Thin-Crust Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella, Veggies & Grilled Chicken

My pizza-making experience is quite limited. My pizza eating experience, however, is rather extensive, and  since I know how good it can be, I figured it was time that I learn to make my own thin, crispy crust. 

There are tons of recipes and tricks for pizza crust floating around the internet, but the technique I used comes from "My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method," by Jim Lahey with Rick Flaste. The book is fabulous, and I highly recommend it for really rich, flavorful bread with practically no effort. I've cut down his narrative a bit to give you the basic instructions, but his description is really helpful for novice bakers and general troubleshooting. This post might look like a lot of reading, but once you get the hang of it, whipping up a pizza crust will be easy peasey and totally worth it.

This crust recipe will make enough for two 13-by-18 inch pies. If you're not cooking for a crowd, store the other half of the dough in a well-oiled sealable plastic bag in the fridge for up to a day, or in the freezer for up to a month.

Extra dough waiting to be frozen. And yes, those are artificial flowers in an upcycled wine bottle!

If you freeze your dough, defrost in the fridge and bring it to room temperature before stretching.

Ingredients
Crust:
3 3/4 cups (500 grams) bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons (10 grams) instant or other dry active yeast
3/4 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
3/4 teaspoons plus a pinch (about 3 grams) sugar
1 1/3 cups (300 grams) room-temperature water
Extra virgin olive oil for pans, and sealable plastic bag, if you're storing some

Toppings: (in order of appearance)
About 3/4 cup pizza or pasta sauce (I used Walnut Creek tomato and basil organic pasta sauce, which was great)
8 oz. ball fresh mozzarella, sliced into discs (about 8)
1-2 cooked chicken breasts, coarsely chopped (I used some that I had marinated in basil & balsamic and grilled)
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, thinly sliced

Directions
1. In a medium bowl, stor together flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Add the water and using your hand or a wooden spoon, mix until blended, at least 30 seconds.
2. Using a bowl scraper or rubber spatula, remove dough from the bowl onto a floured work surface. Gently form into a round ball, then divide the dough into two halves, spacing them 4 inches apart, and cover both with a moistened kitchen towel for 30 minutes.
3. When you're ready to make your pizza, oil two 13-by-18 inch rimmed baking sheets. Pick up the dough, flip it over  so it is floured side up, moist side down, and stretch the dough the length of the baking sheet. Using your palms, gently pull, press and stretch the dough to fill the entire bottom of the pan. (No need to make a crust or lip around the edge). Spread the dough as evenly as possible across the entire bottom of the pan, pinching together any holes that open up. If the dough sticks to your hands. lightly dust with flour or coat your hands with oil. (I prefer the oil method). Repeat with the other ball of dough, and top as you like.

Position a rack in the center of your oven, and preheat it to 500 degrees. Spread on the sauce a little thicker around the edges, since they will cook and brown more quickly, and thicker sauce will slow that down a bit. Make sure the sauce isn't pooling anywhere, then add the toppings in the order they're listed.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden around the edges, and serve!

A Note about Bread Flour
Jim Lahey is the guy who finally convinced me that high-quality bread flour was actually worth buying. I'd had some good results baking with all-purpose, but for a really good chewy bread or pizza crust, the extra protein in bread flour is essential. And I figure, if a bag of King Arthur bread flour is about $5, and with it I can bake four loaves of really excellent, easy-to-make bread, I'm still well below bakery prices for a product that is fresh, fabulous and totally home-made. And now that a simple pizza is part of my bread repertoire, I'm sticking with King Arthur. (And they're definitely not paying me to say that. Not yet, at least!)

Before baking

After, crispy and golden.

You may have noticed that while my recipe says to thinly slice the peppers, my pictures tell a different story. In this case, the story is a lack of foresight that lead to big chunks of peppers that while delicious, cooked a bit too slowly and released a bit too much liquid to call this pizza a true raving success. That said, boy was it yummy - just a teeny bit soft in some places. Even with the slight excess of liquid, the crust was chewy and delicious. I think with thin slices, this pizza would be pretty close to perfect.

Quote of the Day: Pizza is a lot like sex. When it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good. ~ Anonymous

Pizza with Fig Preserves, Caramelized Onion, Goat Cheese, and Cured Meats Optional

There is an incredible pizza place in Boston, on Beacon Hill, called Figs. They make a pizza that is out of this world, with sweet-tart, seeds-and-all fig preserves, caramelized onion, fresh cheeses (and prosciutto optional) on a yummy thin crust. I've only eaten it twice in the past two years, but I still have dreams about it, and I'm only partially joking. Sadly, most of us cannot live in Boston, though it is still on my personal Bucket List. But for now, I thought I would take a stab at a very liberally interpreted make-it-yourself version that anybody could put together, using pre-made pizza dough, goat cheese, caramelized onions and prosciutto or bacon, if you like.

For starters, I don't think I can write a better tutorial on caramelizing onions than Elise at SimplyRecipes.com, so I won't burden you with a paraphrased version. It takes a while, but it's very straight foward. I love onions any way I can get them, but caramelizing is such a simple way to bring out their natural sweetness. The only change I made to Elise's instructions is the addition of a smashed garlic clove about ten minutes into the cooking time, which you can remove before assembling your pizza, if you don't like the idea of getting a mouthful of roasted garlic. I hear some people don't like that.

Ingredients

1 ball pizza dough, or 1 roll-out sheet of thin-crust pizza dough

1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, smashed

About 3-4 tbsp fig preserves (I used Kadota Fig Preserves made by Trappist; there are several common kinds of figs, but any sort will work)

3-4 ounces goat cheese, cut into chunks

Slices of prosciutto or large crumbles of cooked bacon or pancetta (optional and to your taste)

Directions

1. Caramelize your onions, adding the garlic about 10 minutes in. If you're using bacon or pancetta, cook that now, too.

2. Spread or roll out your pizza dough, and spread with fig preserves. Sprinkle with chunks of goat cheese, and add slices of prosciutto or large crumbles of bacon if you're using meat, and onions. Do not ignore the corners!

3. The exact cooking instructions will depend upon the dough you've chosen. Canned, roll-out crusts may require a brief pre-baking before toppings are added. A refrigerated dough that you flatten out yourself may not tell you this, but it will also work much better with a few minutes of pre-cooking before toppings are added.

Wow. Now that this pizza came out so deliciously well, I am not ashamed to tell you that I used a canned, Pillsbury thin-crust roll-out dough. So, don't feel bad if you want to do the same. You're in good company. And also you won't get super-frustrated and perfectionist-ey like I do every time I try to stretch pizza dough, so there's that.

I'm still not entirely sure whether Figs uses a simple fig puree or a fig preserve, and obviously bacon cannot compete with prosciutto, but let's be honest. This is still a delicious pizza. It's an absolute confection. If it were one of the seven deadly sins, this pizza would be "lust." As Brady put it, it is "both carnal and sweet at the same time." Yes, he was definitely talking about the pizza.

Serve this baby with a salad of mixed baby greens, thinly sliced red peppers and a balsamic vinaigrette, and you will not be disappointed. We enjoyed our dinner with a beer from one of the best local breweries in our area, Cabin Fever Ale (a medium-bodied, English-style pale ale) made by the Berkshire Brewing Company. Any beer with a nice balance of rich malt and hoppyness will be a great match.

EDIT: If this pizza looks good to you, you'll also enjoy this Double-Decker Pear, Havarti and Alfalfa Sprout Sandwich on Cinnamon Raisin Bread.