the pragmatic chef™

TPCs Pizza tips:

Dough- I mixed mine by hand, just for the heck of it. A dough hook in a mixer is a perfectly honorable technique, too, especially if you're making a big batch. Developing the gluten is really important to good pizza. I also use good olive oil in my dough, and make sure I have enough salt. Pizza dough without enough salt is really boring. Once you let your dough raise the first time, round and portion it and let it rise again before you roll it out, or toss it into shape. After you make your rounds is the time to put a bit of oil on it and wrap it to freeze. While you're at it, why not make extra so you have it handy?

Sauce- I always keep cans of crushed tomatoes on hand for fast sauces. If you want a smooth sauce, just pour off the liquid into your pan and stick an immersion blender in the can and buzz the chunks up to the consistency you like. Easy. Make your sauce is thick enough that it doesn't run all over the place as it cooks. Fast easy sauce- lots of fresh garlic, a bit of granulated onion (or fresh), dry oregano, olive oil, kosher salt and some crushed red peppers. You only have to cook it long enough to thicken it, I like a nice brightness to my pizza sauce. If you have some tomato paste on hand, it'll speed the thickening process.

Spinach and garlic topping- You have to precook this. Olive oil, add the garlic for a few seconds then add your well-washed spinach and cook it down. Season well. Once it cools a bit, give it a good squeeze to make sure your pizza won't be a watery mess. If you want fresh tomatoes, salt them and makes sure they're drained well, too. I also like to par-cook mushrooms and anything else that releases a lot of liquid.

There you have it, make a batch of dough and sauce this weekend, and keep it in the freezer!