Thin crust pizza – in an apartment oven

Many, many, many pages have been written about how to make pizza at home. There are blogs and sites galore devoted to recipes and techniques (I’m partial to Serious Eats). You can buy a baking stone or a baking steel, a “Kettle Pizza” grill insert, or a dedicated countertop pizza oven.

I cook in an electric oven, and I don’t have any pizza gadgets. But even with this no-frills set up, I’ve found a shortcut to crisp thin crust pizza.

My trick is to pre-cook the crust before putting on the sauce and cheese, so that it gets a head start browning. Pizza purists probably wouldn’t approve, but the results speak for themselves.

The fastest way to make the crust is using a scale to weigh out the flour and water. Then you add yeast, salt, and honey; mix in a food processor until combined; and pour some olive oil into the dough until it comes together.

One important consideration – the dough needs to rest overnight, so pizza does require some advance planning.

The next day, whip up some simple sauce (or use jarred), roll out the dough, and bake away. First the crust, solo, then the assembled pizza.

The only toppings I put on before baking are sauce and shredded mozzarella (anything else should be added very sparingly to ensure the crust stays crisp), but I do sometimes add prosciutto for D (after baking). My favorite way to eat it is plain, with lots of black pepper ground over top. Sometimes simple – and crispy – is best.

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Dough

10 oz flour
1/2 tsp yeast (a 1/4 oz package contains more than enough)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp honey
5.5 oz warm water, at 100-105°
1/2 cup olive oil

Sauce

14 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 large garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil

Cheese

2/3 lb mozzarella, shredded

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The evening before

Add flour, yeast, salt, and honey to food processor with metal blade. Pulse a few times to combine. With processor running, pour in water via feed tube, then olive oil. Continue running processor until dough mostly comes together in a ball.

Put dough on a smooth surface and knead a few times. Most likely, it will feel fairly smooth and oily on the surface – in this case, add about 1 tsp additional water and knead to combine (add more if needed). The dough should be wet and shaggy initially; throw it about 5-10 times against the surface you’re working on, until the water is fully incorporated and the dough is smooth and elastic.

Put dough in a ziplock bag and leave in refrigerator overnight..

Pizza day

Preheat oven to 500°.

Divide dough into two equal portions, and place each on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Cover one with two sheets of plastic wrap that overlap lengthwise and set the other aside.

Roll dough into an oval that will fit on an overturned baking sheet, even and no more than 1/16 inch thick. It will look very thin, that’s ok! Remove plastic wrap (reserve for second piece of dough) and slide dough carefully onto baking sheet. Trim excess parchment paper, leaving at least 1 inch all around. Using a fork, pierce dough all over.

Bake on bottom oven shelf for 5 minutes. Dough should be set but not hard, just starting to faintly brown in places. Poke to deflate any large bubbles.

Set dough aside.

At this point, you can shred the cheese and make the sauce, as the dough will hold until you’re ready to make the pizza. Of course, it’s fine to make them before rolling and baking the dough, too.

To make the sauce, process crushed tomatoes in food processor or with immersion blender until mostly smooth. Put garlic through press and sauté in 1 tbsp olive oil, then add tomatoes and heat through.

Assemble the pizza: spread a thin, even layer of sauce across the dough, leaving a half inch border, and cover with the cheese.

Bake about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is starting to bubble and brown slightly.