Pizza Night

Pizza Night was a classic occasion at our house growing up: a time to get outrageous with some toppings and get to create something entirely on your own (and also eat the whole thing yourself!) However, family pizza nights started to dwindle once our palates started developing and the average costs of toppings started to skyrocket. That was still a problem (no doubt moreso) when the Boy and I traveled over to Jay and Kate's for a foodie-version of Pizza Night. And we're giving you this step-by-step guide complete with pictures!

The first major change from PNs of old was to make our own pizza dough. Since I am thoroughly unskilled as a baker, we left this to Jay's very capable flour-covered hands.

Step One: four cups of flour to make four pizzas (seems pretty easy to increase or decrease to your own specs). Add salt.

Step Two: Add vital wheat gluten. This is the binding agent. Then add 1 1/2 cups of warm water to active yeast in a separate bowl, stirring until brown and bubbly. Add into flour mixture.

Step Three: Tons of olive oil (techinical term as usual). Mix by hand, then roll out onto flour-dusted clean, flat surface and start to knead.

Step Four: Knead for 15 minutes, activating the gluten. (Jay's Tip: rinse out bowl with water while kneading, then dry bowl well so dough can be placed back into bowl without a hardened mess later).

Step Five: Let rise in bowl, covered and in a warm place, 1 hour, then punch down a bit, and return for another 15 minutes to proof.

Step Six: Begin to punch dough again, still on flour-covered surface (adding more flour as needed). Divide into 4 balls for each pizza. Work by hand, or use rolling pin or hand-tossing. Stretch dough until it begins to windowpane (stretch thin without forming holes).


Step Seven: Form round(ish) shape, rolling up edges for a crust, directly onto a wooden peel.

Step Eight: Prepare toppings, placing thicker ones between pizza sauce and cheese and ones that should get crispy on top.

Step Nine: Place on pizza stone (which has been preheating) in oven, 500 degrees for 13 minutes. (Checking on bubbly-cheese status periodically).

Step Ten: Remove from oven when cheese is golden brown. Let cool on peel. Transfer, cut, and serve!
To make up for our neophyte baker status, the Boy and I went wild over the toppings. Our ingredient list was so intensive that we had to write it up on a white board to keep track of every possible permutation of pizza available. Here are the final four:

Pizza #1: Roasted red pepper sauce base (remember the Backwoods Birthday party recipe?), roasted poblano pepper strips, Monterey Jack cheese, fresh cilantro, and thinly sliced tomatillos. A little Mexican flavor.
Pizza #2: Marinara base, roasted grape tomatoes, chorizo, pepperoni, black olives, and fresh mozzarella. The Meat Lovers.


Pizza #3: The palate cleanser. Pizza Margherita. Tiny bit of marinara, fresh and smoked mozzarella, fresh basil.


Pizza #4: Thai peanut sauce, chorizo, shrimp in Thai curry sauce, fresh mozzarella, tomatillos, fresh cilantro. The "get crazy with the Cheez Wiz" mystery pizza. Fantastico!


Many thanks to Jay and Kate for breaking down the fine art of pizza-making for us and allowing us to dirty up the place! Next time, we should probably skip the Steve-o True Hollywood Story.