To the frustration of home cooks with ambitions of
restaurant-caliber pizza, the oven dial maxes out around 500°F (260°C)—not
nearly enough to get the best, blistered crust.Proper coal-fired pizza ovens get closer to 900°F (480°C)—how can we hope to match that? Vogue’s food critic Jeffrey Steingarten famously documented trying to get around this, risking both his oven and his home.
But there is a better way: If you take to the
grill, you inch closer to the proper heat—and a chewy, handsomely charred crust.
George Germon and Johanne Killeen at Al Forno
restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island, are credited with developing this
technique for the single heat source of a hot grill. They soak the dough in oil
before patting it flat, to keep it from sticking. Once they set it on the grill,
it will only stay there long enough to firm up and show the marks of the grate.
Then they flip and top, and serve—all in about 3 minutes. This will take you a
bit of practice, but it will be worth it—happily, this recipe makes plenty of
dough. (Plan on making a bigger batch than you need the first time; if you have
any left over, you can always freeze it.)
This classic margherita variation is as simple as
it gets, but Germon and Killeen offer other combinations: bean puree, olive, and
tomato; prosciutto, egg, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Top as you like, but don’t
overload any one pizza, or you’re likely to lose some toppings to the
coals.
Serves 12
DOUGH
1 (¼ ounce/7g) envelope active
dry yeast
1 cup (240ml) warm
water
Pinch of sugar
2¼ teaspoons kosher
salt
¼ cup (40g) johnnycake meal or
fine-ground white cornmeal
3 tablespoons whole wheat
flour
1 tablespoon virgin olive
oil
2½ to 3½ cups (310 to 440g)
unbleached all-purpose flour
Extra-virgin olive
oil
3 cups (300g) freshly grated
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1½ cups (150g) freshly grated
Pecorino Romano cheese
3 cups (310g) shredded Fontina
cheese
4½ cups (1kg) chopped canned
tomatoes in heavy puree
¾ cup (45g) chopped fresh
flat-leaf parsley
1 To make the dough, dissolve
the yeast in the warm water with the sugar. After 5 minutes, stir in the salt,
johnnycake meal, whole wheat flour, and oil. Gradually add the all-purpose
flour, stirring with a wooden spoon until a stiff dough forms. Place the dough
on a floured board and knead it for several minutes, adding only enough
additional flour to keep the dough from sticking. (Alternately, use olive
oil—see Genius
Tip.) When the dough is smooth and shiny, transfer it to a bowl that has
been brushed with olive oil. To prevent a skin from forming, brush the top of
the dough with additional olive oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let
rise in a warm place, away from drafts, until doubled in bulk, 1½ to 2 hours.
Punch down the dough and knead once
more. Let the dough rise again for about 40 minutes. Punch down the dough. If it
is sticky, knead in a bit more flour.
2 Divide the dough into four balls. Cover the balls
with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature for about 45 minutes.
While the dough is rising, prepare a hot charcoal fire, setting the grill rack 3
to 4 inches (7.5 to 10cm) above the coals and set out topping ingredients.
3 Invert a large baking sheet and brush with 1 to 2
tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Place a ball of dough on the oiled surface.
Turn the dough over to coat it with oil. With your hands, spread and flatten the
pizza dough into a 10- to 12-inch (25 to 30cm) free-form circle, ⅛-inch (3mm)
thick—do not make a lip. If you find the dough shrinking back into itself, allow
the dough to rest for a few minutes, then continue to spread and flatten the
dough. You may end up with a rectangle rather than a circle; the shape is
unimportant. Take care not to stretch the dough so thin that small holes appear.
If this happens, all is not lost. Rather than trying to repair them, avoid them
when adding toppings and drizzling with olive oil.
4 When the fire is hot, use your fingertips to lift the
dough gently by the two corners closest to you, and drape it onto the grill.
Catch the loose bottom edge on the grill first and guide the remaining dough
into place over the fire. Within a minute, the dough will puff slightly, the
underside will stiffen, and grill marks will appear.
5 Using tongs, immediately flip the crust over onto the
coolest part of the grill. Quickly brush the grilled surface with 2 teaspoons of
virgin olive oil. Spread ¼ cup (25g) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, 2 tablespoons
Pecorino Romano cheese, ¼ cup (25g) Fontina cheese over the entire surface of
the pizza. Dollop with 6 tablespoons of the tomatoes and top with 1 tablespoon
of the parsley. Drizzle the entire pizza with virgin olive oil.
6 After the toppings have been added, slide the pizza
back toward the hot coals so about half of the pizza is directly over the heat.
Rotate the pizza frequently so that different sections receive high heat,
checking the underside by lifting the edge with tongs to be sure it is not
burning—if it starts to burn, move to a cooler part of the grill, and cover as
needed to heat the top. The pizza is done when the top is bubbling and the
cheese has melted. Garnish with basil and serve immediately. Continue stretching
the dough balls and grilling pizzas using the above topping ingredients.
0 التعليقات: