White Pizza “Pizza Bianca” 白いピザ

We tried “pizza bianca” a few times before but we did not particularly like it. So we tried again with different cheeses; roasted garlic seasoned Ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. We topped it with baby arugula dressed in honey mustard dressing (#1). We really like the creamy texture of the cheese toppings and pepper taste of arugula, however, despite used a liberal amount of garlic infused oil, we felt we need a bit more assertive flavor (maybe more garlic or slight “picante” flavor?). So we decided on the this batch to add the roasted garlic. This was about a whole head of garlic, cloves separated and cooked in small bowl of heated chicken broth in the toaster oven at 350 for 30 minutes. We added the roasted garlic to the ricotta cheese and left it in the fridge overnight for the flavors to meld. They became much stronger and this was a much better pizza.

The picture 2 is before the arugula topping.

Ingredients:
1/2 Ricotta cheese
About a head of roasted garlic (or to taste)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
(mix the above well)
10 or more thin slices of mozzarella cheese enough to cover the pizza leaving the rim
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil with crushed garlic
Pizza dough

Baby arugula
Honey mustard dressing

Directions:
Form pizza dough
Paint the dough with garlic infused oil including some crushed garlic in the oil 
Cover the center of the pizza with the mozzarella cheese
Spread the seasoned Ricotta
Sprinkle half of the parmesan cheese

Bake in the pizza oven at 700F (Neapolitan-style setting in “Pizzaiolo” pizza oven) for 2 minutes (#2)

Brush the rim with the garlic infused oil and sprinkle the reaming parmesan cheese
Top it with the dressed baby arugula (#10)

This a definitely better pizza bianca we made.

Caramelized onion pizza 飴色玉ねぎピザ

After we got the electric pizza oven “Pizzaiolo”, we have been making home-made Neapolitan-style  pizzas regularly. We usually make two kinds of pizza; one is the classic Margherita another is marinated baby artichokes with olives. Since we do not finish two pizzas in one meal, we have left-overs and enjoy one piece each as an appetizer in subsequent days. The left-over pizza heats up nicely in the toaster oven.  Interestingly, when freshly made, the crust is Neapolitan-style.  It is chewy but not “crispy”. After being re-heated in the toaster oven, the crust becomes very crispy like a New York-style pizza. 

We decided that we should get out of our pizza rut and make some other kinds of pizza. We used to make caramelized onion pizza キャラメライズドオニオンピザ in the oven long before we got the ‘Pizzaiolo’. But we have not made it recently. So we settled on making that pizza as one of the two we made recently one evening. This is a really tasty pizza. Creamy goat cheese and pine nuts added nice texture and taste. The caramelized onions added nice sweetness. The Neapolitan-style crust goes well with this topping.

Ingredients (for one 9 inch pizza)
For caramelized onion
1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 tbs olive oil
2 tsp sugar

For crust (makes enough dough for four 9 inch pizzas)
3 1/2 cups “00” flour (I used 00 flour I got from King-Arthur’s) or bread flour
1 cup warm water (more or less)
2 tsp active years
2 tsp salt
2 tbs olive oil (optional)

For topping (amounts are arbitrary)
10 thinly sliced pieces of mozzarella cheese (enough to cover the crust leaving the rim) 
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated reggiano parmiziano
1 inch log of fresh goat cheese crumbled
1/4 cup roasted pine nuts

Garlic-infused olive oil to brush on the pizza crust. (I make this oil with 4 cloves of crushed garlic in 1/4 cup olive oil. I brush some this oil on whatever pizza I am making that night)
salt and pepper

Directions:
Preheat the pizza oven to “Neapolitan-pizza” temperature (about 750F)

For caramelized onions
Coat the onion slices with the sugar (to facilitate caramelization),  
Add the oil in a large skillet or frying pan. Sauté until nicely browned (do not constantly stir, leave for a few minutes until the bottom browns and then stir)
Set aside

For crust
Add all ingredients except for the water and oil to the food processor fitted with a dough blade. Turn on low speed to mix dry ingredients. If using oil, stream it in. Add the water in a thin stream until a dough ball forms above the blade without any dry ingredients left on the bottom. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Turn the food processor on low speed for a few minutes for a second kneading. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and hand knead it briefly shaping it into a ball. In a large enough mixing bowl, add a small amount of olive oil, add the dough ball and turn to coat all its surface. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1 hour or until doubled (I use a "Brod & Taylor Collapsible electric bread proofer“ set at 85 degrees). 

Turn the dough onto the kneading board. Deflate and divide the dough into 4 pieces. (I weigh the dough to make sure the pieces are equal in size). Knead the dough to make a tight ball. Coat the surface of the each dough ball with olive oil and place in a small Ziploc bag. Squeeze out any excess air, seal the bag and refrigerate overnight. (It can be refrigerated up to a few days. If I haven’t used it by then I freeze it.)
Take out the dough one hour before baking. Form the dough into a 9 inch pizza-shape (by stretching it using two fists under the dough leaving the rim intact)

Assembly
On a wooden pizza peel, sparingly spread cornmeal. (The cornmeal acts like a layer of ball bearings under the pizza dough making it easier to slide the pizza dough off the peel onto the baking stone)
Place the prepared pizza dough on the peel over the cornmeal. Paint the surface of the dough with the garlic infused oil along with some of the crushed garlic in the oil. Use the mozzarella cheese to cover the dough except for the rim. Spread half of the Parmesan over the mozzarella, then spread on the onion. Add the pine nuts. Sprinkle on the rest of the Parmesan, and distribute the small chunks of goat cheese.

To bake
Slide the pizza onto the pizza stone, close the door and press the timer (2 minutes)
When done take it out and paint the rim with the garlic infused olive oil.

The pizza oven creates perfect leopard spots on the bottom of the crust and nice charred rim on the top. The caramelized onion gives a nice sweet flavor. The creamy texture of the goat cheese is wonderful. We really like this pizza.

Pizza Made in Indoor Electric “Pizzaiolo” Pizza Oven

After my wife gave me this indoor electric pizza oven for my birthday (at the end of March), I have made quite a few pizzas (4-5 times, total of 10-12 pizzas) in the past 2 and half months. The  pizzas I made were quite good (better than the ones I made using our regular oven) but they can be improved and I kept changing the settings and dough recipes. I also got a pizza steel made for the Pizzaiolo and tried that too. 

Compared to the pizza stone, the steel retains and conducts heat better. When making multiple pizzas, the pizza stone requires a few minutes to recover and reach the correct heat settings after making each pizza. The pizza steel appears to stay hot.  The bottom of the crust gets carbonized a bit too much, though. I only used the pizza steel once.  I have to try a few more time before I can evaluate properly.  I am sticking to the pizza stone for now. 

In any case, picture #1A is my most recent pizza (using “00” flour, half Margherita and half pepperoni). To me, the crust charr marks are just right (“Darkness” setting at 11 o’clock) as compared to #3 which was too charred with the “Darkness” setting at one o’clock.

The next pizza (picture #1B) is our first attempt using pesto (from the basil on home-grown on the window sill) and red pepper sauce. The cheeses are low moisture Mozzarella and fresh goat cheese.

The picture #2 is another Margherita I made earlier. It looks “charred” but the taste was not bad, it did not taste like you are eating pure carbon but it was too much charr. This was the “darkness” setting at one o’clock.

Picture #3 is one of our most popular pizza; artichoke hearts (from a jar) with olives. Cheeses are mozzarella, Irish cheddar, smoked gouda and fresh goat cheese. This was baked immediately after the #3 pizza (I prepared this pizza in a wooden pizza paddle while the first one was being cooked). This made this pizza crust bottom not as crispy and charred since the pizza stone was not completely recovered heat.

Although this is still on-going process, the below are my current set-ups for the oven and dough.

Dough: I tried both “00” and bread flours with and without addition of olive oil. “00” dough without olive oil is a bit too chewy for us but addition of a small amount of olive oil appears to make it better (may not be authentic for Neapolitan or New York pizza). For us, the bread flour or “00” flour does not make a big difference but  we may even prefer “bread-y” consistency of crust using the bread flour.

Ingredients:
3 and 1/2 of flour (either bread or “00”)
2 tbs olive oil
1 (or a bit more) cup of water
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp instant yeast

Addendum: (65% hydration with weighing)

520 gram 00flour

340 gram water

Directions: (I use the food processor fitted with a kneading blade in low-speed up to 4 cups  of flour).
After running the blade to mix all the dry ingredients, I drizzle the water in a thin steady stream as it is running until the dough forms above the blade (the surface is a bit sticky). Let it sit for 5 minutes for better hydration and run another 1-2 minutes. Take it out on a floured board and hand knead until elastic. Placed the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat all the surface, cover it with a plastic wrap and place it in a proofing box at 85F for 1 hour or until doubles.

Deflate gently, fold several times and divide it up into 4 equal dough balls (I weigh making 4 balls of a bit over  200grams each). After the first rise, I divide the dough and form 4 balls with a smooth surface. Place it in a small Ziploc bag coated with olive oil inside and let it sit in the refrigerator at least overnight or up to  several days. I take out the dough balls one hour before baking and let it come to the room temperature. If I do not use it within several days, I freeze them. (to use the frozen dough, I transfer it to the refrigerator one day before to completely thaw).

I hand stretch the dough to make 10 inch pizza, coat it with olive oil with crushed garlic. I place the slices of  low moisture Mozzarella first and then tomato sauce.

Oven settings: “Wood fired” and the darkness setting to “11 o’clock”. Preheat for 30 minutes. I use the modified the wooden paddles which fit the oven perfectly. I use corn meal on the paddle so that the dough slides better. I cook for 2 minutes (as it is the automatically setting). Steam and some smoke come out during cooking so I use the oven under the hood with the exhaust fan running. For the next pizza, I wait until the stone temperature completely recovers (a few minutes until the “at temp” indicator light stops blinking).

Is it worth it?? Although pizza I made using the regular oven and pizza stone was quite good, pizza cooked in the Pizzaiola is definitely much better. They cook so quickly (instead of 6-7 minutes in the conventional oven they’re done in just 2 minutes). So if you have a pizza party, you could turn out a few pizzas in a jiffy. I am trying to keep this oven clean but it is a bit of a chore. Other use of this oven may be to bake focaccia (which we tried with a good result) or naan (which we have not tried yet).

No knead pizza dough 捏ねないピザ生地

Since we are into "no knead" breads, when my wife found a recipe for "No knead pizza dough", I had to try it. Using this dough, I made my usual version of Pizza Margherita.

The pizza shown below was my wife's suggestion including several cheeses (mozzarella,  Monterey jack and smoked gouda) with baby artichoke herts, black and green olives (Devina brand).

No knead pizza dough recipe came from King Arthur flour web site.

Ingredients: (this makes two pizzas like above)
250gram AP flour
1/8 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
185gram lukewarm water

Directions: (only making dough part was quoted here)
1. Stir all of the ingredients together. Cover the rough, sticky dough and let it rise at room temperature for 24 hours. After this first rise, you may choose to refrigerate the dough for up to 6 days, which will help develop its flavor.
2. Divide the dough in half. Shape each piece into a ball. Place each ball seam-side down into a floured bowl.
3. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to proof (rise) for 45 minutes to an hour, while your oven preheats.
4. Scoop the dough onto a well-floured work surface and dust the top with flour. Using your fingertips, gently depress the dough, being careful not to touch the outer edge of the crust; you want it to remain thick.
5. Lift up the pizza and use your knuckles to gently stretch the dough into a circle about 10" to 12" in diameter. Move it to a well-floured pizza peel (I use yellow corn meal).

The topping and baking parts I followed my usual way. Although I cooked the pizza the usual 5 minutes, because of the high water content of the dough, retrospectively, I would have cooked the pizza longer maybe 7-8 minutes.

This pizza crust was a bit more flavorful but not that much different from my usual crust. Handling the dough was much more tricky since it was so wet. I may try it again with a longer cooking time.

Basil pesto pizza ペストジェノベェーゼピッザ

Every year we used to plant basil in our herb garden but, in general, it did not do well. Maybe it was too much sun; it bolted very quickly and the leaves were tough.  So, we went back to buying basil in small packets from the grocery store. Most of these store-bought basils clearly had a hard life. They were a bit pathetic and already wilted by the time they came to reside in our refridgerator.  Since, due to covid, we have not been going to the grocery stores often nowadays, and we could not get out to buy herbs for our garden, my wife decided to try rooting some of these sad store-bought basils. She was generally successful. About 70-80% of the basil she tried, developed roots and 95% of those really started to grow after she transplanted them in soil. (The ones she planted in top soil did not do quite as well as those planted in potting soil). So now, we have a small collection of basil pots sunning themselves in the kitchen windows. 

Since the plants were in need of trim, one day my wife recruited me to make pesto. The above is after my wife harvested leaves for the pesto. I made pesto in standard way (Just add basil, pine nuts, garlic, and salt into the mini food processor and add olive oil while the processor is running. Finish by adding grated Parmesan cheese). Next question; what to do with all this pesto? She then suggested making a pesto pizza. Which I did (shown below). 

This was entirely her idea. She asked me to use both fresh and low-moisture mozzarella cheese and two kind of olives (Karamata and anchovy stuffed green olives, which we happened to have). I brushed the dough with garlic infused oil, placed the slices of mozzarella cheese and spread the pesto over the cheese slices, then placed the olives. This came out rather nice with a fresh basil taste that worked well with the olives and mozzarella. Of course, we had to make our usual Margherita pizza as well. (Note the basil chiffonaid on top).

So, this is a good use of the basil forests now growing on our kitchen window sill. We restrained ourselves to having just one slice from each pizza, so we would be sure to have left overs to crisp up in the toaster oven during the week. Of course, to be heart-healthy, we had red wine which went so well with pizzas as usual.

Meat pizzas 肉入りピザ

I occasionally make pizza but most of the time our pizzas do not have any meat as a topping. We are not intentionally trying to make vegetarian pizza, they just seem to come out that way. This time, I made two meat pizzas because we had leftover meat balls and pork chops cooked in BBQ sauce. Also, because of the Covid-19 related yeast shortage, my wife made a starter (biga/poolish) for me so I could make pizza dough. In addition to saving our yeast, this method results in a very flavorful and nicely chewy crust.

The picture below shows the meat ball pizza. I made the meat balls from the trimmings of pork tenderloin. After a week, I heated up the meat balls in some tomato sauce which I make from skinned Campari tomato. This reheating serves to make the meatballs last a little longer. But the time had come. We needed to use them up or we would be making an offering to the garbage-disposer god. This is a pizza similar to Margherita with the addition of the meat balls. After the pizza came out of the oven, I garnished it with a chiffonade of fresh basil leaves and grated parmesan cheese.

The picture below shows the pizza before baking. I brushed the dough with garlic oil (olive oil with crushed garlic). I then covered the dough with thin slices of fresh Mozzarella cheese, spread the tomato sauce on the cheese, placed on the sliced meat balls and basil leaves. I baked the pizza in a 480F oven on a preheated baking stone for 6 minutes.

The second pizza, shown below, is topped with shredded pork chops cooked in BBQ sauce my wife made several days ago. The cheeses are a mixture of Mozzarella, Double Gloucester and Monterey Jack.

The pizza is shown below before going into the oven.

This was evening so we had red wine with the pizza. We ate one quarter of each pizza and wrapped up the the rest to enjoy at other times. These leftover pizza heated up well in the toaster oven making a perfect snack in the evening with red wine. Because of the meat, the top was kind of heavy but it is quite satisfying and the crust was unbeatable.

Pizza two kinds ピザ２種類

Although I posted my pizza recipes before, since I am running out of new dishes I decide to post these two pizzas I made recently which were really enjoyable with a glass of red wine. The dough was hand stretched (not rolled) then transferred to a wooden pizza peel coated with cornmeal (for easy sliding off the paddle). Then bushed with garlic infused olive oil (crushed garlic plus oil).  The first one is Pizza Margherita. Instead of plain Mozzarella cheese I used smoked Mozzarella for this (more details of the recipe have been posted before).

As before I put slices of Mozzarella on the dough and then placed my marinara sauce on the slices of cheese. (the sauce was made from garlic, onion, skinned Campari tomato and several spices).  I put the sauce on the cheese instead of vice versa to prevent the moisture from the sauce making the dough/crust soggy, I put half of the torn basil on top before baking and added more after the pizza came out of the oven. I brushed the crust with the garlic infused oil on the outer edge and added grated Parmigiano Reggiano on the top.

The second pizza included ingredients my wife's suggested. The cheeses were Mozzarella (leftover from making the Margherita pizza), Double Gloucester and smoked Gouda, all finely diced and mixed.  I topped everything with oil cured black olives (stones removed) and pimento stuffed green olive (these olives were ear-marked for the Martinis I have on occasion...oh well).

I garnished the pizza with torn fresh basil and grated Parmesan.

The oven I use; (Miele) has an "intensive" mode which is set at 480F with intense heat from the bottom. I preheated the oven for 30 minutes with a pizza stone on the lower rack. I then slid the pizza onto the stone. It took less than 5 minutes for the pizza to cook. We ate one slice each from each of the two pizzas and then (we couldn't resist) shared one more slice. Luckily, our gluttony still left us with enough slices for leftovers. We wrapped the remaining pizza into 2 slice packets wrapped in plastic wrap and kept them in the refrigerator.  The slices heat up very nicely in the toaster oven (we use "toast" mode with the pizza slices on the aluminum foil). This is a great snack with a glass of red wine to look forward to after we come home from work.

Two Pizzas; Baby artichoke with goat cheese and Margherita ピザ２種類

I make a pizza every-now-and-then from scratch (dough and sauce). I do not go fancy in terms of the cheeses, dough, and tomato sauce and use a regular oven with a pizza stone (on "intense heat" setting at 470F). It takes only 5-6 minutes for the pizzas to bake. We really like it (so do our friends). For sure, they are much better than the ones from a chain pizzeria. Since I made baby artichokes braised in olive oil and lemon juice a few days prior, I made artichoke pizza with oil cured black olive and three cheeses (smoked mozzarella, double Gloucester, fresh-not aged-goat cheese).

I finished with grated parmigiano reggiano cheese.

The goat cheese and garlic infused olive oil (1-2 cloves of garlic, through a garlic press, mixed in 2-3 tbs of olive oil) which I paint the pizza dough before baking, really makes this pizza. It is a perfect match to my home-made baby artichoke hearts. I used home-made frozen pizza dough I made some time ago. Compared to freshly prepared dough, this pizza came out cracker-like consistency (rather than bread-y), almost like one I occasionally make with Italian "00" flour.

At the same time, I made a variation of pizza Margherita with smoked mozzarella and black olives. I put the cheese on first and then the sauce to prevent the dough from getting soggy.

I added fresh basil and graded parmesan after the pizza was out of the oven but did not take a picture. I made the tomato sauce from skinned Campari tomatoes, onion and garlic. Compared to using canned plum tomatoes, the sauce came out much less acidic.

We had this as a weekend lunch. We had to resist the lure of drinking red wine with this lunch. But the leftover (we each ate three 1/8 wedges each which leaves ten 1/8 slices) are great snacks for weekdays when we come home. It heats up nicely in the toaster oven and we can have a glass of red wine with it.

Pizza BBQed in Weber kettle ピッザバーベキュー

Although I generally don't do anything particularly extraordinary, it appears,  based on the reaction of my dinner guests, that my pizza is not bad, decent pizza. They appear to really like it and some have even been unabashed in trying to emulate what I do. (I suppose this is an ultimate flattery--which I fully support by coaching them in achieving good results). As I posted before, I use a hot oven with a pizza stone but for some time I’ve wanted to make pizza in the Weber kettle. I bought a pizza stone for the Weber more than 1 year ago but I did not have a chance to try it until this Memorial day. I decided to make a pizza Marguerite as shown below.  
Mine is very basic without any special ingredients. The amount here is more than enough to make two pizzas (about 8 inch in diameter). I first added light olive oil (4 tbs) in a pan on low flame. I then add chopped garlic (3 fat cloves, finely chopped) and let it fry slowly for several minutes or until fragrant but not browned. I added one can of whole Italian tomatoes with its juice (cut into small chunks, 15 oz). I seasoned it with dried oregano (1/2 tsp),  dried basil (1/2 tsp), black pepper, and salt. I simmered it  for about 1 hour with a lid off (left upper in the image below). I made a sauce dry without any extra moisture (right upper in the image below).

: There are quite a few different types of Pizza stones for grills being sold. What I got is semicircular shaped which fits into the 22.5 inch Weber Kettle perfectly and the bottom cutout precisely corresponds with the grill's hinged grate so that you could add coals and wood chips during the cooking. It came with instructions but I could not find them. So I used my common sense but obviously some more refinement is required to perfect pizza made on the Weber grill as you can see below. I prepared the lump hardwood charcoal using a Although I generally don’t do anything particularly extraordinary, it appears, based on the reactions of my dinner guest’s that my pizza is not bad chimney starter as usual. I spread the hot coals in the bottom of the grill, placed the grate and the pizza stone over them. I let the stone warm up with the lid on for 30 minutes. Just before putting on the pizza, I threw in apple wood chips soaked in water.

Dough: This is my usual pizza dough. I proof the yeast by dissolving yeast (1 package) in ⅕ cup lukewarm water with a pinch of sugar. After 5 minutes, the mixture got bubbly indicating good vigorous yeast. I added cold water to make it to 1 cup. In a food processor with a dough blade, I added bread flour (3 and ¼ cup) and salt (1/2 tbs). While on low speed, I drizzled olive oil (2 tbs) and then 1 cup of water and the yeast mixture. I watched until a dough ball formed on the blade and added a little more water (2-3 more tbs). I stopped the blade and touched the dough to make sure the dough was soft and slightly sticky. I let it sit for 5 minutes to distribute the water evenly. I turned on the food processor on low speed for 30 seconds or so. I dumped out the dough on a well floured board and kneaded for 5 minutes until the dough was nicely elastic and the surface was smooth. I sprayed the inside of a one-gallon size Ziploc bag with PAM and placed the dough inside and squeezed out the air as much as you could and sealed it shut. I let it raise for 1-2 hours on the counter top (the volume doubles). After deflating the dough, I divided it into 4 and made small balls. I let it rest for 5-10 minutes so that the dough will relax. I made it to a 8 inch round by stretching the dough (first the edge of the dough and then center which was repeated).

Cheese: For one pizza, I used fresh Mozzarella (high moisture content) and for another smoked one with low moisture content. Both are sliced but not shredded.

Assembly and baking for the first pizza: I first placed the stretched dough on wooden pizza peel which is covered with cornmeal. I brushed the dough with garlic infused olive oil (finely chopped garlic placed in olive oil. You should do this just before baking pizza. If you keep garlic under the oil too long, you may risk botulism). I first placed the slices of fresh Mazzerella cheese on top of the dough followed by my tomato sauce. I put the cheese next to the crust and the sauce on top of the cheese for several reasons. First it provides a barrier between the crust and the moisture of the sauce preventing the crust from becoming soggy. Second, if the cheese is put on top of the sauce the molten cheese sometimes slides off the pizza like a magma flow while you’re trying to eat the slice because the sauce underneath provides no traction for the weight of the cheese on top (common among chain-store pizzas). I slid the dough with the topping directly on the top of the stone (image above), closed the lid and baked it for 7-8 minutes.

Assembly and baking for the second pizza: For this one, I first baked the dough blank on the stone (This is what I do if I am not using the stone) for 3-4 minutes or until the bottom of the dough was firm and the surface started puffing up. I flipped it over and place the sliced smoked Mazzerella cheese and spread the tomato sauce on the top. I closed the lid and let it bake for another 5 minutes.

For both pizza, after baking, I grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on the top and garnished it with chiffonade of fresh basil (top picture).

Well, both were more than edible but not my best. The bottom got a bit high-done on the first one--it was quite crispy but basically carbonized. The second one was much better. I may have to do some rearranging to the charcoal next time; maybe using semi-indirect heat. Both pizzas, did not have the wood smoke flavor I was expecting. I may have to add more wood chips and few minutes before baking pizza especially since the pizza does not stay in the Weber for long. But with a good red wine, the pizza was great. After two pizzas, I also baked a blank dough brushed with olive oil and torn leaves of fresh rosemary from our herb garden with some kosher salt sprinkled on after baking. This makes a sort of thin crunchy foccasia bread. Of course, we did not finish the pizza especially since we also cooked teba gyoza and beef back rib. The leftover pizza re-heated well in the toaster oven on ensuing weekday evenings which was a wonderful appetiser to come home to after a hard day of work.

Pizza Margherita and Pizza with caramelized onion ピザ

When we had our wine party/tasting, I made pizzas as a starter. They were a big hit but were eaten so fast we did not have a chance to take pictures. So, next day, I made a half-and-half pizza Margherita (left) and pizza with caramelized onion (right) from the left over ingredients. I already posted my pizza dough recipe. (Please note this image was not doctored up by Gimp or Photoshop.)

Garlic infused olive oil: I just crush several cloves of garlic using a garlic press and add good extravirgin olive oil and mix. Use this to brush pizza dough and crust.

Tomato sauce: Tomato sauce was made similar to my Marinara sauce but I added a small amount of port wine (Cheap Ruby port from Taylor) and simmered it longer so that the moisture level was very low.

Cheese: I used fresh cow's milk mozzarella. I usually use smoked mozzarella for the caramelized onion pizza but I used up all the smoked cheese I had for the pizzas at the wine party. So, for this pizza I used regular mozzarella and small chunks of fresh goat cheese. I do not shred the mozzarella but slice it (the reason becomes clear in the assembly part below). It is easier to cut thin slices when the mozzarella is cold using a thin bladed knife. 

Caramelized onion: Simply saute halved and thinly sliced onion in olive oil. This requires some patience until the onion become wilted and dark brown (15 minutes or longer). When enough brown "fond" appears on the bottom of the saute pan, I deglaze it with small amount of water which helps to color and flavor the onion but you need to saute further to evaporate most of the liquid.

Pine nuts: We keep pine nuts in a freezer. Just dry roast them in a frying pan until slightly brown.

Assembly: I sprinkle corn meal on a pizza peel and place the stretched and formed pizza dough on the corn meal before starting the assembly. Give the peel a quick tug to make sure the dough moves freely before adding the topping.

Pizza Margherita: I brush the garlic infused olive oil on the prepared dough. I put the slices of mozzarella cheese on the pizza first and then place a small amount of the tomato sauce on top of the cheese slices. (Usually the sauce is put on first and then the cheese). While my method is the opposite of what is usually done, I think this makes a better pizza since the cheese protects the crust from the moisture of the sauce. The result is a crispier crust.

Caramelized onion: The same as above but I spread the caramelized onion over the slices of cheese and then dot it with small chunks of the fresh goat cheese and sprinkle the pine nuts.

Baking: I bake for 8-9 minutes directly on a hot pizza stone by sliding the assembled pizza off the pizza peel. I preheat the oven for at least 30 minutes to 450F before baking--with the pizza stone in.

Take the pizza out and brush the edge of the crust with olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese. For Margherita, I garnish with a chiffonade of fresh basil.

We had this with the leftover wine from the day before, The 2005 Clos Mogador (about half the bottle left). The wine was much better than the first time we tasted it. The funky nose was totally dissipated. This wine has a very nice complex taste and went particularly well with the caramelized onion.

Ricotta cheese tart リコッタチーズのタルト

I know I keep deviating from my theme. Some Izakayas serve non-transitional small dishes such as German potatoes (now this has become a classic Izakaya "teiban" dish), Poutine-like French fries and cheese dish, taco, and even variations of pizza. We saw pizza in the menu at one of the rather inexpensive chain Izakayas last time when we were in Japan. We refuse to order pizza at an Izakaya, though.  Although there are many "excellent" pizza places in our neck-of-the-woods, we are partial to my home-made pizza. (Certainly, my pizza is much better than any chain Pizzaria pizzas and we usually make pizzas without much sauce and without meat unlike American Pizzas which usually have too much cheese, too much meat and too much tomato sauce). I promise I will post some of my pizzas which are not bad at all for a home-made pizza (this is called "Jiman" 自慢 which literally means "boast" or "self-praise" but it is with some sense of "pride" such as in the name of sake "Isojiman" 磯自慢 which means both "Pride of shore" and "Beach boast".)

I was somehow coerced (which is not a right word but can't think of an alternative) into making this dish "Ricotta Cheese tart" using my pizza crust. We found this to be very good and can be reheated very nicely in a toaster oven. We recently served this as a starter with champagne when we had friends over and it went very well.

Pizza dough: There is nothing unusual about my pizza dough. For 4 pizzas (about 8 inch), I add bread flour* (3 1/2 cups) and salt (1 tsp) in a food processor with a dough blade. While the food processor in running at a low speed, I stream in olive oil (2 tbs) and stop after few seconds. I proof one package of active yeast in a small amount of tepid water (1/5 cup) with just a pinch of sugar dissolved. Once proofed, I add cold water to make it one cup. Stream the yeast mixture into the tube of the food processor with the blade running at a low speed until a ball is formed above the blade. You probably will need a few more tbs of water. Open the food processor and touch the dough. It should be rather soft and slightly tacky. I let the dough sit in the processor for 5 minutes so that the moisture will distribute more evenly and then, run the blade for 30 more seconds. The dough should be soft, elastic and somewhat tacky. Take it out on a floured kneading board and hand knead for 2-3 minutes until dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky. For raising the dough, instead of using a bowl, I use one gallon Ziploc bag which is sprayed with PAM or a similar non-stick spray and wrap it with towels in a warm non-drafty place (on the center island counter top in my case) for 2 hours or more until the volume doubles.

(*Sometimes, I use King Arthur brand double zero ("00") Italian flour. This flour has much less gluten and makes a delicate dough which can not be tossed into the air. The resulting crust is thin, crisp and cracker-like probably similar to this one.)

After the volume doubles, I deflate and fold the dough several times I then cut the dough into 4 equal portions and make them into 4 nice smooth disks by pinching the cut surface together and stretching the surface to make a round ball. I, then, press lightly to make a disk. The portions I'm do not going to use immediately, I put it into a Ziploc sandwich bag and place in the refrigerator (will last at least overnight or more, which even adds more favor but, after that, you need to freeze the dough. The dough freezes well but the characteristic of the resulting crusts change a bit--the previously frozen dough will yield less bready and crunchier pizza crusts). Let the dough ball rest for 10-15 minutes by covering with a floured tea towel (otherwise the dough will be too elastic and resist stretching).  I never use a rolling pin to form pizza dough but use the traditional way of stretching the dough using the back of the knuckle of the hands (I will even toss the dough into the air if our guests request it.) For a regular pizza, I do not crimp the edge but, for this tart, I did crimp the edge as seen below since the filling is rather runny. You need to have corn meal on the pizza peel before placing the formed dough on the peel. Then give the peel several sharp tugs to make sure the dough slides nicely before filling the dough.

Filling: I mixed Ricotta cheese (1 cup), large eggs (2), chive (fine chopped, 1/2 cup), shallot (one finely chopped), dill (1/2 tsp dried since I did not have fresh one), salt (1/2 tsp) and black pepper (1/4 tsp). This filling made two 8 inch tarts (see below).

Baking: I had my convection oven set at 450F with a Pizza stone* in and preheated for, at least,  30 minutes before sliding the filled tart directly onto the hot pizza stone. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the surface of the filling becomes slightly brown.

(* I have a square pizza stone almost the size of the inside of my oven. I keep it (almost) permanently in the lowest rack. It is essential to have a pizza stone to make a nice crust.)

I took it out on to the cooling rack and graded Riggiano-Parmigiano cheese. I cut the tart into 4 wedges and served. The filling is nicely eggybready crust, this is a very good dish. This can be breakfast as well.