Sicilian Pizza With Pepperoni and Spicy Tomato Sauce Recipe

Sicilian Pizza With Pepperoni and Spicy Tomato Sauce Recipe

Original recipe by J. KENJI LÓPEZ-ALT
Adjustments by me in italics.

"The Spicy Spring from Prince Street Pizza, with its thick, olive oil–infused crust; spicy tomato sauce; mozzarella and Pecorino Romano cheese; and crisp-edged pepperoni, is an insanely good pizza with only one real problem: It doesn't exist anywhere else. No longer. Here's how to make that pizza anywhere in the world."

[This really was excellent. Like a souped up DiCarlo's!]
[Best way to do this is to do two quick half recipes!]

Ingredients

·   

  "HALF" RECIPE (this is enough for one 13x9 pan's worth): 
       250 g 00 flour (did this with stone ground WW and increased water to 200 g, worked very well, except a bit spongy. Will add some gluten next time and see...)
       1 teaspoon salt
       1 teaspoon (scant) yeast
       1 or 2 tablespoons EVOO
       150 - 175 g water
       Use Food processor method and it is really easy to make two batches in no time!

• Other Option: use 300 g sourdough starter (100% hydration) and 100 g 00 flour and rest of ingredients.

·         For the Sauce:

·         2 4 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil

·         9 medium cloves garlic, roughly chopped

·         1 tablespoon (about 4g) dried oregano ( or less, maybe 1 teaspoon, for Karen)
·         1 - 2 teaspoons (about 3g) dried red pepper flakes, less or more to taste

·         1 (28-ounce; 800g) can whole peeled tomatoes

·         1 large can Cento whole Tomatoes (Costco  has them for under $4)
      Optional: Garlic powder to make it more "Detroit Style"

·         1 teaspoon (about 4g) sugar

·         Kosher salt

·         To Assemble and Bake:

·         1 pound (450g) sliced deli-style mozzarella cheese (whole milk mozzarella or provolone, even better!)
·         12 ounces (325g) natural-casing pepperoni, cut into 1/8-inch slices (I use Ezzo's cut 2 mm thick in the Cuisinart.)

·         4 ounces (115g) ground Pecorino Romano cheese

Directions

To Make the Dough in a Food Processor (recommended): Combine flour, salt, yeast, 0.35 ounce olive oil, and water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade or dough blade attachment. Process until a dough that rides around the blade forms, then continue processing for 30 seconds. Continue with Step 4 below. [I did it this way. Painless!]

To Make the Dough in a Stand Mixer: See original recipe at link at top.

To Make the Dough Using the No-Knead Method: Ditto.

To make the pizzas: Pour remaining 1/4 cup 2 tablespoons olive oil into a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet (OR 2 13x9 heavy duty metal cake pans, like AllClad.) and spread over entire inner surface with your hands. Transfer dough to baking sheet and turn in oil until thoroughly coated. Spread gently with your hands. (It will not stretch to fill the pan; this is fine.) Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature until dough has slackened and started to spread out toward the edges of the pan, 2 to 3 hours. Carefully remove plastic wrap from pizza dough. Using oiled hands, and working as gently as possible to maintain air bubbles, push and stretch dough into the corners of the pan by pressing out from the center, lifting each corner, and stretching it beyond the edge of the pan. It should pull back until pan is just filled with dough. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes while you make the sauce.

For the Sauce: Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until softened and aromatic, about 1 minute. Open can of tomatoes and start transferring the tomatoes and squishing them by hand and leaving the excess tomato juice behind. You can use a potato masher to finish breaking up tomatoes into fine chunks. Stir in sugar. [If I wanted sweet pizza, I'd add pineapple. Which is an abomination.] Bring to a bare simmer and allow to cook for about 15 30 minutes to let flavors meld. Season to taste with salt. Set aside and allow to cool slightly. (Using the big can from Cento will make enough to freeze for future pies...)

Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 550°F. (I also put the pizza dough with JUST the sliced cheese in second oven on Bread Proof setting for a  half hour before adding the rest of toppings.)

To Assemble and Bake: Spread slices of mozzarella (I prefer provolone.) cheese evenly over surface of pizza. Spoon sauce on top of cheese and spread with the back of a spoon. (You will not need all the sauce; use as much as you like, but be sparing.) Spread pepperoni slices evenly over surface. Sprinkle with half of Romano cheese. Transfer to oven and bake until pepperoni is crisp and curled and bottom of pizza is golden brown when you peek by lifting the corner with a thin spatula, about 10 minutes. With some ovens, you may need to loosely tent the top of the pizza with aluminum foil and continue baking until the bottom is golden and crisp. [The foil tip was very helpful, as I had to bake closer to 18 - 20 minutes to get bottom crisp.]

Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle with remaining half of Romano cheese,(and more shredded cheese, whole milk mozzarella if you can get it, or provolone.We are in Pittsburgh, after all.) use a pizza wheel to cut it into slices, and serve immediately.

Adding a link to King Arthur Flour Detroit Style Pizza Recipe.