Sheet Pan Pizza

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This is my go to pizza recipe. It is super easy, delicious and is really easy to make a few pies for a crowd. But, I don’t know really what to call it because I feel like it’s a mishmash of a few different styles of pizza. The crust definitely has ties to your classic Sicilian pizza, thick, airy, rich…think focaccia with pizza toppings. The sauce is a shout out to a classic Neapolitan…which I’m sure some people would argue it’s not, but whatever (haters gonna hate). It has a wonderful balance of acidity from the San Marzano tomatoes, sweetness from the sugar and then a nice pop of spice with the garlic and crushed red pepper. I give a little shout out to Detroit style pizza by loading the edge of the crust with extra cheese so you get those wonderful crispy, caramelized pieces of cheese. The toppings are my shout out to NY Style with the fresh shredded part skim mozzarella, spicy pepperoni and mushrooms…so you get that wonderful leopard pattern cheese with the crispy and fatty pieces of pepperoni with a nice meaty mushroom. Then to finish it all off, who doesn’t love a nice garlic butter crust! This is why I chose to keep it simple and just call it a sheet pan pizza. It’s the best and you need to try it!

*Note* If you don’t have a kitchen scale this recipe is empowering you to get one. It is one of my most used kitchen tools, particularly when baking…you need one and you should buy one. This concludes the PSA.

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Sheet Pan Pizza

Prep time: 30 min | Cook time: 20 min | Total time: 4 hrs | Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

For the Dough

500 grams bread flour
14 grams kosher salt
6 grams instant yeast
20 grams extra-virgin olive oil
325 grams room-temperature water

For the Sauce

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
9 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp italian seasoning
2 tsp red pepper flakes
28 oz San Marzano tomatos, canned
1 tsp sugar
kosher salt to taste

For Assembly

1 Lbs part-skim mozzarella, shredded
12 oz pepperoni
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 oz Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 stick Unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp granulated garlic
1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

Cooking Directions

To make the dough

1. In the bowl of stand mixer combine flour, salt, yeast, and 20g olive oil. Fit mixer with dough hook attachment. Add water to mixer and mix on medium speed until dough comes together and no dry flour remains. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until dough is stretchy and smooth, about 6 minutes. The dough should stick to the bottom of bowl, but pull away from the sides.
2. Pour 40g olive oil into a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet and spread over entire inner surface with your hands. Transfer dough to baking sheet and turn in oil until thoroughly coated. Spread gently with your hands. (It will not stretch to fill the pan; this is fine.) Cover baking sheet with another baking sheet upside down and allow to rise at room temperature until dough has slackened and started to spread out toward the edges of the pan, 2 to 3 hours. Using oiled hands, and working as gently as possible to maintain air bubbles, push and stretch dough into the corners of the pan by pressing out from the center, lifting each corner, and stretching it beyond the edge of the pan. It should pull back until pan is just filled with dough. Cover again and Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the Sauce:

1. Remove the tomatoes from the can and place in a medium bowl. Using your hands crush the tomatoes into fine chunks. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until softened and aromatic, about 1 minute. Add crushed tomatoes. Stir in sugar. Bring to a bare simmer and allow to cook for about 15 minutes to let flavors meld. Season to taste with salt. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.
2. One hour before baking, adjust an oven rack to the lowest position. Ideally, but not necessary, place Baking Steel on the bottom rack. Preheat the oven and steel for 1 hour to 550F.

To Assemble and Bake

1. First add a generous layer of sauce to the dough. Then top with 1 lbs of shredded mozzarella, reserving a few tablespoons. Take the remaining cheese and go around the edge of the crust, this will give you that nice caramelized cheesy crust. Top with pepperoni and mushroom, or whatever toppings you prefer. Sprinkle the top with Italian seasoning and Pecorino Romano cheese. Place the pizza in a preheated oven and bake until the crust is brown and lifts easy from the pan, about 10-15 min. While the pizza is cooking mix together the melted butter, granulated garlic, and italian season. Remove from oven and brush the crust with garlic butter.

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Items used when creating this recipe:

• Baking Steel

  • Great investment. I’ve had mine for 9-10 years…basically since the company started. Still firing pies like a boss!

• Breville Stand Mixer

  • Had this mixer for 7 years and you wouldn’t even tell it’s that old. Looks and works perfect!

• Taylor Kitchen Scale

  • Best of the best, Taylor makes the best kitchen scales hands down. This is a commercial grade scale, they also make home scales as well.

New York Style Pizza Dough

You could consider me a sorta pizza connoisseur...I absolutely love it and could quite honestly eat it every day probably haha. I have such a deep admiration for the art of pizza, I am always trying to make the best pizza I possibly can at home. Especially since ordering a pizza from a pizzeria is so dang expensive. By the time you order the pizza and if you get it delivered, you could end up paying 20 bucks for a pie! That just drives me nuts, because I know for a fact that it cost them probably $2 in food cost to make the pie. 

I have tried many pizza dough recipes, but I think I have finally rested on this one. It's just perfect in my book...the outside gets nice and crispy while the inside is light, airy, and moist. I also made a garlic-parmesan  butter sauce that I brushed on the crust edge which gave it a really awesome flavor. 

One the hardest parts of cooking pizza at home, which stumps a lot of people is transferring the pizza to the preheated Baking Steel via a pizza peel. This process isn't for the faint of heart and must be approached with confidence and commitment. I might be making this sound like an intense process, but I am being serious. Just like flipping an omelet or sauteing, you need to slide the pizza off the peel with confidence and once you start the motion you have to commit the whole way through. Here are a few tips to sliding a pizza off a pizza peel: 

1. MISE EN PLACE...MISE EN PLACE..MISE EN PLACE!!!!

   • Like in all cooking, have your ingredients chopped, shredded, or what have you done and ready to go before you begin putting the pizza together. The longer the pizza dough sits on the peel the more likely your pizza is going to stick. 

2. FLOUR THE PEEL

   • You need to flour your peel with a light coating of flour. Sprinkle the top of it with a layer of flour, rub it in, and shake off any excess flour. You don't want too much flour on the peel because it will burn when you slide the dough from the peel to the hot steel. 

3. WORK QUICKLY

   • This goes back to the Mise en Place, have all your ingredients ready to go and put your pizza together as fast as possible. Your Mise en Place should also include preheating your oven & Baking Steel. Because, again, the longer your pizza sits on the peel the more likely it is going to stick. 

4. GIVE IT A SHAKE

   • Once you have your pizza dough formed into a circle on the peel, before you add any toppings (This part is crucial) give your dough a shake on the peel. Make sure it moves freely on the peel. 

5. CONFIDENCE AND COMMITMENT

   • Once you top your pizza it's time to slide it into the preheated oven ASAP. You need to slide the pizza with confidence and authority onto the Baking Steel. And you need to commit through the motion the whole way through. You need to own the pizza...I AM IN CONTROL AND YOU WILL SLIDE OFF THIS PIZZA PEEL INTO THE OVEN WITHOUT LOOKING LIKE PILE OF GOO!! 

Class is dismissed...

 I also brushed the Garlic-Parm Butter Sauce on some biscuits :)

I know most of us are experiencing some ridiculously cold weather right now, here are a few helpful tips from The Onion for keeping warm:

• Body heat is the best kind of warmth. Simply cut your chest open and place your appendages inside where it’s nice and toasty.
• Trick your brain into feeling warm by sticking flame decals on all of your possessions.
• Whenever coming inside from the freezing outdoors, remember to shiver and say “brrr.”
• Prevent heat from escaping by putting a hat on your thermostat.
• For the toastiest spot in the house, head to the fireplace and crawl under burning logs.
• Develop a thick layer of protective blubber through millions of years of evolution.
• Keep heat in your body by tightly packing all orifices with fiberglass insulation.
• Adopt several dogs from the local shelter, bring them home, and snuggle up next to them until you are heated throughout. Return them when finished.
• Crouch low to the ground to cover both legs with your feathers.

There was one more, but I figured I would omit that one.

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