Pizza (1-hour version)
This one-hour pizza inspired by Brian Lagerstrom allows for a classic work-from-home lunch to turn around super quick. I keep a batch of the sauce, grated mozzarella, and packaged pepperoni on hand to whip this up where needed. An immersion blender and a food processor will make this super easy.
Dough Ingredients (per pizza, scale up as needed):
105 ml beer
175 g plain flour
3 g salt
4 g sugar
3 g yeast
10 ml olive oil
Sauce Ingredients (makes about 4 pizzas):
400 g canned chopped tomatoes (this is the star of the show, so use the best you can find. Mutti San Marzano is my go-to)
50 g tomato paste
6 g salt
10 g sugar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
Toppings (whatever you want):
Shredded mozzarella
Pepperoni
Method:
Heat beer to about 35°C over a low heat.
Add the dough ingredients (not the beer) to a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.
Start the food processor going on "low" and stream the beer in. The dough should pull together almost immediately and ride around the side of the processor bowl.
After 15 seconds, stop the food processor.
Tip out the dough onto a floured surface, pull together into a ball.
Knead gently (back and forth motions) for about 2 mins.
Divide the dough equally (each pizza's doughball should be about 300 grams) and form into smooth balls.
Cover under a damp towel for 15 mins.
Meanwhile, make the sauce - ideally in a container you can store the leftovers in, spin all the ingredients together with an immersion blender. We don't need super smooth here, some texture is good.
Prepare a lightly oiled sheet of parchment paper, lay out a doughball, and put another sheet of oiled parchment paper on top of that.
Press down gently to encourage a circular shape.
Roll out the parchment/dough combo to roughly a 12" - 14" round circle. The thinner the better, as even as possible.
Allow to rise on the countertop for about 30 mins. Turn on the oven as high as it will go, ideally get a pizza stone or steel heating up, any steps you can take to ensure high, even heat will pay dividends.
After 30 mins, build a pizza:
Carefully remove the top parchment sheet.
Add roughly a tablespoon of the sauce to each quadrant of the dough, and use a spoon or measuring cup to spread it out evenly. It may not look like much, but you honestly don't need much to make an impact. Pizza with too-dense toppings will end up soggy, so be careful.
Cover the sauce with an even single layer of shredded cheese, add other toppings (like pepperoni) evenly over the top.
Bake for 7 minutes until heavily bubbling and edges are crisp and brown. If you're using pepperoni, edges should be crisp and curled.
Use a pizza cutter or mezzaluna to evenly slice, and serve hot.
