Letters from an Aspiring Sous #2

Sourdough focaccia sheet pan pizza

Pizza is partly to blame for my lack of culinary skills. Granted, we could probably delve further into my childhood to better understand the roots of this incompetence. Growing up, my nuclear family wasn’t exactly a collection of inspired palettes. As far as I can remember, each of our favorite foods was some form of takeout or frozen dinner — Costco potstickers, anyone? Regardless of how it began, pizza is a definitive part of this story, however. When I moved to NYC in 2008 after graduating from college, I quickly convinced myself that it was more economical to eat every meal out than bear the cost of wasted and wilted groceries. A predominant pillar of this theory and only half a block from my office on the corner of 25th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan was 2 Bros. Pizza, a NY-based chain of cheap pizza. So cheap in fact that a slice of cheese cost only $1. Unsurprisingly, I became a regular at 2 Bros. Pizza, eating there 2 to 3 times a week, learning to quietly loiter until a fresh pie was peeled from the oven and when to splurge on fresh looking pepperoni.

When Alex and I first started dating, San Francisco’s slightly more upscale chain of Del Finas was the backdrop for one of our first dates (where the pizza does not come by the slice and costs significantly more than $1). At dinner that night, I casually suggested the idea of Pizza Sundays, which is the moment Alex claims she knew that I “actually liked her.” Of the five other women you were dating, she still jokes, only then did I know that I was the one! (For what it’s worth, I have no idea where she gets that number in her retelling). Pizza Sunday would eventually become our relationship’s first tradition.

I, however, do not remember that night with the same prominence as Alex. It wasn’t until Alex cooked me pizza in a cast iron skillet over a campfire in Yosemite Valley that I knew she was the one. To this day, it’s one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had and camping under the granite monoliths and towering redwoods, I came to realize that I was smitten, and not only for campfire pizza.

As you might imagine, our kitchen has witnessed an arguably unhealthy amount of pizza this past year. So much so that pizza will undoubtedly make additional appearances in the weeks ahead. It’s also important to note at this juncture that very early in the pandemic Alex began experimenting with sourdough. If Pizza Sunday was our first tradition, sourdough starter has been our first baby (it needs to be fed, daily, regardless of how tired you are), of which she has admittedly born the brunt of responsibility. Obviously, to make pizza, you’re going to need dough. But if you don’t currently count sourdough starter among your merry troop of children, today is probably not the day to take on that additional burden. We’ve got enough to deal with as it is these days.

And so this recipe is a bit of a choose your own adventure in terms of arriving at a pizza-worthy dough. Three options, depending on your preparedness and willingness to knead dough:

1. For those that have also caught the sourdough bug, follow Maurizio Leo’s Simple Sourdough Focaccia that we’ve used below. If you’ve not yet found his blog, The Perfect Loaf, it’s where I did most of my Christmas shopping for Alex — you’re welcome.

2. For a non-sourdough adventure, follow Bon Appétit’s Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia

3. For the path of least resistance, go buy pre-made pizza dough from your local grocery store and consider focaccia for another day. This is not a cop-out; we’ve picked up dough at Whole Foods many times, and you’ll still eat delicious homemade pizza tonight.

In full transparency, I tried to capture the dough-making process while Alex was going through it this morning but honestly, it’s pretty involved and my notes were scattered and incomplete at best. If you can’t tell, sous has not been an active participant in dough-making to-date. I typically get called in when cheese needs grating. However you end up with your dough, no judgement. If you are buckling down and kneading that dough by hand, here are a few tips from Alex:

• Make the dough in advance (in the morning) so that it develops flavor. You can even make it the day before and stick it in the fridge.

• If you recently received a Kitchen Aid stand mixer on that registry for your postponed pandemic wedding, time to break it out of that box

• We keep the dough in an Instant Pot at a constant 75F (because our kitchen is so cold) so that the rising process doesn’t take all day

• Let it have its double rise: once after you first mix it to increase its size and then again after you shape it to maximize its airiness

• When you’re shaping the dough, a delicate touch helps to maintain all those delicious bubbles formed by mother nature

Regardless of where your dough came from, this is the part of the story where all of our pizza paths converge.

Sourdough (or not) focaccia (or not) sheet pan pizza

• Dough

• Grated mozzarella (1 cup)

• Pepperoni

• Olive oil

• Pizza sauce — we’re using Joe Beddia’s very simple red sauce as a guide (it has 4 ingredients). It takes 10 mins to prep and you can simmer it to thicken on the stovetop. The more time the flavors all hang out, the more tasty it becomes.

• Flaky sea salt

Apparently there’s really nothing to screw up in this first step because Alex just went for a hike in Palo Alto and left sous home to shape the dough alone — talk about a trust building opportunity. If you’re following one of the dough recipes above, we’re picking up at the proofing phase (or second rise). If you’re using pre-made dough, you’ll still shape your dough on the sheet pan in step 1 (allow it to come to room temperature first); however, no need to wait — you can jump straight to step 2 after the initial shape.

Step 1. We’re going to shape our dough on a standard 1/2 sheet pan. Pour a generous amount of olive oil on a parchment paper-covered sheet pan and place your dough on center (if you’re looking to upgrade your parchment paper game, we use Silpat’s non-stick baking mats for basically everything).

Reach underneath the dough (without using your thumbs) and gently pull it apart. After gently stretching the dough to cover ~1/2 of the pan, cover with a kitchen towel and place in the oven with the light on and door ajar for 30 minutes (to give it a warm home). Repeat the shaping process to cover remaining sheet pan and place back in the oven for 2-3 hours, until the dough looks like a pillow! If you were to press on it with a finger, it should leave an indentation.

Step 2. Preheat the oven to 450F. Time to top your dough. The key to this whole shebang is to go easy on the sauce, cheese, and toppings. Use less of all three than you think you should, allowing your dough to rise. You can really go wild with the topping selection, just be easy with it. Repeat after me: less is more, less is more. Lastly, salt the crust with some of that fancy sea salt.

Step 3. Bake for 25-30 minutes, checking regularly after 20 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when you see zebra spots on the cheese, a golden brown crust, and can lift the corner of the pizza without it folding like a soft taco.

Step 4. Cut it up with a pair of scissors, red chili flakes to taste, and dig in. Eating it should produce feelings of joy verging on pre-pandemic euphoria. Well, we can hope!

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Heard in the background

A live recording (because… tear, live music) of Hiss Golden Messenger.

Felt the following morning

We are feeling quite lazy tonight and canned cocktails seem to be making a bit of a comeback so we cracked open a couple of Classic Margaritas from 10 Barrel Brewing Company out of Bend, OR. Unless you really love a hangover, stick to the homemade margs.