No-Knead Pizza with Roasted Chiles and Linguiça
I'm super tired right now, typing while my family is asleep and the banal local news blathers on. But we had something delicious for dinner, so here I am. Compulsive kitchen reporting.
Yancey cooked. He says I've gotten more territorial about cooking since the advent of this blog. I think he's right, but I was thrilled to cede to him tonight. It's been an exhausting couple weeks, and I'm actually a little kitchen-ed out. I love to watch Yancey in the kitchen. He cleans as he goes, doesn't want any feedback from me, and highly discourages any sampling or hovering. He's Mr. System. (And by now you know that I'm Ms. Whirlwind.) So I went to the gym, picked up the kids, and came home to an orderly kitchen and delicious aromas.
We've been using this dough for several years. I still like it and I'm sure it will make some more appearances, but its popularity is definitely in peril. Tonight's dough was in November's Gourmet in their review of Jim Lahey's book My Bread. I'm not likely to buy a bread cookbook anytime soon (Ms. Whirlwind doesn't have the patience) but I'm always pursuing perfect pizza dough. This doesn't require any kneading or punching down--just mix it up and let it rise for two hours. Then you press it onto a baking sheet. No pizza peel, no pizza stone. And I love square pizza. It reminds me of Rome, walking down the street with a hot slice tucked into a piece of parchment paper. Of course, it's not just the shape I'm praising. It's chewy, flavorful, just crispy enough, and EASY as H-E-double-hockey-sticks.
My friend Xiao Yu grew some beautiful Anaheim peppers in her garden and gave me as many as I could carry. Yancey roasted them under the broiler, and they were infinitely more flavorful than what I've gotten at the store. The chile linguiça combo was addictive. I always pronounce, "This is one of your best pizzas." But it's true--it was! So sue me for being an appreciative person.
I had to run off to a meeting after dinner, leaving Loretta in the bathtub and Wyatt doing his homework. Some nights, pulling myself away from this familiar scene is hardly bearable. But I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.
No-Knead Pizza Dough
This makes two crusts. You can halve it, of course. We always make two pizzas as long as we're making one. Leftovers don't last long around here.
3 3/4 c. bread flour (I used all purpose flour--I'm anxious to try it with bread flour)
2 1/2 Tb. fast-acting yeast
3/4 ts. salt
1 ts. sugar
1 1/3 c. room temperature (about 72 degrees) water
olive oil for the pans
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add the water and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until blended, at least 30 seconds. The dough might be a bit stiffer than other pizza doughs you've made. Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the dough has doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
Oil two 13x18 baking sheets. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape half the dough onto an oiled pan in one piece. Starting at one end, gently pull and stretch dough across the surface of the pan, and use your hands to press it evenly out to the edges. If the dough sticks to your fingers, lightly dust it with flour or coat your hands with oil. Pinch any holes together. Repeat with the second piece.
Roasted Chile and Linguiça Pizza
Linguiça is a smoked Portuguese sausage that's a bit spicy. I just got this coil at Safeway, believe it or not. Chorizo or another smoky sausage would be delicious as well.
6 Anaheim chiles
1/2 lb. linguiça sausage, cut diagonally into 1" slices
2 c. shredded whole milk mozzarella
1/2 c. crumbled feta
1/2 c. thinly sliced sweet onions
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan
olive oil
Preheat oven to 500 with a rack in the middle.
To roast chiles, put them on the top rack under the broiler, broiling and rotating until they are black, about 2 minutes/side. Remove from broiler and place into a paper bag. Fold it over and let them steam until cool, about 10 minutes. Remove from bag and peel, seed, and coarsely chop them.
Saute linguica slices on high heat in a skillet for a few minutes until they are crispy in places.
To assemble pizza, lightly brush crust with olive oil. Spread mozzarella, Parmesan, and feta over crust. Top with chiles, linguiça, and onions, and sprinkle a bit more Parmesan over the whole thing.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until topping is bubbling and crust is crispy on bottom. Cut into squares and pull out hyperbolic language.
October 21, 2009
Reader Comments (21)
I've seen Yancey in action, and it's impressive. Glad he was able to take care of you tonight.
I tried out the no-knead bread by the same author from a NYTimes article a couple years ago and it turned out pretty good. The pizza crust that you can just pat in the pan sounds awesome, thanks for posting the recipe! And three cheers to husbands in the kitchen!
PS - did you hear that the Nov issue is Gourmet's last issue? Completely bummed about it.
Yes, I did. I haven't mustered up the emotional energy to write a whole post about it yet. I'm so sad. It's been part of my life since I was a little girl. This has been a sad year for print publications. I still love Saveur, but now I'm nervous something will happen to them!
I'm obsessed with that bread. I make it every chance I get. (Difficult because it requires both a large dutch oven and an oven that can fit said dutch oven.) Every time I make it, it gets a little better. Yum....
SOLD. I am so making this soon. An easier of pizza crust that tastes good? Yes, please.
I do not get over here near often enough - that looks wonderful! I am working on perfecting making pizza on a stone, so the no-knead crust would not work for me right now, but I am filing this away for the future.
So, really the above recipe and current post is Yancey's creation? awesome!
Sounds really good. Maybe you could post that recipe? Is a dutch oven a pot with a lid that can go in the oven? I should probably just google that, huh?
This looks awesome. I'll try this recipe for the no-knead dough. Is there a reason you wouldn't want to use this bread on a pizza stone?
I have a hard time loving the pizza dough after eating galettes, but I'm gonna try harder :)
Hi, Jess.
I make pizza just about every Friday night, and love this combo! My pizza dough is also a no knead dough - and it doesn't rise at all. It's perfectly crispy (which my husband and I love). If the kids are home, I use a dough similar to yours above, as they prefer a chewy crust. (think Domino's kicked up a notch!).
2 cups flour
1 package yeast
1tsp. sea salt
1 cup warm water
Let the yeast sit in the water for 5 minutes at the bottom of a big bowl. Add salt and flour. Mix until combined and add up to 1/2 cup additional flour to get the right consistency. This is enough for a big 16-18 inch pizza. Just roll out and you are good to go.
I always prebake my crust for 5-7 minutes, then add my toppings and slide the pizza right onto my oven rack - okay, now I am hungry!
if we all weren't in love with yancey before, we are now. he and chris need to hang out together more often. :)
This sounds great, Biz. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Em!
The whole purpose of a pizza stone is preheating it. A hot stone would make it really difficult to spread out the dough on. I suppose you could try rolling it out and using a peel, but the elasticity of this dough is different than others I've used. Try it and see what happens!
YUM! Wish I could reach into the computer and grab a slice! Last weekend, I converted your pumpkin cookies to gluten free and they were really good. Probably not as good as the original recipe, but I got them to turn out soft and cakey. My in-laws were over for dinner and my father-in-law ate 5, and he has no food allergies! I am going to have to try this crust with the gluten free flours. I already said it, but yum.
Mmmmm delicious! My boyfriend does not cook a lot but I'm more than happy to let him cleanup the kitchen. He is actually does a really awesome job at cleaning:)
I tried a roasted pepper pizza recently and was completely smitten. And this one has sausage? Oh boy!! I'm definitely going to try this out soon.
Found it! Here's the article, there's a link to the recipe on the side.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/08mini.html
Here's a youtube video showing how it's done. It's amazing stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13Ah9ES2yTU
your an angel! My boyfriend's taste buds are super limited but the one thing he does love is pizza, unfortunantly I've been very unimpressed with the recipes for the dough so far so I will definitely give this a try - thanks!
Hey Sarah
Your recipes never disappoint! We made this pizza the other night and it was delish! It was even great cold the next day at work. Ken and I always say "what should we have for dinner? " Before we would say I have no idea and end up at the store aimlessly roaming now we go straight to your website. Thanks for your insight on yummy food. I love reading your blog and your pics continue to inspire me to cook as well!