Thin-Crust Pizza

I love pizza but unfortunately, I feel that few pizza deliveries provide the pizza that I crave.  While I do enjoy the Chicago-style deep-dish pizza that I've made in the past, for quite some time I've been wanting to do my own thin-crust pizza at home.  I was never much of a thin-crust pizza junkie but my boyfriend always preferred it and after our trip to New York and tasting the real deal thin-crust pizza, I was hooked!

There's only a slight hiccup.  I tried making homemade pizza with a homemade dough and sauce but I was still disappointed by the texture of the crust.  Baking pans don't produce a crust that's crisp on the bottom, even when the oven is blasting at 500 degrees and the baking sheet has been preheating for quite some time.  That's when I decided to wait on my thin-crust pizza dreams until I purchased a baking stone.  I finally got one in September and I've had wonderful thin-crust pizzas since!

This is the recipe I like to use and recently, I had friends over for a pizza party where everyone helped shape the dough and top it with a variety of toppings.  This was the ultimate way to taste different flavour combinations.  Sometimes if it's just my boyfriend and I, I'll split the pizza into two and make two different flavours to give us some variety.  I am particularly fond of using thinly sliced chorizo in place of pepperoni and putting dollops of my garden pesto over the cheese.  It jazzes things up rather than your traditional toppings.  However, it's important to not put too many toppings on the pizza because the thin crust may not be able to support it and it may not have time to cook fully in the center.  Another plus is that the dough is prepared the day before and the final steps come together in a snap.  I usually let my dough come to room temperature, preheat my oven with my baking stone while I prepare my toppings. Then all that's left is to shape the dough and put the toppings and then the entire pizza bakes quickly in approximately 10 minutes.  That's about how much time it takes to order pizza and get it delivered, except here you have something that's phenomenally better and crisp!

This pizza has some of my garden pesto on the right.  

NB: Below is the basic recipe for a simple cheese pizza; feel free to add a few toppings to make it your own.  There will be extra pizza sauce which can be frozen for another time.  I don't have a pizza peel so I use a piece of parchment paper set over top of the underside of a baking sheet.  A little back and forth movement helps ease the parchment paper (with the pizza on top of it) onto the baking stone.  Once the pizza is cooked, all you have to do is pull it out and slide it on a cutting board or round pizza pan, let rest for a few minutes, then slice and serve.

Thin-Crust Pizza
Makes two 13-inch pizzas

Ingredients
Dough
3 cups (16 1/2 ounces) bread flour, plus more for work surface
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/3 cups ice water (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for work surface
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt

Sauce
1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and liquid discarded
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Cheese 
1 ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup)
8 ounces whole milk mozzarella, shredded (about 2 cups)

For the Dough:
In food processor fitted with metal blade, process flour, sugar, and yeast until combined, about 2 seconds.  With machine running slowly add water through feed tube; process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds.  Let dough stand 10 minutes.

Add oil and salt to dough and process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball that clears sides of workbowl, 30 to 60 seconds.  Remove dough from bowl and knead briefly on lightly oiled countertop until smooth, about 1 minute.  Shape dough into tight ball and place in large, lightly oiled bowl.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.

For the Sauce:
Process all ingredients in food processor until smooth, about 30 seconds.  Transfer to medium bowl or container and refrigerate until ready to use.

To Bake the Pizza:
Remove dough from refrigerator and divide in half.  Shape each half into smooth tight ball.  Place on lightly oiled baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart; cover loosely with plastic wrap coated with nonstick cooking spray; let stand for 1 hour. Thirty minutes before baking pizza, adjust the oven rack to second highest position (rack should be about 4 to 5 inches below broiler), set pizza stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees.

Coat 1 ball of dough generously with flour and place on well-floured countertop.  Using fingertips, gently flatten into 8-inch disk, leaving 1 inch of outer edge slightly thicker than center.  Using hands, gently stretch disk into 12-inch round, working along edges and giving disk quarter turns as you stretch. Transfer dough to well-floured peel and stretch into 13-inch round.  Using back of spoon or ladle, spread 1/2 cup tomato sauce in thin layer over surface of dough, leaving 1/4-inch border around edge.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan evenly over sauce, followed by 1 cup mozzarella.  Slide pizza carefully onto stone and bake until crust is well browned and cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown, 9 to 11 minutes.  Remove pizza and place on wire rack for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.  Repeat to shape, top and bake second pizza.

Topping tips: Additional toppings are always an option-- provided they're prepared correctly and added judiciously.  An overloaded pie will bake up soggy.

Source: Barely adapted from America's Test Kitchen