sized mixing bowl combine the crushed tomatoes, the olive oil and the chopped garlic. Adjust the seasoning to taste with salt, black pepper.  Set aside for about 20 minutes so the flavours can blend.

basic Neapolitan style pizza dough:

 1.  In the bowl of your stand mixer combine the flour, yeast and salt and whisk these ingredients until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.  Add the warm water and turn on the mixer, fitted with dough hooks, to low.  Continue mixing (kneading) until the dough comes cleanly away from the sides of the bowl and there isn’t any dry flour visible (scrap the sides of the bowl to move flour into the path of the hooks as needed).  If the dough doesn’t come together, add additional water (1 tablespoon at a time) until it does.

2.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured, flat work surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky (add flour gradually as needed to reach the slightly tacky state), about 5 to 10 minutes.

3.  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 and set in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours* (for a more flavourful dough remove the dough from the bowl and place it in a large, resealable plastic bag.  Seal the bag and place it in your refrigerator overnight or up to 4 days.  At least 2 hours before you are going to make the pizza(s), take the dough out of the refrigerator shape into a ball(s) and allow the dough to rest at room temperature).

*note:if you are making multiple pizzas, after the dough has doubled in size divide the dough into equal sized portions for immediate use or place each portion in its own resealable bag for maturing.  

construction and baking the pie:

1.  Place an appropriately sized pizza stone on the top shelf of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 550° F or as high as your oven will go, to attain the highest temperature allow the oven to preheat for 1 hour.

2.  On work surface, place the dough ball (or one of the dough balls) on a flat, floured work surface and flatten into a disk then with your fingertips and palms, press it into a thinner disk of dough approximately 14-inches round and about 1/8-inch or less 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.  Sprinkle flour over the surface of this thin disk (this will become the bottom of the pie when you place the disk on the peel in the next instruction and will produce the slightly charred bottom crust Neapolitan pies are noted for).

3.  Distribute some flour over the surface of a pizza peel (this will act as “ball bearings” and allow the dough round pie base to move easily over the surface of the peel) and transfer the formed pizza base onto the peel, the floured side down.  Shake the peel to insure pizza moves freely.  Lightly spread about 4 to 5 ounces of the pizza “sauce” on top of the base (depending how "wet" you like your pie) leaving about 1-inch of uncoated dough around the edge to form the crust. 

4.  Distribute 4 to 5-ounces of the mozzarella haphazardly over the sauce and finally drizzle with 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 edge that is sticking distribute additional flour until it does).  Using the peel slide the pizza onto the stone and bake the pizza until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the bottom crust is well browned (a little charring is good!), about 9 minutes depending on how hot your oven is.  After the pie has baked for 9 minutes turn the broiler to high and broil for about 2 minutes until the crust begins to brown around the edges.  Remove from the oven, slice into 8 wedge shaped slices and serve.*

6.  Return the oven to bake at 550° F and repeat, if you are making more than pie, with the remaining dough, pizza sauce, and cheese.


*note: with a little experimentation you’ll be able to identify the point when the edges brown (char) without drying out the mozzarella.