Walt’s Kitchen – Pan Pizza
Pizza. Arguably my all time favorite food in direct competition with tacos. As I look through my daily memories I am guaranteed to see at least one picture of a pizza, tacos, and a healthy pour of some whiskey and a cigar.
Over the years I have come across many recipes for a good pizza crust. The following are my 3 current favorites. In the coming days I’ll provide you with a deep dish pan, a hand tossed crust, and my “I forgot to prepare this yesterday” generic crust that can be whipped up in 10 minutes for pizza emergencies. As I add crust recipes I’ll update here and link them all together.
First, lets start with a pan pizza. This is the closest I’ve found to that Pan Pizza from the Pizza Hut of the late 70s and early 80s and by far the most time consuming of the 3, but ironically the easiest. The recipe is from the folks at seriouseats.com and you can read and even watch a video of them preparing it here. They call it their Foolproof Pan Pizza Recipe. I’ll give you the cliff notes I keep saved in my recipe notes:
- 400 grams of flour (I use bread flour)
- 10 grams of salt
- 4 grams of yeast
- 275 grams of water (not warm)
- 8 grams of oil.
For best consistent results, use grams in your measurements. Mix it all together briefly so that there is no dry flour left. No need to knead or mix it any further. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 8-24 hours. I generally like to let it sit overnight anywhere from 10-13 hours.
Pour the dough onto a flour covered workspace. At this point, you can make two 9-10 inch pizzas, or do what you will with it. For example, you can continue to make one and freeze the other half. I like to use half for my pan pizza and the other half for another pizza and breadsticks. To make 2 pizzas, divide the dough in half and ball it with your palms.
Pour a fair amount of olive oil into a 9 or 10 inch pan such as cake pan or cast iron skillet. Place the ball of dough into the pan, palm flatten it a little and turn it over to the other side and do the same thing, spinning it in the pan to make sure the oil goes everywhere. Cover and let it proof for 2 more hours. If freezing one, I’ll throw this “thick pancake” into a ziploc bag and put in freezer. The evening I intend to make a pan pizza, I pull it out in the morning and place in a oiled pan and let it sit all day. By the time I get home, it’s ready to continue.
After 2 hours of proofing, Preheat your home oven as high as you can. Some can go to 500, some 550. Mine goes to 550. Finger tap the dough to make sure all the bubbles are popped and that it conforms to the entire width of the pan. Spread at least ¾ cup of your favorite sauce over the entire surface – edge to edge. Like Serious Eats says, this is an extremely thirsty crust. Let it get sloppy. I put a small layer of cheese down first then add my toppings. Be more generous with a pan pizza than a regular one. It can take a lot of toppings. Finally, I put more cheese on top, maybe over a cup. Again, edge to edge. Don’t try to get that ring around your crust. I place my pepperonis on last, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and drop it in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until it looks good. All that sloppy sauce, cheese, and toppings will create little delicious crunchy morsels that only this method can provide. I like to top mine with some parmesan powder and a little bit of basil. Back in the old days at Pizza Hut, we called that Fairy Dust. Ready mixed in a shaker and went on every pizza.
Bonus Breadstick recipe: utilizing the above pan dough, I take a quarter of the dough after the overnight rising and pull and roll it out into something resembling a rectangle, throw some mozzarella in there and fold it over onto itself. Pinch the edges. Place on a greased pan. I take a rocker pizza cutter and cut the breadstick strips into it at this point. Carefully slide all the strips together because they will separate while cutting. Generously slather on a garlic/parmesan/butter mixture and let proof the same 2 hours as the pan. Bake with the pizza. I have both shelves in the middle 2 racks. The his and hers pizza on the bottom and breadsticks on the top. Monitor the breadsticks. They will finish before the pizza does. You’ll know when they are done. Once removed, I slather on more of the butter mixture so that it melts into the top and dust the top with parmesan cheese. Cut again along the previously cut lines and serve with a side of your favorite dip. I like to use whatever pizza sauce I am using with my pizza. Carol likes to dip hers in Ranch Dressing and crushed red pepper.
You can check out my easy pizza sauce here.
