How Joshua Weissman Makes His Perfect Pizza: Every Choice, Every Step | Epicurious

when it comes to making an at home pizza you got to make a lot of decisions you have to pick dough Sauce Cheese toppings garnish and how all of that's going to come together some ingredients will lead you to ruin While others will lead you to the perfect Pizza I'm Joshua Weisman and this is every decision I'd make to make the perfect atome Pizza let's talk about dough a great pizza dough is chewy it has a nice salt level it's nicely colored and it's bubbly we have a lot of do's here let's see we have a cauliflower smells like a Saltine cracker there's no salt it's not chewy and there's no flavor in it whatsoever all right next up we have Bob's Redmill look I love Bob he's a good guy another gluten-free pizza crust it Tears like a shortbread almost there's just not enough salt in this there's not much flavor to it there's zero chew there's almost like a gummy slimy quality to it and it's obviously from the gluten-free FL flowers look not everybody can eat gluten and I respect that and I understand it but just not the same Trader Joe's got to respect it this looks kind of like pea it even has a pocket hello this is a big step in the right direction still a little dry but not as dry this is closer to paa than it is a pizza dough a pizza do to me has like almost a salty creamy quality while you're chewing it that this just doesn't have Market Pantry I've never in my life ever eaten one of these and boy am I not excited holy fudge yeah yeah we could stop there it's a tortilla Vibe the worst tasting dough I've ever put in my mouth it's got like a vinegary quality to it super dry zero salt it has so many additives that are made to stabilize this thing and keep it good for years I'm sure that this is great in a nuclear fallout but not right now now moving on to Pillsbury Doughboy uh childhood nostalgia if you know you know it smells like Pillsbury Doughboy crust oh okay it tastes exactly like their biscuits oh it's burning my mouth a little bit is that normal you can literally taste the leavers in it there's about five different kinds of oils and fats in here you don't even need fat or oil in a pizza dough frankly you don't want to take away from the nice flavor a good toasted bread frozen pizza dough the frozen pizza dough I don't know what brand this is is the the closest in taste to what I want again it's missing a little bit of the salt that I want but that's an execution thing they could just add more salt to the dough and it would it would be where I want it that being said it's too dense these are all pre-made if I were to pick one it would be a resounding win for the frozen dough now this this is a homemade dough the salt I wanted even in comparison to the frozen dough the homemade dough wins by a landslide it's just like a much more diverse experience the outside is super Lacy thin crispy but the inside is chewy it's got a nice pull and a stretch when you bite it let me show you how to make it flour salt water and yeast that's it so that means that every ingredient counts get the best double zero type flour you can get and ideally the highest quality water Evon tends to work really well especially with a sour dough High mineral content right yeast whis that in until it's dissolved double zero type flour fine sea salt we're going to pour all of our yeast water into there and stir all right so now you can see the flour is starting to hydrate it's turning into more of a dough slap fold just until it starts to soften up a bit and then we're going to let it rest covered for 15 minutes all right we're rested softened up a you hear that and we're going to do more slapping and folding we're going to grease our Bowl lightly with olive oil this is just to keep it from sticking get it coated in the oil now we're going to wrap it in plastic wrap cuz it's going to take a little nap in the fridge overnight for 12 to 14 hours crucial for flavor and texture okay it's been overnight get it loosened and and you have a dough this is going to get divided into five pieces which should be around 250 g each for one corner the other corner and again corner corner we're going to fold over and we're going to lightly do the exact same thing that we did earlier and eventually it looks like this so we're going to cover these and let them proof for 3 to 4 hours our dough is done wow it's glossy it's beautiful it's smooth it's perfect this is the perfect dough to make a pizza next let's talk toppings what makes a good pizza topping for one it should not overpower the pizza for two it should add good flavor for three it should add good texture and four you know not optional it should be fun look I know it's a big debate but I'm a big fan of pineapple on Pizza salty sweet the acidity helps cut the richness it's good now this isn't going on my perfect pizza because my perfect Pizza is very classical and highly simple black olives I hate black olives on a pizza this it's more of like a watery salty Briny taste and doesn't really contribute much an chovies these make a great sauce they're salty they're Briny they're zami I would never put it on this pizza because well a lot of people don't like anchovies I want to make a pizza that everybody could enjoy next I'm guessing this is Italian sausage it's a little too rich it's very fatty it makes the pizza a little too oily for my taste now spinach okay we're making a pizza not a garden salad typically you would see this on a white pizza and that's not what my perfect Pizza is now mushrooms I don't really love them on a pizza but mushrooms are a little too boring I think the texture would pull away from what makes my perfect pizza now the perfect topping for a perfect Pizza would be pepperoni we have a natural properly aged pepperoni and we have pre-sliced from the store you tell me what you want this tastes like well Mass manufactured vinegary meat but this has like so many other things it's funky it's almost borderline cheesy it's just more flavorful the properly aged pepperoni is what I would choose I cut these slightly thicker because when this bakes it's going to curl up into a nice cup and hold pepperoni fat in it oh no there's like a poorly sliced one I have to eat I'm going to set this other half aside this should be enough pepperoni for one pizza my choice is hand sliced proper pepperoni now let's talk sauce a good pizza sauce needs to be flavorful not too watery and have a good color so this is Rayos or Rouse sauce they have a pizza and a marinara I'm going to be honest I feel like this is probably the same but we're going to find out I mean there's a pretty clear difference the pizza sauce not a fan it's got too much of a Chuck-E-Cheese Vibe dried oregano it feels like a fake pizza sauce when you do that it's also a lot sweeter and less salty I don't think this is going to contribute the right flavor we want for this pizza this on the other hand it's saltier it's got a little bit of acidity and it's more plain in its flavor but in a good way lets the Tomato shine I don't mind it but we need more tomato Flavor now since we're on tomato sauce let's talk prgo hate smells like a foot way too sweet you can barely taste the Tomato the ketchup of pizza sauce we got another Rayos I'm a fan of the brand I've never had their Alfredo though that's awful this tastes nothing of cheese even if it was good a white pizza sauce does not belong on my perfect Pizza all right pesto pesto tastes good but you know I do feel like a pesto pizza for some reason is a specialty Pizza it's not an OG Pizza not everybody's going to be in the mood for this but the one I'm making everyone will be if you don't have time to make your own sauce I would go with this but for my perfect Pizza we're going to make the sauce from scratch we have a little bit of our pepperoni that's been diced that's going to go in the pan you can see already immediately the red streaks and that's what I want sliced garlic and a little bit red freso chili for a little bit of spice and a little bit of pepper itus now we add our crushed San Marzano Italian Tomatoes a little bit of salt to taste tiny Pinch of Sugar just to curb the acidity and we're going to simmer this and cook it down until lightly thickened about 3 to 5 minutes okay so this is reduced down now we're going to add a touch of extra virgin olive oil and now the sauce is ready really fresh high quality straight tomato flavor but it's cooked it's not raw tomato it's everything that I want for my perfect pizza now for my favorite part cheese when it comes to cheese there's really three things cheese pole texture and of course flavor okay so let's first talk mozzarella we have three variations of our mozzarella first barata okay it's very soft you cut into it it's creamy it's smooth it's very rather liquidy and while it's nice it's going to take away too much from this pizza I don't want this on my pizza this is a special T Pizza item next we have our fresh mozzarella now while it's nice it's a little bit softer you can see that it kind of Tears a little bit if you were to ring this out there would be literal liquid dripping from it which is cool but it doesn't quite lend itself to as too tooth some of a cheese as I want I don't think that it's going to work on this pizza in particular and finally we have our low moisture mozzarella it's the exact same concept as this but the difference is it's extremely dense it's got a nice toothsomes and it's going to be able to retain its strength once it's been baked at the highest possible temperature in your oven it'll still have that texture we want cheddar I'm not sure I've ever seen a scenario where cheddar did a good thing for a pizza we already have a flavor in our mind of what a pizza should be and the sharpness of a cheddar just doesn't makes sense provolone is a sandwich cheese a sandwich inspired Pizza is a specialty pizza this is a classical pizza now on to ricotta I think Ricotta's fun on a pizza but honestly I don't really like ricotta on a pizza it just kind of adds a little bit of texture but it's too quiet it's not rich enough it's not fun enough Monteray Jack now this feels like it might be a provolone scenario it almost borderline is but it makes the most incredible cheese pulls I mean it looks beautiful and also just watching it pull away as you're eating your pizza it's an experience now parmesano regano this is the most flavorful thing on this entire board by 100x so perfect for this pizza montering Jack for the perfect cheese pole low moisture mozzarella for the perfect texture and parmesano Rano for maximize flavor these three will work together to create the perfect pizza cheese and now garnishes a great garnish doesn't need to be cooked it doesn't overpower the other ingredients and of course it adds flavorful in in first let's talk about arugula I think most people would add this for some sort of a spicy note and if you want to add something spicy maybe like pick an actual spicy ingredient like a pepper now let's talk about Ranch you know if I was 13 years old this would be good well I think a homemade ranch could be good on a pizza on a perfect Pizza no it does not add it overpowers let's talk hot sauce this is not just spicy it's also acidic and I don't want any more acidity on this pizza it's level and it's already balanced craft grated Parmesan cheese this is like mostly potato starch or like wood chips or something I would never use this at all balsamic glaze it's so overpowering all you're going to taste is balsamic glaze and that ruins all of our hard work now a lot of pizza places are going to give you dry oregano and crust red pepper flakes the only way you're going to get the true flavor of these is if you somehow manage to actually chew on them in your mouth which is pretty unlikely with all the other stuff that's going on in there it's a distraction chives big fan of fresh chives on a pizza it adds a light flavor and it lifts the flavor somehow it brings all the flavors together I like this one basil yes it's herbaceous yes it's fresh but somehow it is arguably one of the most iconic ingredients in Pizza known to man I love it in a pizza last hot honey I love hot honey on a pizza it's not going to overpower the flavor it's going to come together to create a harmonious flavor that's a little bit spicy a little bit sweet but it's not taking away from what we worked hard on I'm going to say yes to this my final choices are hot honey fresh basil and fresh sliced chiv finally we're going to put it all together we're building this on a pizza peel I have a mix of allpurpose flour and cornmeal to help this slide around on the pan there's a lot of ways to shape a pizza I think the easiest way is to work it around your knuckles let gravity kind of do the work for the first bit and then stretch and turn stretch and turn that's what they do at dominoes SAU goes in the center not too much use the back end of your spoon now little bit of arm montere Jack mozzarella in equal portions and then just a little bit of parmesano for the flavor that's going to go all over and finally pepperoni and our pizza is ready for the oven our pizza stone has been preheating with the oven at its maximum temperature you need this hot in a pizza oven you're normally cooking it at like 700° your at home oven's not going to do that so get as close as you can let it preheat for an hour and then this goes in our pizza is done before we eat this we garnish it right basil leaves our chives our hot honey and now we taste this is everything I want in a pizza the dough is salty it's chewy I immediately get a crisp bottom but a nice soft cushy top the sauce doesn't overpower it but I immediately get that nice vibrant tomato flavor the fragrance from the herbs on top a little bit of spiciness in the sauce and spiciness in the pepperoni balance this pizza out a nice hot honey these are all the elements that make my perfect pizza but everybody's going to have their own opinion that's fine but I would really advise that you give this one a shot

Channel: Epicurious

Views: 772,621

Keywords: best pizza, best pizza recipe, best pizza recipes, chef hacks, cooking, cooking hack, cooking hacks, cooking trick, cooking tricks, epi, epicurious, every decision, food hack, food hacks, food tricks, homemade pizza dough, joshua weissman, joshua weissman epicurious, joshua weissman food, joshua weissman guide, joshua weissman pizza, joshua weissman recipe, make pizza dough, perfect homemade pizza, pizza dough recipe, pizza sauce choice, pizza toppings

Id: VqMCH7GosTY

Length: 13min 40sec (820 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 12 2023