Pizzapalooza 2010 - Part 1

I've been really thinking about the pizza situation in Hong Kong lately so I decided to try out the pizza at Tycoon Court (aka in my kitchen).  My friend Nicole Walsh insprired me because she (a) is generally awesome, (b) is from Nebraska...which is probably about as random as you can get other than No Dak where I'm from, (c) reads my pizza blog even though she doesn't live in Hong Kong and responded to my request for sauce recipes, (d) probably loves pizza as much as I do and (e) is awesome. 

I was looking up some new recipes today for dough (because I'm still not 100% on any of the ones I've used) when I came upon the following statement:  "Go buy a pizza stone immediately if you are serious about making great pizza at home."  WOAH! The last thing I want to be is not serious about pizza. So, I immediately went to City Super and bought one.  But then I had a major dillema about the crust.  So since flour and yeast are cheap and time is....moderately priced especially when you are trying to avoid working at your real job...I decided to make 3 dough recipes.  Actually, I made 4 dough recipes, but one of them was crap.  Here are the results of my efforts.

Best Pizza in Hong Kong Homemade Crust Candidate Number One:

I used this recipe.  I didn't really get it because it was pretty much a liquid when I made it.  I probably had to add about a cup or more of flour in order to even make it pretend to be something that could become a pizza. So I probably effed the recipe entirely but as I don't like liquid pizza I didn't feel that I had many other options. 

After making the dough, I took a can of whole unpeeled tomatoes, mushed it through a strainer, and added it to the crust in addition to some dried oregano, salt and pepper. It was good because it had great tomato flavor but did not make the crust soggy (Thanks, Nic!). It was a bit bland though in this case (maybe I was too shy with the seasonings), so I added some more seasoning later. I used a combination of fresh and standard issue mozzarella, cooked at 450F/225C for about 23 minutes on a PIZZA STONE (because I'm serious) that I had dusted with corn meal.  At the mid-point of baking I added some fresh basil and covered the pizza loosely with foil because the cheese was burning.

I should also point out that if you do not put cornmeal under your pizza before you cook it you are a fool because that makes it extra delicious. 

The pizza was pretty bomb. Here is how it came out:

The crust was crispy and held its ground when it came to the toppings, however the edge crust was too crispy and dry. This is probably due to my modifications to the recipe while it was in liquid form. Overall I give this crust a 7 or so but since I went off recipe I'm not even sure what recipe this is so...

Best Pizza in Hong Kong Homemade Crust Candidate Number 2:

For this crust, I used the recipe from the pizza stone box.  Here it is:

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 C lukewarm water (non-yeast killing temperature)

1 tsp salt

3.5-4 C flour

2 tsp sugar

2T olive oil

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Dissolve yeast in warm water and let proof.  Add to flour mixture. Stir until dough becomes to form a ball. [Note: although the recipe lists 2T olive oil as an ingredient...it never calls for it. So I added about 1T at this stage and never used the rest]. Place dough on lightly floured pastry cloth and knead for 8 to 10 minutes.  Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Punch down and knead again, allow to rise for an additional 20 minutes.  Voila! 

Roll out dough and form a circle slightly larger than the pizza stone.  For this sauce, we did the following:

Smash one can of whole peeled tomatoes thorough a strainer.  Separately, saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste and add to tomato mixture. Same cooking as before but add sausage and make it that much more sausagealicious.

If this doesn't look like a totally amazing excellent pizza, I don't know what does. 

I give it a 9 all round.

BOOYAH.

Moral of the story:  buy a pizza stone, follow this recipe, and be happy for the rest of your life.  Best Pizza in Hong Kong Homemade Crust Candidate #3 to come tomorrow.  It is so fancy you have to let it sit over night. 

Gratuitous dining companions shot: