Three Generation Pizza

For years I've admired my grandmother's home made pizza crust. My mom can make a pretty mean one too, but they differ slightly. Grandma claims that they use the exact same recipe, but my mother and I suspect there's a secret step or ingredient we don't know about. About a year ago, I took an over-the-phone lesson from my mom, and I started experimenting with my own version of this tasty dough. Just as family traditions get tweaked a bit from generation to generation, my version is just a little different from each of theirs. Variations in water quality, weather, ovens, and of course, pans, all combine to make a varying final product...and who knows, maybe just they way we use our hands might make a small difference. Nevertheless, I am happy with my interpretation, and I'm putting my secrets out there for anyone who wants to try it out.

Texture: It's not a thin,crisp crust, but it's nowhere near a thick and bready one (like Sicilian style-yuck). It's in the middle but leans toward the thinner versions.

Pan: I use a round pan, it's heavily punctured for aeration, about 12" in diameter. It's NOT a non-stick one - in fact, it has seasoned and turned dark brown over the years, and I think that helps give a nice texture.

Recipe:

*1.5 generous teaspoons dry active yeast
*1 cup of warm water
*1 teaspoon of sugar
*1 teaspoon of salt
*1 generous Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
*approx 2.5 cups of unbleached all purpose white flour (I'm a fan of King Arthur brand)
*extra olive oil for kneading and oiling bowl/pan

In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast and water, swish until dissolved and let sit for 5 minutes or so. I'm impatient, so it sits for like 2 minutes.

Add sugar, salt, and the tablespoon of olive oil. Swish again until everything is dissolved. Begin adding the flour, one half-cup at a time. Using your hands, mix in each half-cup until the dough begins to separate from the sides and can be taken out of the bowl in one mass - keep oiling your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to them. The final dough should be neither dry and crumbly nor too wet and sticky, but somewhere in between. I've used as little as 2.25 cups up to 3 cups of flour to get this consistency.

Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface (I just dust my counter top with some flour) and knead it for maybe 3-4 minutes. Keep oiling or flouring your hands. I choose depending on my mood...the olive oil does leave my hands very soft.

When the dough seems supple, with no big cracks or sticky areas, transfer it to an oiled bowl (I use another glass mixing bowl oiled with olive oil). Cover snugly with a kitchen towel. My mother uses plastic wrap and then a towel. I don't think it makes a difference.

Put the bowl in a warm place (if possible). A sunny spot in a room will work, or you can even heat your oven to its lowest temp for a few minutes, turn the oven off, and put the covered bowl in there. Either way, you'll need about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes for the dough to rise.

After the rise, move your oven rack to the bottom, and preheat to 450 degrees. Lightly 'punch' down the dough, and transfer it to your OILED pizza pan. Oil your hands AGAIN, and working from the center of the dough, begin pressing it out to the edges. Keep going around and around until you've spread the dough evenly over the pan surface. This will take some practice at first, but soon it will go really fast and even.

Do not top the pizza yet. Pre-bake it on the bottom rack for about 5 minutes. Take it out and then add toppings. Bake again for 10-15 minutes or until the mozzarella begins to just show some slight browning on the high spots.

Take it out and let it sit for about 5 minutes before cutting.

If you don't think this recipe makes a tasty, lovely crust, then you are a total weirdo.