Amazing Crust, Amazing Pizza

This is a long introduction (I know, I’m usually at a loss for words 🙂 ), so if you want to skip right through to the recipe, go ahead – you can always come back for a bit of a backgrounder if the instructions aren’t clear. Have you ever come across a recipe and think “ooh, that sounds interesting, but the process…”. Well that happens a lot with me which is why I typically try to feature easy going recipes on this site. My goal is to make you love cooking. But this recipe – from the good folks at King Arthur Baking, for a Cheesy Pizza Crust is amazing! I tried it for the first time – after reviewing the recipe almost monthly since before the pandemic, or seeing similar recipes using the technique.

I think my hesitation was caused by the number of steps – which seem like a lot but really aren’t, involved in getting to this utopian crust. Let me just say it is worth every step and moment in the bowl. Just a few basic ingredients – flour, yeast, water, salt and a little olive oil, that’s it. Best part to this entire recipe is no kneading required. There is a process which is becoming entirely more used for doughs and that is folding. King Arthur Baking does an amazing job of using that technique for this crust.

Folding requires literally doing four folds of dough, turning the bowl 90 degrees after each fold. You must lift from the bottom of the dough, and fold over the top, rotate 90 degrees and repeat until you come back to the starting position. You do this a total of 4 times with a 5 minute rest in a covered bowl, in between each set of folds. After this, you give it a rest for 40 minutes on the counter then overnight and up to 72 hours in the fridge. I rested mine for 48 hours – only because I got too busy doing other things like Netflix, Prime, Disney – you get the idea. (So if you haven’t seen Schitt’$ Creek, although we are late on the band wagon, I can’t think of a recently produced Canadian show that has brought me more pride in being Canadian than this one – outstanding acting and writing all around, and funny, feel-good humor for these pandemic times).

Back to the recipe, the rest of which is a piece of cake – uh slice of pizza?! Spread some olive oil in a cast iron pan – don’t forget to go up the sides. Spread the dough, flip it over then spread to the edges and dress with your favorite toppings, but don’t overdo it. The beauty of this pizza is the crust and simple is always good. My wife loves anchovies so I typically cook most of our veggies in a bagna cauda (6 – 8 thinly sliced garlic cloves, some red pepper flakes, 3-5 anchovy fillets and olive oil) base. Well of course I use the spicy kind of anchovy in a glass bottle, mostly available in Italian grocery stores and specialy shops – the quality is very good. Chop them up (or not) and slow cook to melt the anchovies and release flavors from the garlic, chili etc. I will cook most of the vegetables we eat in this – broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrots etc. It isn’t in the slightest bit fishy – but so full of flavor, makes the vegetables sing. If you have been to my classes, you know I’m not a fish guy, so if I like it, you need to give it a try – puhleez! I brushed this over the top of the dough, then used some 4 yr old cheddar, a few dots of tomato sauce and some leftover rendang (Indonesian ground beef recipe – subject of another blog).

Really, use whatever you want, but follow the instructions, from above this recipe to the recipe itself. I focused the above on some technique, but the entire recipe is below. I promise you will not be disappointed with this – if you follow the instructions, please use a scale if you have one and get one if you don’t. If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you won’t get the crispy edges and bottom. You might want to use a heavy metal pie plate – 9” across the bottom. The rest of the instructions for baking are spot on! So make this, stay safe, wash, sanitize and socialize per the guidelines and wear a mask. As always – enjoy!