Sam Sifton talked to Jeffrey Steingarten about how to make delicious pizza at home. Steingarten declares that you really can make delicious pizza at home without a professional pizza oven. You need a flat baking stone and a peel (the big wooden paddle) to remove the pizza from the oven.
Start a day before you want to eat, or a few days. Steingarten, who writes about food for Vogue and who developed an excellent recipe for pizza about 15 years ago, said that his dough keeps well, if properly covered and refrigerated, for up to a week. Don’t rush yourself. It's a very simple, even forgiving process.
Then, on the evening that you decide you want pizza, fire up your oven, with the stone near its bottom, at least an hour before you want to cook. Assemble your toppings in small bowls as it heats, just as a painter might prepare his palette before setting down to make art. "I have not gotten away from the general belief that the only acceptable toppings for pizza are cheese, olive oil, garlic, maybe tomato and some greenery," Steingarten said....
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The Massachusetts grill shaman Chris Schlesinger, of the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, sometimes puts shrimp and artichoke hearts on a grilled flatbread; adding to this a few sheets of Asiago makes for beautiful excess, riches on the cheap. And combining crumbled Gorgonzola with batons of bacon and a pile of caramelized onions dotted with figs? The result can jet you to a cafe on the border of France and Italy, Piedmont on a plate.
Some notes: Make sure to flour the surface on which you are stretching your dough, as well as the peel. Use a rolling pin if you can't toss a pie in the manner of some Jake in kitchen whites who does it 150 times a day.
Steingarten says to apply the toppings lightly and not to press the toppings into the dough when it's on the peel, so it won't stick.
Read the entire article and see the video here.
