New york Style pizza was the challenge for this month Baking partners started by Swathi, As usual, three recipes were suggested by three friends from the group and I selected New york style pizza given by Pam of Living Rancho Delux where the recipe was adapted from couple sources, Feeling Foodish and Serious Eats. which I acknowledge it is a foolproof one. This pizza crust recipe doesn’t call for sugar and proofing yeast instead, all the ingredients are combined together and kept in refrigerator for 2 ~ 3 days before baking which assures soft and fluffy pizza crust.
Ingredients: Makes 2 – 12 pizza
3 cups all-purpose flour
A little less than 1 ¼ cups water, cool to room temp
½ teaspoon instant dry yeast
1.5 teaspoons salt
½ tablespoons olive oil
Ingredients Tomato Sauce: Makes 2 – 12 inch pizza depending on how much sauce you use
1 ½ cups whole peeled tomatoes
½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium cloves garlic, grated on microplane grater (about 1 teaspoons)
½ teaspoon dried oregano
A pinch red pepper flakes
kosher salt to taste
1 six inch springs fresh basil with leaves attached or dried basil
1 small yellow onion, peeled and split in half
For Topping:
1 cup fajita chicken cut into pieces( I used frozen ready to eat fajita chicken)
Veggies of your choice, I used green bell pepper and Onions.
Mozzarella cheese as needed.
Method:
For Sauce:
Process tomatoes and their juice through food mill, pulse in food processor until pureed, or puree with hand blender. Puree should not be completely smooth, but should have no chunks larger than 1/16 of an inch. Set tomatoes aside.
Combine butter and oil in medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until butter is melted.
Add garlic, oregano, pepper flakes, and large pinch salt and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant but not browned, about 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil sprigs, onion halves, and sugar.
Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to lowest setting (bubbles should barely be breaking the surface), and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by ½, about 1 hour. Season to taste with salt. Allow to cool and store in covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
For Crust:
Place water in mixing bowl
In a separate bowl, mix salt and yeast into flour
Combine flour/salt/yeast mixture into water and mix until all the flour has been incorporated
After flour has been totally incorporated, add oil and knead for about 4 to 5 minutes.
Test final dough temperature, which should ideally be between high 70s to low 80s
Divide dough into 2 equal pieces (using a digital scale if possible; each ball should weight 11.5 oz).
Place in a sealed quart-sized container or freezer bag and refrigerate overnight or up to 3days.
The following day, remove your dough balls within 1 or 2 hours of baking and allow the dough to come to room temperature.
For Pizza:
Place your pizza stone in the oven and preheat at 500 degrees (depending on
thickness of your stone and your oven’s power) for at least 1 hour
Knead the one portion of the dough for few minutes and flatten it in to 12 ~ 14 inch circle, transfer it to a pre-floured pizza peel (or parchment paper) and top with sauce, cheese and fajita chicken, bell pepper as a topping.
Transfer pizza from peel to oven or slide parchment paper onto preheated pizza pan/stone and bake for 4 to 6 minutes each until browned and cheese has melted but not burned.
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