This is a guest post from another Chuck, my Dad. This is his second post in the challenge. Here is the first.
If you want to join the Cooking the Books challenge, see the details at the bottom of this post.
The older I get it seems that my food preferences have changed. I have to admit, when I was younger my preference was burgers & pizza, meat & potatoes.
I grew up with a full-blooded Hungarian mother. Every evening it was a meat, potato, salad, and bread. According to my DNA profile it seems that I’m mostly European some British, some English and very little Mediterranean. I’m really not sure if this is accurate, but my love for Mediterranean food has increased tenfold over the past 5 to 7 years.
When the hard questions come up at the end of the week, my wife asking me “What do you want for dinner?”, one of my two choices will either be gyros or Aladdin’s, our favorite local middle eastern restaurant. They make a really good dish called the Flavor Saver Special. The Flavor Saver Special consists of kofta, grilled chicken, a Middle Eastern chopped salad with lemon vinaigrette dressing, and a big dollop of hummus, all served with warm freshly baked pita. Delicious!
For this week’s entry in the challenge, I decided to make a similar meal at home for the first time: Kofta, tzatziki, Middle Eastern Chopped salad, and pita.
I was skeptical about the gelatin because it was kind of weird to add gelatin to a meat mixture (in my opinion). I’m not professional chef, but I just thought it was kind strange. I found out it actually does help the meat hold together.
When you press them together on skewers, I recommend using metal ones instead of wood or bamboo. Wooden skewers incinerated on my grill, even after soaking them in water.
When grilling, keep a close eye on them! They tend toflare up. I noticed that the gelatin actually caramelized, like a sugar mixture, on the outside of the meat.
Middle Eastern chopped salad with lemon vinaigrette
Ingredients
Lemon juice
Garlic
Sugar
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Grape tomatoes
Bell pepper
Cucumber
Chickpeas
Scallions
Mint
Feta
The simple salad would go with just about any dish. There are many variations of the salad, depending on the country and cookbook, but the base is usually diced cucumbers and tomatoes. We used the vegetables that we had on hand. Along with cucumbers and tomatoes, we included red and yellow crisp bell peppers, fresh feta cheese, chickpeas and mint.
This meal is not complete without warm pita bread. Let’s make it!
My pita recipe comes from Baking with Steel, which I wrote about last week. The pita recipe is an easy one. It only has four ingredients.
Baking pita at home is easy and fun to do. I encourage you to have your children and family take part. Watching the pita pop up in the oven like a balloon is amazing.
If you want to join us in the Cooking the Books challenge, pick a cookbook you haven’t used in a while and make a recipe. Then fill out this form and I’ll guest post it here on Cook Like Chuck.
Let’s dust off those cookbooks and put them to use this year.
This is a guest post from KatieRose McEneely, a fellow culinary experimenting friend from college. She is a fantastic artist who created the paper cuts of a cow, sheep, and pig that currently hang above our couch. Thanks for joining in the challenge, KatieRose!
If you want to join the Cooking the Books challenge, see the details at the bottom of this post.
I made the balsamic and rosemary variation–the original recipe uses sherry vinegar and chili powder. I didn’t take a photo, but it looks like cubed squash in a dark sauce, so.
Why I tried it: I had all of the ingredients and the cooking method was unfamiliar to me (it’s Vietnamese in origin). Plus, I thought I’d have a fighting chance of more than one member of the household giving it a taste.
It is technically not a one-pot meal, so I served it with a green salad and risotto, per Bittman’s recommendation.
Result: Real talk: would never make this again. The first step consists of making caramel, then adding vinegar and water to dissolve the caramel (and perfume your kitchen with the scent of hot vinegar, which was met with protests from other members of the household). Then, add the onion and cook until softened; add cubed squash, cover and steam for three minutes, then cook uncovered until squash is tender. Finish with the spices and cook a bit longer, until the sauce thickens.
I really liked the texture of the squash–I usually default to roasting it–but the flavor was much too sweet, and the rosemary was not discernable, despite adding a full tablespoon. Also, I question the nutritional value of a vegetable dish that contains more sugar than the following recipe, which is a dessert.
Why I tried it: I love pie (and I’m a huge fan of the Sister Pie cookbook), but I generally don’t enjoy custard or squash pies, possibly because I am lactose intolerant. This recipe has a very small amount of dairy, and uses full-fat coconut milk for the bulk of the liquid.
The recipe is available in full in many places, but here’s a link to it on Wisconsin Public Radio.
Result: Well, I’m converted. The pie is delicious; a faint coconut flavor, a smooth texture accented by the toasted unsweetened coconut garnish, and it’s not milky at all. It also baked in the time given in the recipe, but I attribute that less to the recipe and more to the fact that I finally bought an oven thermometer.
I’ll note that I did make an additional new-to-me recipe on Jan. 30; it was Hoosier Mama’s apple pie, from the eponymous cookbook, which I also own. (If you like pecan pie, her recipe is superlative.)
Look, I’ve made a lot of apple pies in my time, and this was the taskiest of them all (and the first to omit cinnamon!). Never have I pre-cooked the drained liquid from the apples, let it cool, chilled it further, and then incorporated it to the rest of the pie filling. I’ve eaten this recipe before, because it’s delicious, and the result was great.
I’m of two minds: I make pie because I have things lying around that can go into a crust, and most of the time I’m winging it. But the final product here is very consistent, and my dad really likes it. It might be a game-time decision (and on the plus side, it baked more quickly than my usual method, which involves piling apples into a shell and baking until the filling reaches the set temperature for jam).
All told: this was fun! My sister and I have an agreement to try at least two new recipes per month, so it was a good jump-start. I’m fortunate in that my cookbook selection is small and I’m pretty good about using them, but I’m a librarian, so I have a lot of access to new titles without committing to a purchase.
Thanks for the invite!
Cheers,
KatieRose
Join us!
If you want to join us in the Cooking the Books challenge, send your posts to cagrimmett@gmail.com! I’ll guest post them here on Cook Like Chuck. Here are some guidelines:
Send me a decent photo of the book to use as the featured image
Send me photos of the meal you cooked
Write a little bit about the book, why you chose it, and how the meal turned out
Send me a photo of the recipe
Let’s dust off those cookbooks and put them to use this year.
Below is the first guest post in the Cooking the Books Challenge series. It is from my Dad, also named Chuck Grimmett. It is from a cookbook I got for him last year, Baking with Steel. If you want to join the challenge and post, see the details at the bottom of this post.
Due to the cold rainy weather last weekend, I decided to dig my Pizza Steel out and bake some bread! This marks the first time I tried making bread from the Baking with Steel cookbook.
The recipe calls for the dough to be made at least 24 hours prior to baking, so you need to plan ahead. I started with good bread flour, I chose “King Arthur Flour” and Platinum Superior Baking Yeast by Red Star. I figured if I start with quality ingredients, I cannot blame failure on the materials!
Ingredients: Bread flour, salt, dry active yeast, warm water. (CAG’s note: I don’t publish the entire recipe unless the author has posted it somewhere else online. I don’t want to rip off their work. I’d prefer you buy their books.)
Following the recipe, I measured the flour by weight.
I used my stand mixer equipped with a dough hook. 3 to 4 minutes did the job, just needed to get all the dry clumps out.
My dough was sticky and bubbly, I needed plenty of flour on my board. The recipe says to place the ball seam side up in a floured breadbasket to rest for 2 more hours.. I don’t own one so I placed it on a floured plate.
I coated my pizza peel with semolina and scored the top of the loaf with a razor, launched onto my Dough Joe, then baked for 25 minutes.
It turned out great! It was delicious and lasted in a plastic bag for about a week. I’d definitely make it again.
Join me!
If you want to join me in the Cooking the Books challenge, send your posts to cagrimmett@gmail.com! I’ll guest post them here on Cook Like Chuck. Here are some guidelines:
Send me a decent photo of the book to use as the featured image
Send me photos of the meal you cooked
Write a little bit about the book, why you chose it, and how the meal turned out
Send me a photo of the recipe
Let’s dust off those cookbooks and put them to use this year.
Chuck’s Note: This is a guest post by my best friend Sean Nelson and his girlfriend Ashley Bowersox. They are both really into ginger beer and mentioned they were doing a tasting and writing a review. They graciously let me publish it here. Fun fact: CookLikeChuck.com was born on Sean’s couch in Boston two years ago. He and Amanda convinced me to buy the domain and start this blog.
I love ginger beer, and I don’t mean any of that wimpy ginger ale stuff. I’m talking about punch you in the back of the throat, clean out your sinuses, not safe for children ginger beer. An elegant drink for a more civilized time.
Ginger beer started its long journey to beverage superstardom in the 18th century. France and America were involved in their respective revolutions, the city of New Orleans was founded, and thanks to Britain’s persistent attempts at world domination (save for America), their spice trade with the Eastern world and sugar from the Caribbean helped kickstart our beloved drink. (Side note: This is probably why you find so many varieties of Jamaican and Bermudian-style ginger beers.) Traditionally brewed by fermenting ginger spice, yeast, sugar, and the “Ginger Beer Plant” (a SCOBY, for my kombucha drinking readers), modern ginger beers are manufactured either as ginger soft drinks or ginger lies. I’m looking at you, ginger ale. You’re just dirty Sprite.
I’ve had a favorite brand for a while now, but I’ll admit it was mostly determined by what I could easily get my hands on in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now that I’m living in Chicago through the end of the year, I thought I’d use this opportunity to introduce my mouth to new flavors and brands. After a week of searching, my girlfriend Ashley and I lined up 10 varieties of ginger beer, constructed a mock photo studio, and drank until our heads suffered through the high and subsequent fall of sugar rush.
We thought a lot about how best to do this review and made a few decisions up-front. Because taste is subjective, it would be misleading to rely on a numerical scale for judging. So we instead focused on metrics like overall taste, ginger flavor and bite, sweetness, carbonation, and taste story (a probably made up term that refers to how the flavor moves and settles in the mouth and throat). Since ginger has such a strong spice element, choosing an effective palate cleanser was also important. As it turns out, the most popular choice is actually ginger, which in our case would be a bit like putting out a fire with gasoline. Additional searching suggested using a lemon sorbet, a popular palate cleanser used in French meals, because its citrus flavor and cold serving temperature help prepare you for another course. This didn’t take much convincing.
Sharon’s Sorbet also happens to be very photogenic
Ginger beer is also a common ingredient in cocktails like the Moscow Mule or the Dark & Stormy, but since mixology isn’t really my thing, I’ve enlisted the help of this blog’s namesake, Chuck. Look for his comments in the “Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note”. Now, onto the reviews!
Maine Root Ginger Brew
Maine Root is up first only because it happened to be closest in the fridge, but boy did we start on a high note. If you like a spiciness and bite that lingers in your mouth for upwards of ten minutes after finishing the bottle, this is for you. Maine Root starts sweet before quickly hitting you with a lasting and delicious ginger burn that settles in the back of your tongue, molars, and throat. It’s never as strong as the first sip, presumably because your mouth has already started its coping mechanisms, but the heat slowly builds the more you drink. In this 12 ounce bottle you’ll find 40 grams of sugar, but it doesn’t taste overtly sweet or too much like soda. Just enough to take the edge off, but still not for the faint of heart.
Maine Root is caffeine free, fair-trade certified, and made with carbonated water, organic cane sugar, ginger, and spices.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: Given the spiciness of this brew, I’d use it in a Dark and Stormy. The lime juice will cut it a little bit and the complexity of the dark rum will complement the ginger flavor.
Belvoir Organic Ginger Beer
After enjoying a few spoonfuls of our lemon sorbet, we moved onto the Belvoir. I’ve never heard of this brand before, but their site features a nice array of beverages. This ginger beer really surprised us by how refreshing it was. There’s a great ginger kick, but the lingering flavor is softer and not as challenging as the Maine Root. Also unexpected was the citrus twist, which contributes to the refreshing taste. Imagine a lemon San Pelligrino flavored with ginger. That lemon is the first thing the front of your tongue recognizes before the ginger pushes through to the back. Minimally carbonated and not very sweet, this would make a great summer drink.
Belvoir Organic Ginger Beer packs 26 grams of sugar into an 8.4 ounce bottle with carbonated Belvoir spring water, organic sugar, organic lemon juice, organic fresh ginger infusion (2%), ginger extracts, citric acid, and capsicum extract.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: Given the citrus in this ginger beer, I think it would make a great Mayan Mule, a variation on the Moscow Mule that uses tequila instead of vodka.
Q Ginger Beer
Ashley straight up coughed after her first drink of Q. It rushes straight through your sinuses and disappears just as quickly, and if there is an aftertaste, it would be that of flat lemon lime soda. Similar to the difference between whole milk and skim, this ginger beer is really shallow and tastes as if something was removed and replaced with water (flavor). As written on the bottle, the creators wanted a big ginger punch with none of the syrupy sweetness, so I’ll award kudos for achieving this goal, but honestly neither of us enjoyed this one. Unfortunately it’s purchased as a four pack, so now we just have to find something to do with the remaining two bottles.
As listed, the ingredients include carbonated water, organic agave, ginger extract, extracts of lime, coriander, cardamom, and chile peppers, and citric acid. If you’re surprised by those unexpected extracts, so we’re we. It’s a shame you can’t taste the chile peppers or other spices at all. 22 grams of sugar in this 9 ounce bottle.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: Substitute this for ginger ale in your next rum highball for a spicier kick that won’t overpower the rest of the drink. This is also a good way to use up the rest of the four pack if you don’t particularly like it.
Bundaberg Ginger Beer
Bundaberg needs to spell check their label, because they seemed to have misspelled ale. I don’t know how this could pass as ginger beer. It’s very sweet (40 grams of sugar), has no bite, and doesn’t smell or taste anything like ginger. This Australian brewery proclaims Bundaberg a cloudy bottle of old fashioned ginger beer, but I’m not convinced. The bottle and label design certainly pushes the old fashioned look and because of this, I was expecting a heavy and strong ginger beer, aged in a barrel found in the hold an old whaler surrounded by chests of old spices and Old Spice. False.
This 12.7 ounce bottle of crushed expectations is filled with carbonated water, cane sugar, ginger root, natural flavors, citric acid, yeast, preservatives, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, antioxidant ascorbic acid, and lies.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: Since this is so sweet and not very strong, try it in a Ginger Fizz. Cut the added sugar down to 1/2 or 1/4, depending on your taste preferences. The sweetness might also mix well with a spicy rye whiskey. Rittenhouse Bottled in Bond is my go-to.
Filbert’s Ginger Beer
I was really rooting for this one. Filbert’s is a local Chicago brewery probably best known for their Root Beer, so when I came across this very generic looking bottle with ginger beer typeset in Papryus, I expected one of two things: 1. This is an old local favorite with no graphic design sense but makes a killer ginger beer, or 2. Papryus was just a foreboding of what’s found inside. Turns out it’s sometimes okay to judge a drink by its label.
The taste is overwhelming syrupy and they must have gotten carried away with the caramel coloring because there’s nothing else in the ingredients to justify the nice amber color. Seriously, unless they hid the ginger under “Natural and Artificial Flavors,” there’s not even any ginger in this ginger beer. I just hope the 29 other flavors of soda listed on Filbert’s website fare better, or at the very least they remember to put sassafras in their root beer.
Inside this 12 ounce bottle of Filbert’s you’ll find carbonated water, not ginger, pure cane sugar, not ginger, natural and artificial flavors which probably don’t include ginger, citric acid, not ginger, caramel color, not ginger, and finally sodium benzoate. Oh, and not ginger.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: This is best mixed with Koval vodka and called a Chicago Donkey, for which the folks at the Signature Lounge will charge you $18 each.
Cock ‘n Bull Ginger Beer
I should disclose that Cock ‘n Bull is what first got me really interested in ginger beer. I could easily get my hands on it where I lived in Cincinnati and it has a nice bite that took my hand and pulled me into this gingery world. But after trying the Maine Root, Belvoir, and others, I’ve got to move on. Cock ‘n Bull seems to exist entirely as a mixer for cocktails, going so far as asserting “We Invented the Moscow Mule™” on the label and defining themselves as “the extra ginger soft drink.” And that’s exactly what this is: a very sweet soda (35 grams) that’s more spicy ginger ale than ginger beer. Additionally, and I’m ashamed for not noticing this until now, but ginger is also not listed among the ingredients in this. What a let down.
What you will find in this 12 ounce bottle is carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, caramel color, natural flavors (are you there, ginger root?), and less than 1/10 of 1% of sodium benzoate. That last bit is best read in Bernie Sanders’ voice.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: This is easy to find and somewhat sweet, grab your copper mugs and make a Moscow Mule for tradition’s sake. If you have a discerning guest, skip this brand and choose Maine Root or Fever Tree for your Moscow Mules instead.
Fentiman’s Ginger Beer
Like Q, our first taste surprised us with a sinus-clearing kick and finished with little more. There’s an obvious botanical/flora thing going on here which is a nice angle to take with ginger, but unfortunately Fentiman’s is shallow and watery in aftertaste and offers no lingering bite or satisfying ginger flavor. Honestly, the only interesting thing happening here is the pear juice they use which is a cool touch. Their website speaks to their natural botanical drinks—traditional with a complex taste and full of fiery flavor and The Guardian even reviewed this as being “very superior, with a real kick.” I wish I found any of that true. This is the only ginger beer we reviewed that claimed using real fermented ginger root extracts, so bonus points for living up to tradition.
Ingredients include carbonated water, fermented ginger root extracts (ginger root, water, yeast), cane sugar, glucose syrup, flavors (ginger, speedwell, juniper, yarrow extracts), pear juice concentrate, cream of tartar, and citric acid. 29 grams of sugar in this 9.3 ounce bottle.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: With its botanicals, I think this would make an interesting variation on the Fog Horn. Use a dry gin to let the botanicals from Fentiman’s shine.
Barritts Ginger Beer
When I read “Bermuda’s Favorite Ginger Beer” on the label, I can’t help but assume that Barritts must also be Bermuda’s only ginger beer. The taste is round and sugary like a carbonated simple syrup and offers a zing of ginger, but the aftertaste is pure sugar (49 grams of the stuff in 12 ounces). There’s no two ways about it: this is straight up ginger ale, just less carbonated.
One thing worth mentioning is an ingredient used called Neutral Cloud because it’s just so weird. According to a tariff classification filed in 2000, Neutral Cloud is a thick white liquid composed of a few solutions and citric acid that is used to make clear citrus drinks appear more cloudy. Presumably without this Barritts would be fully transparent, but thanks to Neutral Cloud (which has been added to my list of Cool Band Names) we can enjoy an opaque drink consumers apparently expect from their ginger beers. Adding ingredients for the sake of aesthetics, like caramel color, doesn’t sit right with us, so whatever points Barritts had left after this review were lost in the clouds.
The complete ingredients include Carbonated Water, Sugar, Natural and Artificial Ginger Flavouring, Citric Acid, Neutral Cloud, Sodium Benzoate, Natural Extract of Quillaia Bark, and Caramel Color.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: I can’t in good conscience recommend buying this for a mixer given Sean’s negative review, but if I had some in the fridge and didn’t want to waste it I’d probably put it in a Pimm’s Cup since it isn’t much stronger than ginger ale.
Reed’s Extra Ginger Brew Ginger Beer
Bermuda didn’t fare well with its ginger beer, but maybe Reed’s and its traditional Jamaican style will impress us. This is a pretty common brand to find in grocery and beverage stores and might be the first brand many think of when it comes to ginger beer. I’ve enjoyed their ginger ale in the past, and their ginger beer variety isn’t too bad. It’s got a caramel taste with a strong, almost candied ginger flavor but without much kick. They make a big deal on the label that there’s 26 grams of fresh ginger in the bottle—no other brand specified exactly how much ginger was used, so this was pretty informative.
There was something familiar with how this one tasted that was hard to place, but after noticing that they added pineapple juice to the mix, it was obvious: Reed’s tastes just like a pińa colada with added ginger and carbonation. While interesting, it’s not really what we were looking for. But if piña colada ginger soda is your thing, definitely check this one out.
This 12 ounce bottle is full of Sparkling Filtered Water (Sweetened by a blend of Cane Sugar, Pineapple Juice from concentrate, and honey), Fresh Ginger Root, Lemon and Lime juices from concentrate, and Spices.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: Grab a bottle of overproof Jamaican rum and make a rum variation on a mule.
Fever Tree Ginger Beer
We were fortunate to begin on a high note with Maine Root’s and Belvoir’s offerings, so it’s only fitting to end on a high note. Fever Tree, while a bit shallow overall, starts off with a great gingery bite that lingers in the back of your throat for a while. This one is also marketed more as a cocktail mixer, so it’s going to be pretty sweet—20 grams of sugar in a tiny 6.8 ounce bottle.
Their website offers detailed tasting notes (especially useful for mixologists) about the three varieties of ginger for this beverage: fresh green ginger from the Ivory Coast that exhibits a lemongrass freshness, Nigerian ginger that adds intensity and depth, and finally a rich and earthy ginger from the Cochin area of India. Lots of respect to Fever Tree for going the distance (or at least making the effort to tell people about it).
Ingredients are simply Carbonated Spring Water, Cane Sugar, Ginger Root, Natural Flavor, and Ascorbic Acid.
Chuck Mix-a-Lot Note: This is a solid strong ginger mixer and will work in any Mule variation or a Dark and Stormy. If any drink calls for ginger beer, you can’t go wrong with Fever Tree.
Wrap-up
In the end, we were most impressed with two of the ten ginger beers we reviewed: Maine Root, for fans of an unapologetic smack of ginger, and Belvoir, for those looking for a refreshing citrus drink with a big gingery kick. You’ll still find us drinking Fever Tree and Cock ’n Bull, but don’t expect to see a bottle of the remaining six brands in our hands. Thanks for joining!
Chuck’s note: This is a guest post from my friend Tyler Machovina. We have very similar tastes and he recommended this drink to me. The only drink-related thing we disagree on is whether the Negroni or Boulevardier is superior.
To continue on theme of potable bitters for hot summer days I present the Paper Plane: A deliciously dry pre-dinner aperitivo for when it is too hot to contemplate eating. Have one and it will probably have cooled off a bit. Still a bit balmy? Have another, or two. Who needs dinner anyway when there is Campari to be enjoyed?
I had some trouble tracking down a solid history for this drink but it seems it was invented by Sammy J Ross of Milk & Honey and originally calls for Buffalo Trace bourbon. Well, I had already spent $50 on Amaro Nonino on this trip so I decided on the still delicious and sweet Old Grand Dad. Don’t feel bad about buying cheap bourbon! Though Chuck may disagree with the State setting standards, anything labeled as bourbon in the US is held to a very high standard so you’ll probably never find anything too terrible for mixing. Of course, it all depends on the drink—I might not use OGD for an Old Fashioned, but a shaken cocktail with strong flavors like Campari, Nonino, and lemon juice I think the Grand Dad will work just fine.
As a shaken cocktail I recommend making the Paper Plane with a boston shaker and a Hawthorne strainer as those shakers with a built in strainer just make a mess and are a pain to clean. I would also advise double straining to keep the tiny ice shards out of the final drink – this gives a cleaner presentation and a smoother mouth feel.
Add equal parts (3/4 oz for one drink) of lemon juice, Amaro Nonino, Campari, and bourbon into a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously for about twenty seconds. Double strain into a chilled coupe glass (or small wine glass). No garnish needed.
It’s possible the original recipe called for Aperol rather than Campari. The history of cocktails can be a bit… hazy. The Aperol variation is a bit sweeter and has a beautiful bright salmon color but lacks the refreshing grapefruit dryness that the Campari brings.
Can’t find Amaro Nonino? This recipe appears to be often misprinted with Ramazzotti rather than Nonino and apparently still yields tasty results.
Chuck’s note: This is a guest post from my friend Robert Ramsey. I regularly turn to him for advice because he seeks out the best version of what he is interested in. I learned a few things from this write-up and I’m going to alter my pizza-making method accordingly.
Homemade pizza can be a bit intimidating. I’m sure you’ve heard that your small home oven cannot produce the heat necessary to make good pie, and the recipes for homemade pizza are often disgusting, with tough, thick crust and pounds of toppings to compensate.
The truth is, you can make good pizza at home. It takes a little work, but with some patience and a hacker attitude you can easily crank out quality slices.
Pizza making, like most things involving good bread, is as much art as it is science. Therefore, your opinion matters quite a bit, and deciding what you believe “good” pizza to be is up to you. I prefer a Neapolitan style both at home and in the restaurant, but I have seen many New York style pies successfully done at home as well. Note: a Neapolitan style dough is actually the easiest of all the non-pan pizza doughs to create. It requires no kneading, can be done in one step, and tends to be less of a mess.
What you will need:
Dough
30 oz Italian 00 flour (I’ve found the best place to get this is Amazon)
.6 oz fine sea salt
.5 oz instant yeast
19 oz of room-temp water (or so, it depends on the humidity)
Semolina flour. This is for sliding the dough into the oven.
Sauce
28 oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes (or other Italian brands. Check the pasta aisle in your grocery store. You’d be surprised what you can find there).
10 basil leaves
4 cloves of garlic
two-finger pinch of salt
Toppings
I prefer basil and wet mozzarella, but you can do things like sweet peppers, sausage, etc. Keep things light! You want there to be far more empty sauce than toppings. Good pizza is about accenting a crust, not being a delivery vehicle for toppings.
Pizza steel. This is very important. You CANNOT use a stone. I purchased a Dough Joe online, and I love it. Another good option is the Baking Steel. If you know someone who has a scrap yard, have them cut you a 15×15 piece of steel plate. It works just as well. Chuck’s note: This is critical. You need something that can rapidly and efficiently transfer heat to make a nice crust. Regular pizza stones and pans will result in an underdone crust.
Making the Dough
Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl and stir well. Add a little bit of the water at a time and stir with your hands until everything in the bowl is wet. Be patient with this and make sure to stir well with every bit of water, as adding too much results in a sticky mess.
Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter overnight or for 10 hours.
Pull the dough from the bowl onto a well-floured surface. Divide it into four equal portions. Put each of these into a Ziploc bag and press the air out. Put the bags into your fridge.
Let the dough cold-ferment for at least 48 hours. I prefer 72 hours. This is going to create elasticity and bubbles within the dough, which is key to delicious dough.
Making the Sauce
Add the can of tomatoes with half of their liquid to the food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients. Process until “saucy.”
At this point I usually like to throw the sauce in a sauce pan on the stove to simmer for a bit and bring the flavors out.
Making the Pizza
Grab your dough bags from the fridge and let them sit out for an hour or so beforehand
Put your pizza steel in the oven on a rack as close to the broiler as you can comfortably get. I usually go with the rack second-from-the-top, but if you feel like you can easily shovel a pizza in without touching the broiler, go right on ahead.
Preheat your oven to 550F at least 45 mins ahead of making pizza. You’ll need this to get the steel to maximum heat.
Liberally flour your counter or pastry sheet. Grab a ball of dough, then, form your hands into a “karate chop” and use the tips of your fingers to poke the ball into a 6-8” disk, occasionally flipping it over to maintain the circular shape. As it flattens out, you should find air bubbles in the dough. That’s gold. Try to avoid popping them.
Grab your pizza peel or baking sheet and dust it with semolina flour. You don’t want the semolina to be too thick, but don’t skimp either.
Take your pizza dough disk and drape it over your two fists, using them to slowly rotate it around. This is very difficult to do correctly, but you’ll slowly stretch the dough into a larger circle. Don’t get discouraged. If your pizza is shaped like a big pecan, it still tastes good.
When your dough is thoroughly stretched, drape it onto your peel. DO NOT TOUCH IT after it goes down. Touching the dough even slightly will cause it to stick, which is disastrous later on.
Grab a ladle full of sauce and spread it on your pizza. You want the pizza to be well covered in sauce, but make sure that the sauce hasn’t pooled anywhere, as it will slosh when the pizza is put in the oven.
Add your toppings. Again, go light.
It’s time to add the pizza to the oven. This is fairly dangerous, so make sure you are wearing some high quality oven mitts and that nothing flammable is close to the oven. Grab your peel and give it a quick shake to make sure your pizza slides easily. Open your oven with one hand, and with the other slide the peel at a 45 degree angle as far back onto the pizza steel as you can. Jiggle the pizza onto the steel and close the door.
How long you keep the pizza in varies from oven to oven, so start out with my times and then experiment a bit if you aren’t happy. I let the pizza bake for 7 minutes, shut the oven off, and then turn the broiler on high for 1:40 seconds. This gives you the char on top.
When the second timer goes off, put those oven mitts back on, pop open the oven, and slide it back on the pizza peel. It can be a little tricky, so sometimes I just reach in and grab the pizza.
Let the pizza sit for at least 5 more mins while it finishes cooking (residual heat!), then dig in.
Cook Like Chuck 