How to make Brick Oven Pizza

You'll like this Brick Oven Pizza. The overnight starter gives it an incredibly chewy/crispy crust. It's easy to make and is one of the best tasting homemade pizza's I've had. I didn't really like thin crust pizza until I tried this version. My sons even like it and they're picky about their pizza.

Note: The first step, making the poolish, should be done the night before if you want pizza for lunch the next day. Or, if you want pizza for dinner, make the poolish in the morning and let it sit all day. Just make sure you allow enough time to make the dough.


Brick Oven Pizza
Yield: 2 pizzas

Recipe courtesy of King Arthur Flour Company and The Baker's Catalogue.

Ingredients:

Poolish (Starter)

• 1 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough

• 3/4 cup water
• 2 1/4 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Pizza Dough Flavor (optional, but delicious)
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Toppings
Tomato sauce, meats and/or vegetables, and cheeses of your choice. I plan to use red and green peppers, onions, a prepared sauce and cheeses.


Directions:

Making the Poolish:

In a mixing bowl or the pan of your bread machine, stir together the flour; water and yeast. Set aside, covered, to rest overnight or all day. I started my poolish last night so we could have pizza for lunch today.

Poolish after resting on counter all night

Making the Dough:

Add the flour and water to the poolish, mix well, and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Add the remaining dough ingredients, mixing and kneading to form a smooth dough.

Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 45 minutes; gently fold the edges to the middle, turn it over, and let it rise an additional 45 minutes.


Note: It was a very humid and hot day today so the dough was very gooey. I let the dough rise in the refrigerator the last 45 minutes. Then I was able to work with it.

Risen dough ready to made pizza

Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a 9-inch round, place on a piece of parchment cut to fit, cover, and let rest while you heat your oven to 500°F.

This dough is very easy to work with. It spreads very nicely.  You don't even need a rolling pin.

Pizza dough covered resting on counter while oven preheats

Pizza dough ready to bake

After about 30 minutes, use a giant spatula or pizza peel to transfer the pizza to your hot oven stone; or place it on a pan on the lowest rack of your oven.  Bake for 4 minutes, then remove from the oven, and top with your favorite toppings.



Return the pizzas to the lowest rack of the oven (not to the stone), and bake for an additional 8 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling bubbly.



Nutritional Information:
Serving size 1/6 of a pizza, crust only, 50g; 124 cal, 1g fat, 4 g protein, 24g complex carbohydrates, 1g dietary fiber, 223 mg sodium, 48mg potassium, 2mg iron, 1mg calcium, 33 mg phosphorus.


Additional resources for making pizza:

• How to Make Pizza
• Pizza Recipes

Happy Baking!
Cathy