New York Style Pepperoni Pizza~ Baking Partners Challenge# 10

New York Style Pepperoni Pizza

Baking Partners challenge# 10 is New York Style Pizza. Baking partners is the brain child of Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen. It is a wonderful group of enthusiastic blogger who try something new in baking every month. Making Pizza dough was quiet challenging for me. This recipe called for the thin crusted hand tossed pizza. I do not make pizza often at home. My kid loves pepperoni pizza and I make the quick version using naan as crust. It took a while for me to practice, but I am glad I finally made a pizza from the scratch. This recipe was suggested by Archana of Tangy Minds. Thanks Archana and Swathi for this challenge.

Recipe suggested by Archana

Recipe adapted from SeriousEats.(http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza.html)

Ingredients

For the crust

Bread flour- 4 1/2 cup 22 1/2 ounces

Sugar- 2 1/2 tbs

Salt- 1 tsp

Instant Yeast - 2tsp

Extra virgin olive oil- 3 tbs

Luke warm water- 15 oz.

For the sauce

Diced tomatoes/peeled tomatoes- 28 oz. (1 can)

Extra virgin olive oil- 1 tbs

Butter- 1 tbs

Garlic 2 cloves

Dried oregano- 1 tsp

Red pepper flakes- a pinch

Salt-to taste

Basil- a few

Onion- 1 medium

Sugar- 1 tsp

Topping

Pepperoni- as needed

Mozzarella cheese- 1 cup

To make the dough for the crust

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in bowl and mix well. In a mixture add the flour, olive oil and water and start to combine and continue till it forms into a ball ( or if with the hand mix and knead till all the flour comes together)Transfer into a floured surface and knead till it is smooth for about three to four minutes. The dough will not be sticky and will be perfectly smooth. Divide into three equal parts. Take each ball separately, roll and smooth-en the top while pinching the ends and twisting. Finally flatten with your palm. Gently brush oil on top of the dough and let it rest for half an hour. After that transfer quart-sized deli container or in a zipper-lock freezer bag. Place in refrigerator and allow to rise at least one day. This dough can be rested like this for up to 5 days.

To make the sauce

Pulse the tomatoes and their juice in food processor /mixie until pureed. It should not be completely smooth. Set tomatoes aside.Combine butter and oil in medium saucepan and heat over medium-low heat until butter is melted. Add garlic pepper flakes and fry until fragrant. Add basil sprigs, onion chopped and sugar and stir for two minutes till onion changes color Add the tomatoes, oregano, salt and bring to a simmer, reduce heat to lowest setting (bubbles should barely be breaking the surface), and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced by 1/2, about 1 hour. Allow to cool and refrigate.

Bring the dough to room temperature( leave on the counter for at least two hours). Shape into balls by gathering dough towards bottom and pinching shut. Flour well and place each one in a separate medium mixing bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise at warm room temperature until roughly doubled in volume. Place Pizza stone in the oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Turn single dough ball out onto lightly flour surface. Gently press out dough into rough 8-inch circle, leaving outer 1-inch higher than the rest. Gently stretch dough by draping on your left hand and using the knuckles of the right gently stretch the dough. Continue this draping and stretching and rotating the dough in a clock wise direction till you have a thin uniform dough about 10 to 12-inch circle about 1/4-inch thick. Transfer to pizza peeler or a parchment paper. Spread sauce evenly over surface of crust, leaving 1/2 to 1-inch border along edge. Add toppings of your choice. Here I used cheese and then arranged pepperoni. Bake until cheese is melts and crust is golden brown. Let it rest for a few minutes, slice and serve.