Crisp Thin-Crust Pizza with Tapenade
By America's Test KitchenPublished on October 5, 2011
Time
2 hours, plus 12 hours rising
Yield
Serves 4 to 6 (Makes two 14-inch pizzas)
Ingredients
Crisp Thin-Crust
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces/283 grams) Gold Medal or Pillsbury - protein content no higher than 10.5 percent½ teaspoon rapid-rise yeast or instant½ teaspoon honey ½ teaspoon table salt ¾ cup water plus 2 teaspoons, preferably filtered or spring, 100 to 105 degrees¼ cup olive oil 8 ounces (227 grams) whole milk mozzarella, shredded (about 2 cups)Quick Tomato Sauce
1 (14.5-ounce/411-gram) can crushed tomatoes 1 large clove garlic minced or pressed through garlic press1 tablespoon olive oilTapenade
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 ½ cups pitted kalamata olives 2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves1 tablespoons capers, rinsed4 anchovy fillets, rinsedBefore You Begin
All-purpose unbleached flour with a protein percentage no higher than 10.5, such as Gold Medal, makes the lightest, crispiest pizzas. We recommend weighing the flour and water, but because many factors affect the flour’s capacity to absorb water, heed visual and tactile clues to achieve a dough with the proper consistency. For rolling out the dough, we prefer commercial-sized parchment paper sheets, though parchment sold in rolls 14 inches wide also works. Keep in mind that it is more important for the rolled dough to be of even thinness than to be a perfect circle. For topping the pizzas, we recommend buying whole milk mozzarella and shredding it by hand with a box grater; do not use fresh or prepackaged shredded mozzarella, and resist the temptation to sprinkle on more cheese than is recommended. Between baking pizzas, allow the baking stone to reheat for 15 minutes.
Instructions
- Combine flour, yeast, honey, and salt in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. With machine running, add all but 2 teaspoons water through feed tube. With machine still running, add olive oil through feed tube and process until dough forms ball, about 30 seconds. Turn dough out onto work surface. See "How to Achieve the Proper Consistency" below, to see if dough needs more water and to finish kneading.
- Divide dough in half and place each piece in gallon-sized, heavy-duty zipper-lock plastic bag and seal. Refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position, set baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Heat baking stone 1 hour before proceeding.
- Remove dough from plastic bags. Set each half in center of lightly floured large sheet parchment paper. Cover each with two 18-inch lengths plastic wrap overlapping in center (alternatively, use one 18-inch length of extrawide plastic wrap); let doughs rest 10 minutes.
- Setting one dough aside, follow illustrations 1 through 3 below to roll one dough into 14-inch round with even thinness of 1/32 inch, using tackiness of dough against parchment to help roll. If parchment wrinkles, flip dough sandwich over and smooth wrinkles with metal dough scraper.
- Following illustrations 4 and 5, peel plastic wrap off top of rolled dough. Use soup spoon to spread and smooth ½ cup tomato sauce (procedure for quick tomato sauce follows) to edges of dough. Sprinkle with about 1 cup cheese. With scissors, trim excess parchment so that it is just larger than dough.
- Slip dough with parchment onto pizza peel, inverted rimmed baking sheet, or rimless baking sheet. Following illustration 6, slide pizza, parchment and all, onto hot baking stone. Bake until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven with pizza peel or pull parchment with pizza onto baking sheet. Transfer pizza to cutting board, slide parchment out from under pizza. Immediately spoon 8 teaspoons Tapenade (recipe follows) over pizza; cut pizza into wedges and slide onto wire rack. Let cool 2 minutes until crisp; serve.
- While first pizza is baking, repeat steps 3 and 4 to roll and sauce second pizza; allow baking stone to reheat 15 minutes after baking first pizza, then repeat step 5 to bake second pizza.
- Process tomatoes in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade until smooth, about five 1-second pulses. Heat garlic and oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until garlic is sizzling, about 40 seconds. Stir in tomatoes; bring to simmer and cook, uncovered, until sauce thickens enough to coat wooden spoon, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Place ingredients in workbowl of food processor. Process, stopping as necessary to scrape down sides of bowl, until mixture is finely minced and forms a chunky paste, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to small bowl. (Surface of tapenade can be covered with plastic wrap or film of olive oil and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
on day one
on day two
for quick tomato sauce
for tapenade
Time
2 hours, plus 12 hours risingYield
Serves 4 to 6 (Makes two 14-inch pizzas)Ingredients
Crisp Thin-Crust
Quick Tomato Sauce
Tapenade
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Crisp Thin-Crust
Quick Tomato Sauce
Tapenade
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Crisp Thin-Crust
Quick Tomato Sauce
Tapenade
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
When developing our thin-crust pizza recipes, we were aiming for a slice of postmodern minimalism: a shatteringly crisp, wafer-thin crust with a deeply caramelized flavor that bore no trace of raw yeast or flour. For ease, we used a food processor to mix the dough in seconds. Then we let it rest overnight in the refrigerator, which made it easy to handle and flavorful. For the thinnest crust possible, we used a rolling pin. While Americans have a propensity for using high-protein flour in their pizza recipes, our research indicated that Italians use fairly soft flour. We produced good crusts using all-purpose flour with 11.7 percent protein, but found that unbleached all-purpose flour with 10.5 percent protein yielded uniformly light, full-flavored doughs.
Before You Begin
All-purpose unbleached flour with a protein percentage no higher than 10.5, such as Gold Medal, makes the lightest, crispiest pizzas. We recommend weighing the flour and water, but because many factors affect the flour’s capacity to absorb water, heed visual and tactile clues to achieve a dough with the proper consistency. For rolling out the dough, we prefer commercial-sized parchment paper sheets, though parchment sold in rolls 14 inches wide also works. Keep in mind that it is more important for the rolled dough to be of even thinness than to be a perfect circle. For topping the pizzas, we recommend buying whole milk mozzarella and shredding it by hand with a box grater; do not use fresh or prepackaged shredded mozzarella, and resist the temptation to sprinkle on more cheese than is recommended. Between baking pizzas, allow the baking stone to reheat for 15 minutes.
Instructions
- Combine flour, yeast, honey, and salt in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. With machine running, add all but 2 teaspoons water through feed tube. With machine still running, add olive oil through feed tube and process until dough forms ball, about 30 seconds. Turn dough out onto work surface. See "How to Achieve the Proper Consistency" below, to see if dough needs more water and to finish kneading.
- Divide dough in half and place each piece in gallon-sized, heavy-duty zipper-lock plastic bag and seal. Refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours.
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position, set baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Heat baking stone 1 hour before proceeding.
- Remove dough from plastic bags. Set each half in center of lightly floured large sheet parchment paper. Cover each with two 18-inch lengths plastic wrap overlapping in center (alternatively, use one 18-inch length of extrawide plastic wrap); let doughs rest 10 minutes.
- Setting one dough aside, follow illustrations 1 through 3 below to roll one dough into 14-inch round with even thinness of 1/32 inch, using tackiness of dough against parchment to help roll. If parchment wrinkles, flip dough sandwich over and smooth wrinkles with metal dough scraper.
- Following illustrations 4 and 5, peel plastic wrap off top of rolled dough. Use soup spoon to spread and smooth ½ cup tomato sauce (procedure for quick tomato sauce follows) to edges of dough. Sprinkle with about 1 cup cheese. With scissors, trim excess parchment so that it is just larger than dough.
- Slip dough with parchment onto pizza peel, inverted rimmed baking sheet, or rimless baking sheet. Following illustration 6, slide pizza, parchment and all, onto hot baking stone. Bake until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven with pizza peel or pull parchment with pizza onto baking sheet. Transfer pizza to cutting board, slide parchment out from under pizza. Immediately spoon 8 teaspoons Tapenade (recipe follows) over pizza; cut pizza into wedges and slide onto wire rack. Let cool 2 minutes until crisp; serve.
- While first pizza is baking, repeat steps 3 and 4 to roll and sauce second pizza; allow baking stone to reheat 15 minutes after baking first pizza, then repeat step 5 to bake second pizza.
- Process tomatoes in workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade until smooth, about five 1-second pulses. Heat garlic and oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until garlic is sizzling, about 40 seconds. Stir in tomatoes; bring to simmer and cook, uncovered, until sauce thickens enough to coat wooden spoon, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Place ingredients in workbowl of food processor. Process, stopping as necessary to scrape down sides of bowl, until mixture is finely minced and forms a chunky paste, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to small bowl. (Surface of tapenade can be covered with plastic wrap or film of olive oil and refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
on day one
on day two
for quick tomato sauce
for tapenade
Gift This Recipe
Enjoyed this dish? Let others know by sharing it as a gift recipe.
Appears In
Key Equipment
Keep Exploring
0 Comments