A Plain Pizza Pie
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 128-ounce can San Marzano tomatoes
- 1ball pizza dough
- 8ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2tablespoons basil leaves, thinly sliced
- Extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle
- Kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Grated Parmesan, to sprinkle
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Preparation
- Step 1
At least 45 minutes before cooking, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 550 degrees.
- Step 2
Drain the tomatoes over a fine-mesh strainer, reserving the liquid for another use. Break up the tomatoes and drain the juices, pressing them with a wooden spoon. The tomatoes should be fairly dry.
- Step 3
Place the dough on a heavily floured surface and stretch and pull, using your hands or a rolling pin, into about a 14-inch round. Place on a lightly floured pizza peel or rimless baking sheet. Cover with the toppings, being careful not to press on the dough and weigh it down: the crushed tomatoes first, then the cheese, leaving roughly a ½-inch border. Shake the pizza peel slightly to make sure the dough is not sticking. (Gently lift any sections that are sticking and sprinkle the peel with flour.) Carefully slide the pizza directly onto the baking stone in one quick, forward-and-back motion. Cook until the crust has browned on the bottom and the top is bubbling and browning in spots, about 7 minutes. Top with the basil, and season with olive oil, salt, pepper and Parmesan. Serve hot. Makes 1 pizza.
Private Notes
Comments
Don't need pizza stone. Cook on shallow or rimless, very thin aluminum pan, sprinkled well with corn meal, NOT FLOUR. Brush your dough with olive oil before adding any toppings; this seals the dough and keeps moisture from tomatoes from soaking into it. Chop your fresh basil and arrange over tomatoes, then add cheese. Baked on a thin pan, 450F is plenty, on center rack. How do I know these things? Cuz I been there, done it. This recipe is ok....but I like my way better. :)
Interesting. In "It Must've Been Something I Ate: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything", Steingarten shares a recipe for pizza sauce where you crush whole San Marzanos in a colander over a bowl, catching the liquid. Heat up some oil in a small sauce pan with some chopped onion. After a bit, add in the now-crushed tomatoes from the colander and some of the retained liquid. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Season as desired. Spread on dough, top with whatever, bake, enloy.
San Marzano this, San Marzano that. Big money sucker. Red Pack/Red Gold are much, much less expensive, available at nearly every market, and tastes better than every San Marzono I've cooked with. Try it for yourself if you don't believe it.
I've been buying premade pizza dough at the health food store, cutting it in quarters for 4 single servings (I live alone), and then freezing them until I'm ready for pizza. I usually just top with homemade tomato sauce (onion, canned tomatoes, butter and herbs or spices, depending on my mood) and whatever cheese seems appealing and is in my fridge. Delicious and easy. I can't imagine leaving my oven at 500 for 45 minutes though. I just preheat to 400 or 425 and pop it in.
My change (and I have been making my own pizza for years) is that I now use my carbon steel frying pan. Heat the oven to 550 (I'm going to try to go a little lower so I don't smoke bomb my house). Then, heat the frying pan stove top until it's got a little smoke. Add olive oil to cover the pan and then I add corn meal. Place the stretched dough on the pan and remove from heat. Build your pizza and place in the oven for about 8 minutes. Crusty pie with plenty of heat to melt the top.
So simple and so good! I used a shredded mozzarella and parm mix (maybe 5-6 ounce) and a Trader Joe’s frozen organic pizza crust. Served with a simple arugula salad recipe from NYT cooking. Will go in our regular rotation!
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