Emergency Pizza!

Yes, it's possible!

Fresh from the oven!

At around 1 p.m. the other day, my wife sent me a text: How about pizza tonight?

Without responding immediately, here’s what raced through my mind: I have no pizza dough in the fridge. Pizza dough should age a few days in a chilly spot to develop its flavor. I have no homemade pizza sauce. I have no fresh mozzarella. But I do have a bunch of fresh basil.

Sure dear, great idea! I texted back. Then I went to work. My favorite pizza dough recipe, the one I always use, comes from Johnny Francesco, a pizza chef in Melbourne, Australia. I make it in my KitchenAid. He makes it by hand. Here’s a video where you can see his entire process. it’s about 16 minutes long. I learned more from watching Johnny make pizza than from anyone else.

The Dough

The best flour for pizza is tipo 00 high gluten flour. Here’s what I have.

I want you to notice that the label says “soft wheat flour.” that bit of info is incorrect. And you do not want to use a soft wheat flour (low in gluten) to make pizza. But look here…

On the back of this same bag of pizza flour, you see the correct info re the gluten content of the flour. Tipo 00 only refers to the fineness of the milling. Not the gluten strength. And for pizza you want gluten strength.

The dough Johnny uses contains 1,000 grams of flour, 600 grams of water, a small amount of yeast (I use 1/2 teaspoon of instant yeast), and 30 grams of salt. This amount will make enough dough for six pizzas. I cut the recipe in half.

I put 300 grams of room temperature tap water into my 5-quart KitchenAid mixer bowl and stir in the 500 grams of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of yeast, then the 15 grams of salt. I scrape the side of the bowl, attach the dough hook, and turn the motor on low speed for 7 1/2 minutes. You may be tempted to add more water because it takes awhile for the flour to be completely incorporated into the dough. But don’t! Just leave the mixer alone.

At the end of mixing and kneading, you’ll have a beautifully smooth ball of dough, maybe only a bit tacky, but easy to handle.

Kneaded pizza dough. It’s ready to divide into three for three pizzas.

At this point, I’d divide the dough into three balls, put them into a tupperware container, and stash the dough in the fridge for a day or two before baking a pizza. Johnny stores his pizza dough in a cool basement temperature of about 65˚F. In Montana I could do that. In Hawaii I have no basement.

For pizza tonight—and by the time I made the dough and refrigerated it it was 5 p.m.—I had to rush to Safeway for the block of unsliced fresh mozzarella.

Back home I cut one-third of the cheese into 9 slices and set them on a towel to drain excess liquid. I also got out my pizza sauces.

I chose the RAO’s. I’d had great success with it before. It has only natural ingredients, no additives, and tastes great. If it’s good enough for Ina Garten, then it’s certainly fine with me.

Next, I turn on my trusty GE electric oven to 530˚F and preheat it with a baking stone on the bottom shelf. About an hour later it’s time to shape the pizza.

Be sure to watch the video to see how Johnny Francesco does it. He’s a magician.

Next, brush the edge of the dough lightly with olive oil—or skip this step—and spread the dough with a thin layer of RAO’s and top it lavishly with fresh basil.

Here’s the pizza on parchment set on a pizza board with handle. We love lots of basil on our pizza! I did not brush olive oil on the edge of the dough.

This pizza is all ready to be baked. After topping the sauce with the sliced mozzarella I sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan on top. And into the oven it goes.

After 9 minutes of baking here’s the baked pizza. It’s about 8 p.m. The emergency is over. The pizza is fantastic! And we’re very happy.

I always let the pizza sit for about 5 minutes before cutting and serving. Dorothy made a terrific green salad to serve with it.

Mangiate bene! Thank you for reading. And have fun baking!