sunday zas

ho-hum. just another sunday. man, i love pizza.

pequod's pizza

it feels like a little bit of a betrayal to say that, when i visit chicago now, pequod's is my first pizza priority, followed only later by chicago's. frankly, in the beginning, pequod's was mostly a novelty. i had first heard about it about a week after i arrived in chicago from a friendly sue devitt makeup stylist, who dubbed it "the best pizza in chicago." (she was the roommate of john and chip, the nebraska transplant boys who singlehandedly saved me from starvation by getting me a weekend job at the chicago air & water show that involved free food plus $80/day, so i was inclined to listen to her.) i tried it, and liked it, and continued eating it as a general matter, but there was no vital spark of recognition. no, back then, chicago's was the name of the game: the pepperoni pizza gleefully ordered from a cab -- with extra sauce -- sometime between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. on fridays and/or saturdays. (and/or thursdays. and sometimes during the day on sundays.) but, right around the summer of 2005, something started to change. pequod's crunchy caramelized crust of burnt cheese became less of a gimmick and more of a necessity to my tastebuds. i decided that pepperoni is tastier on top of a pizza, where it can crispen. i learned to love that robust and buttery bottom crust. and the sauce, delightfully tangy, had always been a favorite. thankfully, as the picture above can testify, nothing has changed at pequod's in the intervening years. sigh.

don't get me wrong, i still love chicago's. in fact, i had one just last sunday, at about 5:00 a.m.

pizza triplets, plus a stepchild

this pizza set is yet another testament to how versatile and forgiving the A16 dough recipe is! witness: i started the dough on a loose saturday, intending a pizza sunday. ran out of all-purpose flour and had to fill up the last cup with a mix of whole wheat flour and cake flour. i punched the dough down on sunday morning to start the second rise, but sunday came and went, and the only pizzas we ate came from little star. monday also snuck by while i was at the beach. by tuesday, the dough had a tell-tale bubble in the side. over-risen. i made the zas regardless:

exhibit a: sopressata, fresh mozzarella, basil, pesto, parmesan, and killer sauce (made with the first tomatoes from the farmers' market!).exhibit b: roasted asian pears, goat cheese, rosemary, spicy cress (this was the experimental pizza of the evening).exhibit c: thick-cut pepperoni, fresh mozzarella, basil, parmesan, and sauce.overall, the pizzas were pretty unaffected by the over-rise, i think. there wasn't as much contrast between a fluffy crust and a thin, crisp bottom as i would normally like, but the mouthfeel of the crust was really soft -- maybe that's the cake flour talking?

oh yes, and the stepchild: a calzone! really just a folded-over za, great for lunchboxing. too bad the massive eggroll/stepchild wasn't around to enjoy this one.

pizza becomes a casual affair

i'd planned on making pizza on wednesday. i made the dough on tuesday night -- should i admit that i kneaded it in a bowl while watching american idol? -- stuck it in the fridge, and and punched it down on wednesday morning before going to work. big plans to make it pizza night. then we got invited to a giants game: (i) with the big unit pitching; (ii) vs. the brewers; and (iii) in the sweet seats that are the birthright of the corporate scion. how could i say no?

so i threw together a pizza before the game. same dough as usual from A16. tomato sauce, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and pepperoni that i cut super-thick. we've come to the conclusion that the thicker-cut meat is a better call -- if you're going to to bite into some pepperoni, you want your mouth to be full of robust, juicy meatiness, not just a stringy whisper of salt. right?

several whiskies and a giants loss later, we came back home and i made three more pizzas. no need for the whole night to be about pizza! i don't claim to be a pizza expert or anything, but i really love that pizza is not a huge pain in the ass to make anymore.

my best pizza so far

dough from the A16 cookbook, with slight modifications based on the fact that i actually do have a rustic italian kitchen (i.e., no stand mixer). seriously, the A16 cookbook -- a christmas gift from tom that, as it turns out, was sort of a gift from tom to himself -- is stupendous. everything i've made from it has been spot-on amazing. their pizza dough is no exception.

ingredients
1/4 t dry yeast
1 1/2 c warm water
2 t olive oil
2 t salt
4 c flour

directions
sprinkle yeast over the water and let proof for about 10 minutes in a warm place.
add the olive oil and salt, and stir.
combine flour and yeast. i let them sit together for a bit to autolyse. mix until the water is absorbed, then knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is fairly smooth (a few little lumpies are ok).
cover bowl with a damp towel and let rest for a few minutes. then knead again unti the dough is smooth and soft.
coat the bowl and the dough with a little olive oil. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
the next day, punch down the dough, then turn it over in the bowl. re-cover and put back in the fridge.
4 hours - 24 hours later, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and divide it into approximately 4 pieces (i've used five before for smaller zas). form balls, and cover with a damp towel for about 1.5 - 2 hours to proof, or until volume has doubled.
preheat oven (with pizza stone) as hot as it will go. the best thing about my ancient 1920s oven is that it hits at least 650!!
shape dough into pizza shapes.
place dough on a piece of parchment paper on top of pizza peel. (some people say to use semolina but i am anti -- it burns, it's messy, and since my pizza peel is a little small, the parchment paper stabilizes the raw dough.)
add a light coating of olive oil.
slide the dough and parchment onto the stone.
bake for about 2-3 minutes. (for me, cooking it a bit first adds some fluffiness to the edges of the crust, and stabilizes it for toppings.)
add toppings.
bake for about 7 minutes, or until the dough is crisp and charred on the bottom and the top bubbles.
eat immediately.

toppings
this one is topped with roasted acorn squash, leeks from the alemany farmer's market sauteed in butter with salt & pepper, fresh goat cheese from sierra nevada, sage, and grana padano. i can't wait to make another one.

pizzetta 211

dear other pizzas of sf,
i apologize to all of you. i love many of you -- some of you, deeply -- but my greatest love is reserved for the pizzettas of 211. i mean, good lord. just look at them!
exhibit a: exhibit b: exhibit c:(sorry, other pizzas. was that insensitive?)

superbowl pizza

normally i make lazier pizza dough. this is because (at least so far) i seem to prefer the flavor of dough that has mellowed out in the refrigerator for a day or two. martha stewart's baking handbook has a good recipe (i even give it extra time after the first rise to chill out); i also really like this one at 101 cookbooks and (for sourdough) the one from mike at sourdough home. but, we had just returned from the phoenix open at 1:00, and had folks coming over for sports and snacks at about 3:00, so i used this quick and easy dough recipe from epicurious. total bonus that it's apparently the dough recipe from pizzeria bianco in phoenix, which i desperately wanted to try during our visit there, but nixed as we couldn't stomach a four-hour wait. i mean, think of all the better things i could be doing with four hours in phoenix?

ingredients
for the dough; makes 4 pizzas:
2 packages active dry yeast
2 C warm water (nice hot tub temperature)
2 t salt
about 5 C unbleached all-purpose flour

for the sauce:
whole peeled tomatoes
oregano
olive oil
salt

for the toppings:
pepperoni
torn basil leaves
mozzarella
parmesan
or whatever!

directions
mix together yeast, 2 T flour, 1/2 C warm water and let stand about 10 mins in an unheated oven until creamy/frothy.
stir together salt and 3 C flour. add yeast mix and the rest of the warm water, then stir in another C flour.
knead until smooth.
here, you're supposed to divide the dough into balls, put balls in separate bowls, cover w/ plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 1/4 hours. i put the balls on a cutting board until they doubled in bulk, then scraped the dough off and put in the fridge until i had time to make the pies. and they turned out just fine.
heat oven as high as it will go. my ancient 1920's style oven gets up past 600, but that's the only nice thing i can say about it.
stretch out dough into the shape of a pizza crust.
put crust on preheated, olive oil'd pan (i broke my pizza stone a couple of months ago).
top with sauce and toppings.
cook for about 10 minutes.