I dream of pizza

Just when I think that I'm out... the cheese pulls me back in

Jan 15, 2023

Special news! I am selling pizza kits at Legacy Greens in Kitchener for pickup on Fri. Jan. 20 and Sat. Jan. 21. Each pizza kit has cold-proofed dough, pizza sauce, and garlic oil for the crust. Kits are $8 and available for pre-order now. Limited quantities.

Probably Worth Sharing is a reader supported publication. To become a free or paying subscriber click here.

Margherita with pizza mozzarella and fried basil, baked in my Gozney Dome

Recently, despite telling everyone not to start the year with a cleanse, I was doing a 10-day ~~cleanse~~ microbiome reset with a friend. It wasn’t a calorie restriction, but an elimination of all things that taste good: sugar, starch, cheese. Mostly I was allowed fish and broccoli and protein powder. For a while I was okay, but by days 8 and 9 I started having both perfect skin and vivid dreams. Not actual dreams, waking dreams. I would be laying in bed at 1am, wide awake, physically full but emotionally starved, with a visualization in front of me. I saw pizza.

Pizza with stretches of cheese. Pizza with crispy pepperoni cups. Pizza with tomatoes and garlic. Pizza with bouncy, chewy dough.

Pizza is my one true love.

This went on for 3 days before I finally broke down and ordered pizza – one meal too early. I gave up so easy. I can’t live without pizza. I need pizza in my life. More than I need perfect skin. Maybe what I need is smaller pizzas, likely with more vegetables, but pizza is a part of me.

Growing up we ate a lot of pizza. Usually Pizza Hut. We would sit in my mom’s Oldsmobile in the plaza parking lot waiting for the order. I would get a personal pan pizza with pepperoni and anchovies. As a kid I refused to eat mayonnaise, but I loved anchovies. My sisters preferred McDonalds, so for that brief magical time when McDonalds had pizza I was in my glory. I did not handle it well when I asked for a plain cheeseburger and it arrived with ketchup. I still don’t eat ketchup, but I do accept mayonnaise now.

My first job – over 20 years ago, a sentence which makes me feel older than I am – was working at Dominos Pizza. I learned to answer the phones and take orders. Then I learned to make pizza. Eventually I learned how to work the oven. Later, I would order inventory and close the store. Alone. On Friday nights. I was 16.

Most of the dipping sauces were ordered as individuals, except for garlic dipping sauce, which was ordered by the case. I ordered 30 cases.

On discovering this one of the drivers said “Marko, we need more garlic.”

Words I still live by.

One Friday night when I was closing the store, alone, a man came in with a balaclava and a chef’s knife to rob the store. He locked me in the bathroom while he raided the till (empty: I hid the money in the walk-in cooler). After he left I didn’t know what to do. Since I was 16. I called another store to ask for protocol. Lucky for me the Regional Manager was there, unlucky for him that’s how we found out he was having an affair with that store’s manager.

I called the police, his wife called a lawyer.

The Record, our local newspaper, wrote about a 16-year old girl who was locked in a toilet and menaced by a knife. I suppose my voice must have gone up an octave in my 911 call. He could rob the store (in fact, he had worked at the store) but he could not rob me of my love of pizza.

After Dominos I worked at Mega Pizza, a local chain. I also designed the flyers. Later I worked at East Side Mario’s on the pizza/salad line. During University I worked at a local bar making bar-style pizza. Years of pizza making has become part of my muscle fibers. The motions are automatic.

Most pizza places don’t make their own dough. Everywhere I worked, we would get pizza dough delivered 2-3 times per week.The dough was good for up to 5 days in the walk-in, and 2-4 hours at room temperature. On the first day the dough was always tight and didn’t have much flavour. Day 3 was the best, and by day 5 the dough started to get a bit funky. This is when I learned that slow, cold proofing is the way to create flavour and it’s influenced how I make my own pizza and bread doughs today (recipe below).

Slow, cold bread not a compelling book title.

Because pizza dough is so simple – flour, water, salt, and yeast (the title of an excellent bread book) – small changes can create big impacts. This leads to my least favourite part of pizza: the purity tests of pizza discourse. Flour is a big one.

I will fail the purity test now: I usually make my pizza dough with organic all purpose flour. 00 flour has benefits, mostly for high-heat ovens (900°F). My advice is to find organic, locally stone-milled flour instead of seeking out grain that’s been shipped twice around the world, or worse – chemically processed. Please only buy organic flour. Canada now uses so many chemicals in growing and processing our wheat that Italy has stopped buying Canadian wheat due to the glyphosate content (glyphosate, used in products like RoundUp, is now banned in Europe – along with many of the other chemicals we use in our flour. An essay for a later date).

How to shape pizza dough

Your dough should be at room temperature so it can stretch without tearing. Cold dough is very tight, the gluten network crowded together for warmth. Get a dough ball and toss it into a bowl of flour to make it non-stick. I like to use semolina flour. Semolina flour is coarse, made from durum wheat. Semolina is usually used for extruded pasta due to its high protein content. You can find it in most grocery stores, it looks like cornmeal. Semolina takes time to absorb moisture which helps your dough stay non-stick, and unlike using all purpose flour, it only leaves only a thin layer to the dough. It won’t clump like all purpose or 00 flour. However, if you only make pizza occasionally it’s not worth buying the extra bag – stick with all purpose flour (or use cornmeal like Dominos, but I cannot eat corn).

Place your dough on a floured surface. Your first step is to create the crust. With your fingertips 1/2" from the edge of the dough push straight down. Rotate the dough, not your hands – this also helps you make sure the dough isn’t sticking to the counter. If the dough sticks add more flour. Do this until you’ve made a crust around the full pizza.

After you create the crust, push down in the center with your fingertips to gently stretch the pizza. You want to stretch from the center out, fanning your hand out like Spirit Fingers. You may be tempted to twirl your dough in the air like they do in the movies (pizza movies, not Bring It On, though they also twirl in the air). Twirling pizza dough does look cool, and it can make very evenly shaped dough, but it’s a very hard technique to do well. And it will fling flour across your entire kitchen. Another pizza shop method is to slap the dough, like your hands are ping-pong paddles. Again, flour will get everywhere.

You can choose if it’s worth the extra vacuuming.

The best method at home is to drape the dough over two fists and gently stretch the dough, rotating the dough on your fists, dancing in the air like a boxer. Your fists provide more surface area than your fingers so the dough is less likely to rip. If you want to try spinning pizza in the air then try to catch it with your fists, not with your Spirit Fingers – it’s less likely to tear.

There are a few things that can go wrong when you’re shaping dough.

If the dough keeps shrinking back: the gluten is stressed out and it needs to rest. Give it 5 minutes.
If the dough gets too thin in one spot: set it on a floured surface and use your hands to gently pull from the thicker areas, or let gravity do the work.
If you make a hole: patch it. If the patch won’t stay closed: dip your finger in water then tap both sides of the hole and patch.
If nothing works and you’re upset: shape the dough back into a ball and come back to it in 15 minutes when both you and the dough have relaxed.

After all these years I still rip dough and make it too thin. It happens. Forgive yourself, you’re still getting pizza for dinner. Or at least, a calzone.

How to use a pizza peel

Before assembling your pizza it’s important to consider how pizza moves into your oven. If you have a high-heat outdoor oven or you use a baking steel in your home oven, then you may be using a pizza peel to move your pizza around. Using a pizza peel is an art form that takes practice. I get very upset at the YouTube videos by professional chefs who don’t know how to use a pizza peel and can’t explain why their pizza became a calzone.

There are two kinds of pizza peels.

Wood pizza peels, which are safe for pizza assembly and loading dough into your oven. The wood will absorb extra moisture from the dough, preventing it from sticking.

And metal pizza peels, which are used to quickly transfer pizza into and out of ovens. You should never build a pizza on a metal peel – metal cannot absorb moisture, so it will build up between the dough and peel. The surface flour will absorb it, become like glue, and within 30 seconds the dough will stick to the peel. When you try to release it from the peel, your pizza will become misshapen and fold and you will be sad. Pizza should only be on a metal peel for seconds, not minutes. Do not build pizza on a metal pizza peel.

DO NOT BUILD PIZZA ON A METAL PIZZA PEEL.

If you only have a metal peel, build your pizza on a very floured countertop – ideally a wood surface. Don’t work on a cutting board, you need space for the peel to move and even my 18x24 cutting board is too small for that.

Your peel should be only slightly tilted from the counter. With the courage of your convictions – with one big, fast motion – shove under the pizza and pull towards you, your movement like the Bend and Snap. Sometimes you will get all of it on your first try, but if you don’t the best way to get the full pizza on the peel is to swirl, pull, and shove. Or remove the peel and try another angle.

Pizza shops use pizza screens, metal mesh that keeps the dough sturdy. You can buy them online (Lloyd Pans Quik-Disks are made in the USA), which is helpful if you make a lot of pizza or don’t feel comfortable using a peel. Pizza shops use them because they are reliable and reduce food waste. There is no shame in using a pizza screen. If it helps you make more pizza that you enjoy more that is all that matters.

At home your best bet is to use a baking sheet, especially if you’re not comfortable with a pizza peel (there’s a full list of baking methods for home cooks with instructions below). Place your dough on a lightly floured (ideally semolina) baking sheet – I don’t use parchment since it might catch on fire. Check that the dough isn’t sticking. If it is, add more flour.

Keep toppings close to the crust – lay out toppings for the slice, not the pie

How to assemble a pizza

Next you add the sauce. Not too much, evenly spread out. Saucing is a technique that requires practice. Like salt, you can always add more sauce but it’s hard to remove it. Like salt, sauce is also done to taste. You can try it my way, but follow your heart. You don’t have to use tomato sauce – garlic oil is great. Bechamel. Cream cheese. Some people use ranch, I’m not one of those people, but you are allowed to like what you like.

Topping a pizza is a complex business. At restaurants I found most people opt for maximalism: extra cheese, double pepperoni, every kind of meat. At home, I’ve seen that people tend to lump all of the toppings into the middle of the pizza – the worst place for it. If you put a heavy pile of toppings in the middle then the toppings are all going to fall off as your slice flops over.

These days I prefer fewer, better quality toppings now. My double pepperoni days are behind me.

Before adding toppings, visualize your pizza. Picture it as slices. If all of your toppings are in the centre, where are they on the slice? You’ll have one good bite, then some sauce covered bread. Instead put your toppings around the edge first, right up to the crust, then work your way to the centre.

When it comes to cheese, baking pizza in a standard home oven is different from using a high-heat commercial oven. At 900°F, the extra moisture from fresh mozzarella evaporates and keeps the cheese from burning. In a home oven, the moisture of fresh mozzarella can leave you with a soupy mess, and without a satisfying cheese pull. If you want to use fresh mozzarella make sure to drain it very well. Low moisture mozzarella, sometimes called pizza mozzarella, is a more reliable choice. If you buy pre-shredded cheese it’s usually coated in starch to prevent it from clumping in the bag. This changes the mouthfeel. Please try to grate your own cheese or cut it into cubes (my preferred method).

If you’re using a different kind of cheese, like cheddar, it’s best to mix it with a melting cheese. At a certain temperature the cheese will split, meaning the fats separate from the milk solids, and you’ll end up with a very greasy looking pizza. It’s perfectly edible, but it’s not ideal.

If you’re making pizza in a home oven it’s best to work on a baking sheet. Choose aluminum, stainless, or enamelled carbon steel (used above). Avoid Teflon/PFAS as it will be damaged with the high temperature.

How to bake pizza at home

There are so many ways to make pizza that I’ve accepted there is no definition.

Is it bread with sauce and cheese? Pizza bianca has no sauce or cheese. Pizza marinara has sauce but no cheese. Cauliflower pizza has no dough, but has sauce and cheese. Is focaccia pizza? Only sometimes. Naan pizza? Tortilla pizza?

Pizza can be whatever you want it to be. Please argue with each other in the comments so the algorithm notices me, but also don’t argue because people should be able enjoy the food they like without shame. Unless they put ketchup on their pizza, in which case they should just get McDonalds and unsubscribe from this newsletter.

Marko’s Pizza Dough

1,000g flour, I use organic all purpose flour. Sometimes I replace up to 100g with fresh milled whole wheat or rye flour, for flavour.
700g water, lukewarm water (not hot, around 30°C/86°F)
22g salt
3g active dry yeast

Put everything into a bowl and stir it together. Use your hands to pinch and smush the dough to ensure all the dry flour is incorporated (you don’t want any clumps). Cover it and throw it in the fridge for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days. No kneading! This time in the fridge is the bulk fermentation stage (bulk because it’s all one unit). If you want pizza dough faster you’re going to have to knead it. Ken Forkish’s The Elements of Pizza has great recipes for different speeds of pizza dough.

After the bulk fermentation you’ll divide the dough based on the pizza size you want to make:

12” pizza – 225g balls
14” – 425g
16 – 500g
13x9 pan – 535g (Detroit style, thick/fluffy crust)

After dividing, pinch the dough into the center to create a ball shape, then place it on the counter and pull it towards you in a circular motion to tighten the ball into a smooth-ish sphere. Place in an oiled 16-oz container (for a 225g dough ball).

Now you have a few options:

Leave the dough to proof, covered, at room temperature for 2 hours before making pizza.
Put the dough back in the fridge for up to 3 more days (5 days total for the dough) and bring it out for 2 hours before making pizza.
Freeze the dough balls. When you want to make pizza, thaw the dough in the fridge overnight and then leave it at room temperature for 2 hours before making pizza.

Generally I make one pizza right away, put 2 dough balls in the fridge, and the rest in the freezer. You can also use it to make flatbread. It’s really nice to have on hand.

Marko’s Pizza Sauce

I prefer an uncooked tomato sauce that’s heavy on garlic. I prefer thyme to oregano, it’s gentler, less spicy, and more floral.

A 28oz can of tomatoes, I prefer Bianco di Napoli tomatoes above all other tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tbsp dry thyme, I prefer Burlap & Barrel’s Flowering Hyssop Thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Blend everything together. I use a tall container and an immersion blender, but a high-powered blender or a food processor would also work. If you have none of these, use a potato masher on the tomatoes and grate the garlic.

Marko’s Garlic Oil

My favourite part of pizza is the crust. I believe that people who don’t like crust have had bad dough. I brush this garlic oil on pizza after it comes out of the oven. It softens the crust, it gets a bit everywhere on the pizza. The smell is intoxicating. It will make even the worst crust worth eating.

1/4 cup olive oil
1 clove of garlic, smashed (gentle) or grated (strong)
1 tsp dry thyme
A pinch of salt

Add everything into a small saucepan and put it on low heat. Once you see bubbles, turn off the heat and let it sit for 30 minutes. You can strain it, I usually don’t. Use a pastry brush to brush it on your pizza. Drizzle some on the pizza. Dip your pizza in it.

Fried Basil

I love adding basil to pizza, but basil has challenges:

If you put raw basil under the cheese, it’s just a big leaf that will pull out in your first bite. No thank you.
If you put raw basil on top of the cheese it will burn and taste bitter.
If you chop basil and put it in the sauce, it tastes okay but for a margherita pizza it will still burn.

My solution to this is to fry the basil.

1/4 cup olive oil
10 basil leaves, rinsed and dried on a kitchen towel

Heat the olive oil in a medium pan until shimmering, but not smoking. Throw in your basil. Your basil needs to be very dry or it will sputter and splash. If your oil is hot enough the basil will immediately begin to fry and within 30 seconds become a vivid green with the texture of stained glass. Remove it to a rack or clean kitchen towel.

Fried basil looks beautiful, tastes amazing, and is shatteringly crisp – making for a great eating experience. Add it to pizza after it comes out of the oven.

Assuming your oil doesn’t reach its smoke point, you can also use this basil oil in other applications (even as a base for the garlic oil!). Once it cools, give it a taste before using it.

Zucchini and lemon pizza with home-made ricotta

Marko’s favourite pizzas to make at home

Zucchini with lemon

Thinly slice a zucchini, peel still on, toss it with salt, pepper, thyme, olive oil, lemon zest, and grated garlic and set aside
Thinly slice a lemon, peel still on, and pop out the seeds
Use tomato sauce or garlic oil for the base, then layer the zucchini and lemon on the pizza
Optionally add home-made ricotta
Bake, then brush the crust with garlic oil
Serve with optional chili oil

Potato and pancetta

Use a waxy potato, like a red potato – avoid russets. Yellow potatoes are fine. Peel and parbake your potato (don’t overcook it, it’ll crumble) – I usually steam mine. Allow potatoes to cool, then cut into thin slices.
Slowly, on low heat, parcook your pancetta until it’s very soft but not crispy
Use garlic oil (or bechamel, or cream cheese) as the base, layer the potatoes, then top with pancetta and thinly sliced garlic. Optionally add a cheese of your choice.
Bake, then brush the crust with garlic oil
Serve with hot honey, chili flakes, and optional sour cream and chives

Soppressata Margherita

Use tomato sauce as a base
Place 1-2 pieces of hot soppressata on each “slice” of the pizza
Add thinly sliced garlic
Place dollops of mozzarella di bufala (well drained) around, 1-2 dollops per slice
Bake, then brush the crust with garlic oil
Add fried basil

Broccolini Delight

Blanch the broccolini – boil it for 1 minute, then plunge it in ice water (this helps soften it so you can bite through it easily)
Use tomato sauce or garlic oil as the base
Arrange the broccolini on the pizza, add thinly sliced garlic
Place chunks of a strongly flavoured melty cheese, like emmental or gruyere, around the broccolini
Bake, then brush the crust with garlic oil
Top with hot honey or chilli crisp

Olives, onions, and anchovies

Caramelise onions the slow, painful, delicious way
Use tomato sauce as the base
Add a layer of onions and optionally thinly sliced garlic
Add 1 anchovy – rinse off the salt – per slice
Add sliced green olives (buy good olives)
Bake, then brush the crust with garlic oil

Baking pizza at home

Method 1 – a baking sheet

Since your oven is going to be very hot, please use an aluminum or stainless steel baking sheet. Because you are using high heat I don’t recommend using baking sheets with fossil fuel-based non-stick coatings like Teflon/PFAS, which will break down at the high temperature.

Before turning on your oven, check that your oven doesn’t have a random pool of grease somewhere by taking a wet cloth (one you don’t like) and rubbing around the back, bottom, and door of the oven. If you skip this step you could end up with a smokey mess as the oven pre-heats.
Place your oven rack on the lowest shelf in the oven – do this while the oven is cold. I have a scar on my left bicep from trying to do this after pre-heating.
45 minutes before you make pizza, pre-heat your oven to its highest temperature. If you have convection use it. If you have a “pastry” or “surround” function, use that. Otherwise use a bake function, you don’t need the broiler – it’ll be plenty hot to crisp the toppings.
Lightly dust your baking sheet with flour – semolina flour is best because it’s coarse but all purpose flour is fine. You can even use cornmeal. The oven will be too hot for parchment paper (it could set on fire) or a Silpat (melting).
Shape your pizza and place the dough onto the baking sheet.
Sauce and top your pizza while it is on the baking sheet – do this just before going in the oven. If you allow the sauced pizza to sit here for 10 minutes then the dough will begin to absorb moisture from the sauce which will transfer to the bottom of the dough and cause it to stick to the baking sheet. It’s unlikely to stick but do you really want to risk it?
Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 12 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the toppings are crisp. Look at the pizza, not the timer.
Brush the crust with garlic oil and top with fried basil.

Method 2 – a baking steel or pizza stone

If you have a baking steel or pizza stone, follow all the same directions as above. You can still using a baking sheet, but if you want to bake directly on the baking steel you’ll have to practice using a pizza peel.
Baking steels can help you get better oven spring and cook the pizza faster. I don’t think they are required, but they are nice to have if you make a lot of pizza. Figure out how much pizza you make before buying one.

Method 3 – a heavy pan

If your oven isn’t reliable, or doesn’t get very hot – or you just like pan pizza – your best option is to use a heavy, oven-safe pan made of cast iron, carbon steel, or stainless steel. Because you are using high heat I don’t recommend using a fossil fuel-based non-stick coating like Teflon/PFAS, which will break down in the oven.

Pan measurements are for the top of the pan, not the bottom. A 12” pan has a 10” base, so adjust your dough size to fit the base of the pan. Larger dough volumes will be thicker/fluffier and may need marginally more cooking time.

Pre-heat your oven as high as it goes.
Pre-heat your pan on medium for a few minutes, then add 2 tbsp olive oil. It should be shimmering but not smoking. I don’t recommend using butter because it will burn and become bitter.
Add your stretched dough into the pan – it wills start to sizzle and cook and rise quickly.
Working quickly, add in your sauce, cheese, and other toppings.
Move the pizza to your pre-heated over to finish cooking. Remove it when you see browning on the top of the crust and cooked toppings, another 5 minutes.
Remove it from the pan with an offset spatula, the bottom should be very crispy, deeply golden, and lightly fried.

Method 4 – a 13x9 pan

If you bought my pizza kit you will need 2 dough balls to fill a 13x9 pan.

Preheat the oven as high as it goes.
Add some olive oil to the pan and rub it around the edges (you can also use butter to make it taste like Pizza Hut).
To shape the dough, push it down with your fingers while pulling. Then pick up a corner and stretch slightly past the edge.
Assemble your pizza. A huge benefit of using a pan is that you can put cheese right into the edges of the pan for some crispy cheese moments.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the sides and top show browning.
Allow to cool slightly before removing from the pan.
Since the crust is thicker and fluffier, the garlic oil makes a great dipping sauce for the pizza in this instance.

I hope this helps you on your own pizza journey. I’d love to hear from you in the comments – what’s your favourite style of pizza to make at home? What are your favourite toppings? Join the conversation here:

Probably Worth Sharing