Neapolitan Style Thin Crust Pizza

I've become a big fan of making my own pizzas. Maybe it has something to do with my mom always whipping out the Cuisinart on Friday afternoons to make up the evening's pizza dough. Or maybe it's because my husband could eat pizza for every meal, and the thought of another delivery pizza just makes me crazy. Or maybe it's because I enjoy the challenge of trying to recreate the absolute best pizza I've ever tasted.

If you are looking for a great thin-crust pizza, check out Alfred's Tomato Pie in Blackwood, NJ. The menu is solely comprised of pizza, so if you need a salad to round out your meal, take the pizza home and make your own sides and dessert. If you want a fun, leisurely meal with friends, though, grab a bottle of wine and head on over to Alfred's. Your pizza is made to order with the freshest of ingredients and you might even be lucky enough to be serenaded by Alfred himself.

So, recently I decided to try my hand at making pizza at home. I did a little research online and found a recipe at cookology for neapolitan pizza. It's based on a recipe found in Cooks Illustrated. As I read about the technique and ingredients I thought "I can do this."

Since my first attempt several months ago, I have tweaked the recipe to my liking and am quite pleased with the results.












Neapolitan Style Pizza
(adapted from recipe on Cookology.com, which is based on recipe in Cook's Illustrated)

Dough

• 1 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
  
• approx. 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  
• Corn meal, for dusting
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Topping

• 6 or 7 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed and crushed by hand
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
  
• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
  
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, my preference is sliced deli cheese but shredded works
  
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

For the crust -

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position, set pizza stone on oven rack.
2. In liquid measuring cup, whisk yeast into water to dissolve. Add the olive oil. In a food processor fitted with metal blade, process 2 3/4 c. flour, salt, and sugar until combined, about 5 seconds.
3. With machine running, slowly add liquid through feed tube; continue to process until dough forms satiny, sticky ball that clears sides of workbowl, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. (If after 1 minute dough is sticky and clings to blade, add a couple tablespoons flour and continue processing.)
   
4. Divide dough in half and shape into smooth, tight balls. Place on floured baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart; cover loosely with plastic wrap coated with nonstick cooking spray and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

For the topping -

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
   
2. Crush tomatoes by hand and transfer to fine-mesh strainer set over bowl and let drain at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to release liquids. Combine the drained tomatoes, sugar, garlic, salt and pepper in bowl.

Shaping and cooking the pizzas -

1. When dough balls have doubled in size, dust dough liberally with flour and transfer balls to work surface that has been dusted with corn meal (adds a little extra crunch to the crust).
   
2. Press one ball into 8-inch disk. Using flattened palms, gently stretch disk into 12-inch circle, working along outer edge and giving disk quarter turns. This can be tricky and I cheat a little by using a combination of holding the dough out in front of me to stretch it and sometimes break out the rolling pin. The flattened pizza should be about 1/16″ thick and is almost never a cirle.
   
3. Lightly dust your pizza peel with corn meal. Lift edges of dough round to brush off any excess flour, then transfer dough to peel. Spread thin layer of tomato topping (about 1/2 cup) over dough with rubber spatula, leaving 1/2-inch border around edge.
   
4. Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake until crust begins to brown, about 4-5 minutes. Remove pizza from oven with peel, close oven door, and top pizza with half of cheese. I sometimes add a little sliced provolone, too.
5. Return the pizza to the stone and continue cooking until cheese is just melted, 4 to 5 minutes more. Transfer to cutting board. Slice and serve immediately. Repeat step 2 to shape, top, and bake second pizza.