Sicilian with Pepperoni and "Less Sauce"

[Suburban Plowboy]

Here's something fun.

I make my own pizza, because pizza is THE best food, but since my son was born a while back, I have only made two Sicilians. Yesterday, I had to have one, and you see it below.

My thin NYC pizza is okay, but my Sicilian is the best pizza I have ever had anywhere. New York included. There is no close second.

I make a base recipe, and I also scale it for 3/4- and 1/2-height versions. The one below is 3/4. I make them in a 9x13 pan. Aluminum sheet pans with seasoning backed on work great, but lately I have been using a nonstick steel pan with higher sides to keep things from dribbling over the edge.

I had to spend a lot on this one because I was out of Grande cheese, which is not available near me. I used a combination of Boar's Head mozzarella and Publix sliced provolone. It works very well. Grocery inflation has made Hormel bagged pepperoni more expensive than Boar's Head deli pepperoni, which is better, so I went with Boar's head. I guess I have $12 in this pie.

I make the sauce with Stanislaus Saporito.

I used to leave a 1/2" bare rim, but now I put cheese all the way to the edge so some of it burns.

I ate 5 slices. I could not stop. My wife tried it and got mad at me, saying I had to quit changing the recipe. She said this pie was really excellent, and I should leave it alone. Um...it's the same recipe I always use, except I reduced the salt slightly to see if it rose higher. She said she liked it because I used less sauce. Well, I've been using 8 measured ounces since about 2010. Sure, dear, I'll keep using "less sauce." Anything for you.

Baked at 500 for around 12 minutes. I put the pan on a hot pizza steel, and when the timer went off, I took the pie out and set it on nonstick foil on the steel to make sure the bottom was crunchy. You can do it other ways, though. I used the foil because cheese and oil make a real mess when they hit a hot pizza steel, and they set off the smoke alarm.

 

[Torvy]

Looks good. I usually use fresh mozzarella. I have preferences, but enjoy most styles of pizza. Toppings tend to depend on what I have in the pantry.

 

[grsthegreat]

For me, its McKinsey River Pizza good old boy (thin crust, double pepperoni, double sliced sausage with extra cheese… best pizza ive ever had. But yours looks yummy. Mail me a piece so i can check it out.

 

[etpm]

A while back my wife convinced me to buy a Ninja brand Woodfire oven. I found a new one in an unopened box on ebay at ca substantial discount. We love it. I make thin crust pizzas. I use Bobby Flay's pizza dough recipe. I use bread flour. After the dough has risen I punch it down and then divide the dough into 4 ounce balls. I roll the balls into 9 inch diameter crusts. I have pretty much quit using sauce. I just brush the crust with olive oil, then mozzarella, then some parmesan, then the toppings. I use cooked chicken, bacon, various dry sausages, home made sweet and hot Italian sausages, tomatoes, onions, etc. We make the best pizzas we have ever had. And it's easy.
Eric

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Not gonna lie, that looks like a pretty darn good pizza!! Sounds like you have it down to a science as well. Thanks for giving us the "secret recipe", I might have to give this one a try one of these days. I have always wanted to make excellent pizza, but mine is always mediocre. I have never really out in the work though, im convinced it takes practice. I would like one of those pellet pizza ovens.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I didn't give much in the way of details.

To like this pizza, you have to like thick pizza which is basically fried on the bottom.

 

[JJT]

That's a good looking pizza!

Friday night is pizza night for us. Home made dough using pizza yeast and home made red sauce, due to my sodium restriction.

Mine's veggie - fresh mozzarella, onions, mushrooms and olives. My wife likes hers with olives and turkey pepperoni. Sometimes it's thin crust, sometimes it's thicker, (don't give the dough a chance to rise for a thin crust). In the oven for 17 - 18 minutes at 400 degrees or 60 - 90 seconds in a wood fired pizza oven.

I learned this rule from an Italian chef many years ago - "all veggies go under the cheese, all meat goes on top of the cheese". That seems to work for us.

 

[dstig1]

That looks great! I'll be right over

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I was going to finish it, but my wife got it.

 

[masseyrider]

I like mine with a thick crust so when I get the dough in the pan I partially prebake it before dressing it.
I like a mix of cheese, jalapeno jack, Balderson extra old cheddar, parmesan and Mozzarella.
My own roasted peppers, local double smoked kielbasa, sauteed mushrooms, hot pepper rings, crumbled fried bacon, onions, sometimes asparagus.
If I make a white sauce it has to have blue cheese. My tomato sauce has whole peeled tomatoes, garlic, onion, salt pepper, a little Sriracha chili garlic sauce. Put it in a blender until liquid and then heat it until it reduces.
Nothing is written in stone and the pizza is always evolving depending on what's on hand.
I just love the crispy cheese around the edges.