Crack family pizza party for the Carolina slaughter this evening.

Not really, the dough is pretty basic. If you're making from scratch and using yeast and all, just make sure you knead it long enough that it gets nice and smooth and make sure you let it rise long enough.

But, it is really important to cook it in an extremely hot oven. Crank your oven as high as you can and let it heat up for like a half hour before you put the pizza in. If you don't cook it super hot, you won't get a crisp crust.

Add some nice spice to it, like garlic salt, or parmesian cheese over the crust. Or even better, butter it or even BETTER, do all 3 to the crust!

Apparently, because the pizza crust in Chicago is absolute shit.

We're actually grilling the pizza so the crust being crispy is a certainty.

crazy southerners

I contain multitudes.

1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 2/3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole-wheat or rye flour
1 tablespoon coarse salt or 2 teaspoons fine salt

RECIPE METHOD

Proof the yeast for 5 to 10 minutes in 1 cup of warm water and a pinch of sugar, until the yeast dissolves and the liquid begins to appear creamy.

Add the remaining water and 1 1/2 to 2 cups flour, including the whole-wheat or rye flour. Beat this well (a hundred strokes) until it’s soupy, and then let it stand for 10 to 15 minutes, until it’s bubbly and swollen. Add the salt and olive oil and proceed to stir in the rest of the flour by the cupful until the dough is stiff but still slightly sticky.

When the dough begins to form a cohesive mass that’s thick enough to hold its shape, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and let it rest. Meanwhile, clean and oil the bowl. Knead the dough, turning it clockwise by quarter turns and sprinkling a little flour on top and on the surface underneath before folding it over. Add just enough flour so the dough doesn’t stick and tear. (A dough scraper is invaluable for lifting the mass of dough cleanly from the counter.) Kneading takes about 5 to 8 minutes. When the dough is smooth, springy, and pliant -- earlobe-soft -- return it to the oiled bowl, cover it with a damp cloth, and let it rise until doubled. This generally takes between 35 and 45 minutes at 70 to 75 degrees.

After the first rise, you can form the crust, assemble the pizza and bake it immediately or punch the dough down and let it rise again before baking. This doesn’t substantially change the resulting crust, but it gives you more time if you need it before baking the pizza. Or, you can refrigerate the dough for several hours or up to two days. In this case, give it a final punch down after it has chilled for about 40 minutes and put it in a plastic bag.

By letting the dough mature in the refrigerator, the gluten ripens and relaxes and the dough becomes less sticky, and will stretch farther when working with it. With this refrigerated dough, you can obtain a thin, crisp crust, or a thick, chewy crust, depending on how thin you roll or stretch the dough when forming it, and on whether or not you allow it to warm up and rise before baking it. A thick crust made from chilled dough is likely to have larger air bubbles and be less delicate and more chewy--rather like the difference between regular and sourdough breads.

For a light, risen crust, use a freshly made dough, although you can use a chilled dough. For the highest, puffiest results, add 2 teaspoons more yeast to the recipe and use the dough within three hours of making it. For a finer-textured crust, simply roll it out thinner and let it rise to the same height. Let the dough rise until it’s puffy, and fingerprints disappear when dough is pressed. This takes about 10 minutes with freshly made, room-temperature dough, or about 15 minutes with chilled dough.

A thick, chewy crust can be made either with fresh or chilled dough. Stretch or press the dough to about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick and let it rise just slightly. Whether you’ll end up with a thick and chewy crust or a light and risen one depends on how thick you roll it out and how high you let it rise.
For a thin, crisp crust, use dough straight out of the refrigerator. Roll it out as thin as you want it -- usually about 1/4 inch -- and get it into the oven within minutes, before it has a chance to rise.

If you have a pizza stone, you can put it on the grill, but save the cheese for the last 8-10 minutes of grilling. Direct flame, nice and hot, crust, sauce and toppings. Grill for a good 15-20, then cheese...

listen to phil

There should be a law against making pizza south of New York..

Yeah, except imagine Nigella Lawson caressing and smacking the dough.

Why the hell don't you have a restaurant somewhere?


Oh, and dear Bill,
Try some Lou Malnatti's butter-crust pizza.

Actually, I'm going to disagree with Phil. Use Bread Flour and if you can, use bread machine bread flour. Use that instead cause it has a higher gluten content, which is the most important factor in a good crust for pizza or a french baggette.

I've had Lou Malnatti's, from two different locations. No one makes a decent crust in Chicago...no one.

the french culinary institute disagrees. all baked good prepared with all purpose flour.

I used whole wheat and some barley flour. And sometimes an egg. Worked out well but I need to learn that tossing motion.

i like pizza.

Paging M.T. Mongoose...

the french are assholes.

From some random completely unreliable website to back my assertion

weed

this is the correct answer.

pepe's vs. sally's

I do not like 'New Haven' pizza- 'apizza' is different from the pizza that I grew up on in NYC. Also, pizza is not something you wait in line for 45 minutes to 1 hour for- it is something you get on a paper plate which become relatively translucent from grease after you are done with your slice;)

(I'm about 15-20 minutes away from Pepe's right now)

I went to pepe's last time I was in rhode island. Good stuff but you have to eat a ton of it.