Two men, two pizzas, one master. Alex Brockman and Joe Ryan competed in the most intense cook-off the Charlatan has ever seen. Brockman crafted a classic Italian-style pizza using the skills and secrets that have been passed down for generations. Ryan whipped up a twisted Hawaiian pie with years of professional practice.
Making pizza at home takes a little bit of time, and a whole lot of love.
It all starts with the crust. Like a marble statue, without a solid base, the pizza will crumble. Most grocery stores will have frozen pre-packaged dough that will defrost in a few hours. It works fine enough, but really you want to make it yourself.
It’s easy enough, all it takes is a little bit of common cooking ingredients. Other than the yeast, everything you need to make quality dough is probably sitting in your kitchen right now.
There’s only one potential slip-up in the recipe, if your water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. So test it the way you would milk for a baby. Other than that, if the mixture is too thin or thick, just add a bit more flour or water as needed.
Alex’s Taste of Old Europe Pizza
For the cooking challenge, I decided to recreate my taste of home.
It’s become a family ritual to make pizza Saturday night, after moving out on my own, making pizza was a way to stay connected. My mom immigrated from Europe, so I like to keep things in a European style.
This recipe is easy for beginners, and it’s open to interpretation. Cook for about 20 minutes at 425 F, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
1 small can of tomato sauce
¼ brick of shredded mozzarella cheese
ham
prosciutto
olives
onions
diced tomatoes
Pizza Dough
1 cup warm water
2 tbs. dry yeast
1 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
Method
1.) Mix warm water and yeast in a mixing cup. Wait until the mixture foams up—that’s how you know the yeast is working.
2.) Add the oil, salt, and sugar to the bowl and stir it in together.
3.) Pour flour into another, larger mixing bowl, add, and stir in liquids.
4.) Work the dough with your hands, kneading it, twisting it, and working it together. Dough will be sticky at first, but add a pinch of flour and keep working it. Once dough stops sticking to the bowl, it’s ready.
5.) Form the dough into a ball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rise in the fridge for an hour.
6.) Once the dough has risen, start forming into shape, (a rolling pin helps).
7.) Cover your baking sheet with a light layer of oil, to prevent the pizza from sticking to the pan during cooking, and put dough on the pan.
8.) Spread the sauce and toss all of your ingredients on as you see fit.
Joe’s Slice of Hawaii
12-inch dough (I used Brockman’s dough)
tomato sauce
mozzarella cheese
half a sweet onion
half a pineapple
6 strips of bacon
Method
1.) Toss and stretch dough until thin and evenly spread. Lay dough on pan.
2.) Spread tomato sauce from the centre of pizza until it is a finger’s width away from the edge. Make sure the sauce is evenly spread. Coat evenly in cheese.
3.) Chop pineapple in half then slice medium-sized slices off of it. Cut the husk off of the slices. Cut slices into small chunks. Spread pineapple over top until each bite has at least one bit of it.
4.) Put a pan on the stove. Cook bacon until crispy. Wait for it to cool then chop or break with hands. Sprinkle these bacon bits over the pizza.
5.) Dice onion into tiny pieces. Spread it across pizza liberally.
6.) Put pizza in the oven at 400 F for 20 minutes.
7.) Slice and eat it.
