Sicilian style with recipes for sauce and Italian seasoning
Friday dinners in our home throughout the winter are pizza. Mike joins me in the kitchen. We play records and chat about the week as we cook. It is one of my favourite nights and meals of the week. I want to say that we have a standard recipe we adhere to time and again, but we don’t. Friday pizza is fluid, based on the whims of who will be home and how organized I’ve managed to keep the week.
If I’ve excelled at planning, we will have Napoleon-style pizza. Napoleon is Mike’s favourite with its minimal toppings of pure quality ingredients and thin cracker-like crust. The dough requires at least 24 hours to bloom and mature for best results. You can do it in less time, but something is always missing. A little tang or the extra push in the oven that results in a lighter crust, everything is just a little left of perfection.
We were supposed to have Napoleon pizza tonight, but I’ve been a little ‘by the seat of my pants’ this week, so I woke up this morning without the dough resting in wait.
So we made Sicilian-style pie instead. It’s too close to resolution time to start with deep-fried pizza, and I didn’t pick up the right toppings for Chicago. The pizzeria style is too close to what we can order from the shop down the street. I considered trying Michael Simon’s Grandma Pie but realized we were out of bread flour. If Simon has worked through 100+ iterations to perfect the crust, I’m not attempting Grandma Pie without it. But the idea of Sicilian-style pizza inspired me, so I searched online for a well-reviewed recipe using A/P flour.
I used this recipe from Billy Parisi. I only used the crust portion of the recipe as we have our favorite homemade red sauce (shh, it’s a secret). Just kidding, you can find it below.
The dough was easy to put together. All the ingredients went in the stand mixer. The machine did the work, and when the kneading time was over, I covered the bowl with a tea towel and let it rise.
After stretching the doubled dough onto an oiled sheet pan, we topped the crust with finely diced spicy cacciatore, mushrooms, and mozzarella. I added fresh arugula after baking. I also like to add a drizzle of balsamic glaze to my slices. Delicious.
Tips for making truly great pizza at home:
Weigh the flour. One cup of flour is equal to 120gr. Weighing gives you consistent results each time.
Water temperature makes a difference. Use a thermometer if you have one. Mike picked up an infrared thermometer gadget specifically for this job. It works great!
Hot ovens equal exceptional pizza. Your home oven can't reach the same temperature as a commercial pizzeria oven. But if you can manage 500 F, you should. The smoke alarm will probably go off when you open the oven door. The dog will recover eventually.
Play good music, drink good wine.
Relax, it’s pizza. Even if it goes badly, it will still be delicious.
Recipes
Pizza Sauce
1 x 19oz. can of SanMarzeno tomatoes, pureed
6 oz. tomato paste
4 tsp Italian seasoning (homemade blend below)
1 tsp salt
1 tbs. sugar
Mix all ingredients and refrigerate for a couple of hours before using.
Homemade Italian Seasoning
2 tbs. dried basil
2 tbs. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tbs. dried thyme
1 tbs. crushed red chili flakes
1 tsp. garlic powder
Mix and store for later use. An air-tight container will keep this blend fresh for a few months.
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