Pizza Grilling Tips
Step away from the takeout menu. You deserve a fresher, tastier, healthier pie. The secret? Hot coals and heavy metal
Reported by Paul Kita
Photographs by Marcus Nilsson
Posted Date: June 21, 2009
Real pizza will change your life.
No, not those faux-'talian discs served up with a cardboard tang, courtesy of your local pizza chain.
We're talking about pies with flamelicked crusts puffed to perfection. Pies with pools of earthy olive oil and a slather of savory tomato sauce. Start here, and you may never wait for the delivery man again. Don't say we didn't warn you.
"Authentic pizza is simple, yet it does amazing things with tastes and textures and aromas," says Mathieu Palombino, chef and owner of Motorino, a Naples-style pizzeria in Brooklyn. "The best pizza satisfies the soul," he says.
After moving to New York in 2000, Palombino worked for Laurent Tourondel, a prestigious French chef. But Palombino couldn't shake his taste for the homemade pizza he ate as a child in an Italian family. So last year he opened Motorino, where the pizza ovens run on wood and his burning passion.
He pulls a pizza margherita out of the 900°F oven. Molten mozzarella bubbles, fresh basil melds with red sauce, and steam rises from the puffed, crackling crust.
"This doesn't look like Pizza Hut, does it?" he says.
But you don't have go to Naples or even New York City for a taste of old-world pizza. Try your backyard.
"Besides an authentic brick oven, your grill is the best way to cook a pizza," says Palombino. "It's much faster than your home oven, there's less mess, and you have more control over the quality of your pizza."
With Palombino as your sous chef, you'll be flinging dough and melding delicious toppers like a true pizzaiolo. Why tip the delivery guy when you can do it better yourself?
Step 1: Develop Your Dough
"You can make good dough in a few very easy steps," Palombino says. The key is exact measurements and a brief workout for your forearms.
What you'll need:
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups warm water (77° to 81°F)
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 tsp salt
How to make it:
1. Let the yeast dissolve in the warm water for about 5 minutes.
2. Combine the flour and salt and dump the mixture onto a flat surface. Make a depression in the middle, pour the yeast and water into it, and combine the dry and wet ingredients by hand until the dough starts to come together. Keep working the dough with the palms of your hands for 7 to 8 minutes, and then let it rest at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until it doubles in size. Now punch it down, squeezing out all the air bubbles. Cut the dough into four equal pieces and shape them into balls. Place them in the fridge for another 2 hours.
3. For each pizza, dust your table and the top of a dough ball with flour. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Use the tips of your fingers to stretch it outward to a 10-inch circle, with the edges thicker than the center. Leftover dough (kept in ball form) will keep in the fridge for 3 days.
Tip: Nervous about making your own dough? Your local pizza shop may sell premade dough balls.
Step 2: Whip Up The Sauce
"The best sauce is simple," says Palombino. "No tricks." His recipe will take you about 5 minutes to make and will taste far fresher than any jarred sauce.
What you'll need:
1 can (28 oz) peeled San Marzano tomatoes, like Cento
How to make it:
Wash your hands and dump the entire contents of the can into a bowl. Squeeze each tomato until the sauce is smooth but not soupy. Chunks are okay.
Tip: Apply the sauce using a wide, flat spoon, instead of a deep ladle, for a more uniform consistency.
Go on to the next page to learn how to put together a well-balanced pie...
No comments:
Post a Comment