Neapolitan Pizza

We love pizza, we don't love most of the pizzas that we can get out.  So about a year ago Daryl decided to make his own, crust and all. He makes a deep dish and a thin crust, this is our thin recipe.  The dough is an extra step, and you may find it, initially, a bit of a challenge.  The difficulty lies in forming it because it's wet and sticky.  Over time this will become less challenging.

I love that we each get our own pizza because the toppings I want are very different than what Daryl wants on his.  He actually creates a menu for me and I get to check off the ingredients that I want.  Today he is making us two pizzas each.  (We love left overs. )  The choices were:  prosciutto, red onion, tomatoes, caramelized onion, meatball (homemade by Daryl and put into freezer a week ago), mozzarella, goat cheese, Parmesan, comte cheese, oregano, garlic, salami, red pepper flakes, and brussel sprouts.   My absolute favorite combination is brussel sprout, red onion, garlic and mozzarella.  So that's what I chose first.  My second choice:  prosciutto, tomatoes, caramelized onion, comte and red pepper flakes.   We have made this for guests also.  It's fun to have the choices out for them.  The hardest part is convincing them to choose lightly.  The crust is so thin and bubbly that it can't handle a lot of toppings and while preparing it you have to use a light hand.

The recipe calls for an oven temp of 550°, but if your oven only goes to 500° that should work fine.  We are lucky to have a Wolf oven and it handles this beautifully. We also have a pizza stone that came with our Wolf, that we use for this.  You'll need a pizza peel, and although the original recipe suggests a sprinkling of corn meal and a quick hand will work, the longer the dough spends on the peel the more likely it will stick, we found that the dough almost always stuck to the peel anyway.  So, Daryl decided to try building the pizza on parchment paper, much more forgiving, and then use the peel to place the pizza and parchment in the hot oven.  Because of the high temps the parchment will burn, so to account for this we pull the parchment out from under the pizza after 1 minute.  Using the peel turn the pizza by 1/4 turn every 90 seconds or so.  

The dough after 20 hours. 

The dough balls after 18 hours of rising.

He starts the dough the night before.  The recipe is from bon appetit with some"Daryl" adjustments.

INGREDIENTS

• 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1000 grams) plus more for shaping dough (Daryl uses a 50/50 mixture of all-purpose and a 00 flour
• 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
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• Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. While stirring with a wooden spoon, gradually add 3 cups water; stir until well incorporated. Mix dough gently with your hands to bring it together and form into a rough ball. Transfer to a large clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature (about 72°) in a draft-free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on the temperature in the room).
• Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape into a rough rectangle. Divide into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, gather 4 corners to center to create 4 folds. Turn seam side down and mold gently into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions.
• Let dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, until soft and pliable, about 1 hour.
• DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap and chill. Unwrap and let rest at room temperature on a lightly floured work surface, covered with plastic wrap, for 2–3 hours before shaping.

TO MAKE THE PIZZAS

• During the last hour of dough's resting, prepare oven: If using a pizza stone, arrange a rack in upper third of oven and place stone on rack; preheat oven to its hottest setting, 500°–550°, for 1 hour. If using a baking sheet, arrange a rack in middle of oven and preheat to its hottest setting, 500°–550°. (You do not need to preheat the baking sheet.)
• Working with 1 dough ball at a time, dust dough generously with flour and place on a floured work surface. Gently shape dough into a 10"–12" disk.

IF USING PIZZA STONE

• When ready to bake, increase oven heat to broil. Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless (or inverted rimmed) baking sheet lightly with flour. Place dough disk on prepared peel and top with desired toppings.
• Using small, quick back-and-forth movements, slide pizza from peel onto hot pizza stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway, until bottom of crust is crisp and top is blistered, 5–7 minutes. Using peel, transfer to a work surface to slice. Repeat, allowing pizza stone to reheat under broiler for 5 minutes between pizzas.
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Mise en place, pronounced MEEZ ahn plahs, means is to have all your ingredients prepared and ready to go before you start cooking. Translated, “ to put in place.”

Brussel sprouts, red onion, garlic and mozzarella.

Prosciutto, caramelized onion, crushed red pepper,  and mozzarella cheese