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RCP: All-Trader Joe's All-Star pizza (no stone required)

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wnissen

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RCP: All-Trader Joe's All-Star pizza (no stone required)

by wnissen » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:34 pm

I am lazy as far as it comes to baking, leaving all that to my lovely wife. Therefore I won't explain how to make pizza dough in this recipe. However, I will relate what I believe is some of the best pizza to come out of a home oven. The best part is that all the ingredients can be had at Trader Joe's.

1 package white flour pizza dough (Whole wheat is wonderful, but not for pizza)
1 container Italian buffalo mozzarella (the domestic whole milk will do, but it's not as good)
1 box Italian Tomato Starter Sauce (makes enough sauce for two pizzas)
1 package basil

Take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit for at least fifteen minutes. Put the tomato sauce in a saucepan or skillet, and cook down by half. You can do this on high heat if you're in a hurry, or simmer like a pasta sauce. Preheat your oven to 525F / 275C (or whatever the second highest setting is). Coarsely chop the mozzarella, and squeeze in a cheesecloth to get rid of as much excess moisture as you can. Use Pam to well coat the bottom of an 16x11"/40x28cm rectangular pan or a 15"/38cm circular pan. The thinner the better; no insulated cookie sheets!

Flour a small workspace and your hands. Open the ball of dough and put it down on the flour. Sprinkle both sides with salt. Form it into a ball and roll or toss to desired shape (A video is worth a million words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERAIP0aZsj0 ), being very careful to not make any holes in the dough, and place on the pan. Salt both sides (for some reason I find the TJ's dough really undersalted). Generously brush the entire top crust with extra virgin olive oil. Spread *half* the sauce on top, maybe less. If there's too much moisture the cheese won't brown. Spread the cheese. Place the pizza in the oven and then turn up the heat one notch. This forces the element to turn on, browning the bottom of the crust better. After 4 minutes, remove from the pan (you were careful not to make any holes in the crust, right?), rotate 180 degrees, and place directly on the rack. Chiffonade the basil. When the top and bottom crust are spotted dark brown and the cheese is browned (another 2-3 minutes), pull it from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, top with basil, and you're done.

This recipe is the result of many iterations, aiming toward the goal of reproducing the pie from Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco. They have a 900F brick oven, which means blistering that I can't duplicate even on the highest setting of my oven, but otherwise I think this is pretty close. The outside crust is crispy, the cheese is brown and delicious, and the inside is still toothsome.
Walter Nissen

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