so tonight we’re having homemade pizza. this is pretty much an all day affair.
i started at 6:30 this morning. i’ve modified my famliy’s recipe for the sauce just a bit because my wife is not as fond of a chunky sauce as my mom and dad were so instead of two cans of petite diiced tomatoes i used two cans of crushed tomatoes for a smoother texture. the cans are somewhat larger than those of the petite diced tomatoes so i’ve adjusted the seasonings accordingly. so, into a large pot put the contents of two cans of crushed tomatoes, two cans plain tomato paste, and two cans of plain tomato sauce. fill the tomato sauce cans with water and pour those two cans of water into the empty crushed tomato cans to get out anything left in the cans and then pour that water into the pot with the other liquid ingredients. stir thoroughly and put on medium-low heat uncovered. to the tomato products i added the following:
3 tablespoons dried oregano leaves
2 tablespoons dried thyme leaves
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1.5 tablespoons dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 small, fresh white onion, finely diced
3 cloves fresh garlic finely minced
2 bay leaves
stir until the seasonings are thoroughly dispersed in the tomato products. it generally takes me 10-15 minutes to get the ingredients homogeneously blended but that may be a holdover from the days when i worked as solutions person for the freshman chemistry labs at my university and i had to make 10 liter lots of the solutions for the labs and i had a rather strict chemistry teacher who came behind me to test for consistency of product.
after mixing the ingredients increase heat to medium-high, stirring frequently until the contents of the pan reach a slow boil at which point stir thoroughly and reduce heat to the lowest setting on the stove. stir every five minutes for a half hour then turn the heat off and allow to stand covered until needed for making pizza. the sauce should be stirred about once an hour until then. at this point the sauce should be tasted to correct the seasonings.
next i made the cheese blend. i mix together the following cheeses which have been grated using a medium-fine grater in the following proportions by weight:
5 parts mozzarella
1 part romano
1 part asiago
1 part gruyere
1 part gouda
i ended up with a little over 4 pounds of blended cheese when i was done today which i bagged and am storing in the refrigerator.
to make my dough i use five pounds of flour but i start with four pounds in the bowl and reserve the other pound for later use. i add two tablespoons of salt and four tablespoons of sugar. i stir these together very thoroughly. then add three sticks of margarine cut into roughly 16 pieces per stick and cut the margarine into the flour thoroughly. i use parkay but whatever brand you prefer is up to you. i doubt it will make much difference. at this point, add two and one-half tablespoons of active dry yeast which needs to be stirred, need i say thoroughly, into the flour. add one cup of olive oil and two quarts of warm (not hot) water and stir until all the liquids have been incorporated into the flour. the goal is a damp sponge. if the local humidity is high it would be well to stir the mixture after adding half of the second quart of water. sometimes, if the humidity is exceptionally low it may require somewhat more than two quarts, i’ve experienced variations ranging from only needing one and one-half quarts to requiring two quarts plus an additional cup.
once you have the consistency of a damp sponge work the dough with your hands until you can form it into a loose ball. add a little flour if it seems too wet. press down into the bowl, dust the top with a little flour, cover with a tea towel and wait until the dough rises above the level of the bowl at which point the dough needs punching down, adding a bit more flour, kneading, and then covering with a tea towel. repeat this process each time the dough rises above the level of the bowl adding a bit more flour each time. the dough should go through this process at least four times before cooking and i have done this seven or eight times when the dough rose unusually quickly, although once i have added all of the reserved pound of flour i don’t add any more.
one can select any toppings you like. in my family we like ingredients like ham, bacon, pepperoni, ground sirloin, hot italian sausage, anchovies, red and green bell peppers, fresh jalapeno peppers, mushrooms, black olives, kalamata olives, fresh serrano peppers, onions, pineapple, and fresh chopped parsley.
with the size of our pans and the typical thickness we apply the dough, sauce, and cheese the above recipe generally makes 8-10 pizzas. obviously, this is going to vary according to how one’s own preferences worked.
we bake the pizza in a 400 degree oven, two pizzas at a time on oven racks set in the middle two positions in the oven. at 8 minutes swap the pizzas in top and bottom racks and turn the pizzas around when doing this. after another 8 minutes swap the pizzas again and cook until the bottom crust has reached an appetizing brown. cooking time and temperature may vary based on your oven so watch the pizzas very closely the first time you attempt this and adjust the time and/or temperature as you think best.
in my family, and by the way, this recipe began when my father was first exposed to pizza when my father was stationed near honolulu and on a leave back to the states he and his mother in first made an approximation of pizza in 1955. my father and my mother further developed the recipe after they were married in 1959. with my input we continued developing the recipe which was finalized and standardized in 1987. my family has been making pizza for 67 years and every member of my immediate family could start with scratch ingredients and make pizza: my mother, father, and sister along with myself. we were never dough-tossers, we’ve always rolled the dough out to a sheet larger than the pan and then trimmed the dough to fit. we also collect all the trimmings into a bowl, kneading them together each time another crust was rolled out. this dough is always used towards the end of the process when we’ve run out of “unused” dough.
our pizza freezes very well although the process is, as you might imagine given the fiddliness of my recipe, a multi-step process. first allow the leftover pizza to cool completely. then, lay flat the slices of pizza on a sheet pan and put into a deep freeze. once the pizza has frozen on top of the sheet pan you may transfer the slices into gallon size freezer bags. we generally organize the slices thematically so we can quickly thaw and reheat the type of pizza we want.
if any of you do try this recipe i wish to welcome you to the club of the navarro family pizza. over the years my parents and i have taught around 20 people how to make it. this, like our tamale recipe, is a navarro family tradition which is so important to us that there have even been a couple of times we’ve made it for christmas and thanksgiving dinner.
good luck and good eating!
