Just one “recipe”: Weeknight bouncy sheet pan pizza 🍕
Is this a focaccia?
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we ask questions of pizza. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Frequently Asked Questions
I thought this newsletter was called Five Things I Ate. How come there is only one food in this email?
I ate five slices of this pizza this week and I thought I should write about it.
Is this recipe even pizza?
Honestly, it might not be pizza.
How can you not know if something is pizza?
On the one hand, I am in fact a Jersey girl who grew up biking to the local pizza shop on Fridays and then lived in NYC for a grand total of seven years who has a strong opinion on what good pizza should taste like.
On the other hand, I eat pizza approximately once a year for several weeks in a row and then promptly forget about pizza’s existence because ignorance is bliss.
Can I really be trusted? That’s up for you to decide.
How can you forget that pizza exists? You live in New York.
This is true.
Is this even a recipe?
Is it a set of sequential instructions on how to create something? Yes. Have those instructions been thoroughly tested or carefully recorded? No.
Weeknight bouncy sheet pan pizza (with roasted onions and zucchini)
Adapted from the Inside of My Chaotic Brain and Various Google Searches
Makes: One quarter-sheet pan size pizza, which I sliced into 9 squares.
Listen up. I am not sure if this is pizza. It might be a focaccia. I am great at precise measurements, but horrible at timing.
All I know is that I set out on a very ordinary weeknight throwing some yeast and flour and oil and salt and honey into a mixing bowl. Then I roasted some vegetables, added some mozzarella, cranked the oven to high and found myself with the most delicious, crunchy-soft, salty, cheesy thing that had ever emerged from my tiny oven.
Baked in a greased quarter sheet pan, it comes out with deeply browned, crispy edges. The honey-yeasted dough has a super fluffy, moist crumb and a dimpled top.
Here’s approximately how to do it:
Chapter 1: The dough rises
In a mixing bowl, combine:
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
1 tbs (9 grams) dry yeast
1 tbs (21 grams) honey
1 tsp salt (6 grams, I used Kosher salt, which has a greater volume)
And let it sit until foamy. Then, stir in with chopsticks (or a mixer if you’re fancy):
Approximately 2.5 cups all purpose flour (300 grams, according to King Arthur Flour)
That’s it. Cover it and let it sit while you make the toppings. If your kitchen is warm and your yeast is fresh the honey-rich dough will rise like crazy. Occasionally I punched it down, just to let it know who’s boss.
Chapter 2: Choose your own (topping) adventure
You can go as plain as jarred marinara sauce, slices of fresh mozzarella, and basil leaves or as complex as you would like. As for me, I roasted:
1 sweet onion, cut in half lengthwise and then into thin slices
2 zucchini, cut into thin coins
On a sheet pan, drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes at 400F until things were nice and browned. (The onions turned out deliciously jammy and sweet, and I would totally make another pizza with just onion, sauce, and mozzarella on it.)
Chapter 3: Turn up the heat
Crank up the oven to 450F. My oven is tiny and runs hot so I don’t really dare to go any further than that lest I upset her; but you could even do 500F.
Drizzle a quarter sheet pan with olive oil.
Punch down the dough one final time. Drizzle it with olive oil and gently scoop it out (it should be a very sticky, hole-y mass). Carefully press it into the sheet pan, stretching and smooshing, making sure it touches all the corners. Dimple it all over.
Spread the dough with about:
1 cup of jarred or homemade marinara sauce (I like this brand because it’s cheap and the jars are nice to reuse)
And then scatter with:
About 8oz of fresh mozzarella, sliced (but I really just made up that number right now because I don’t measure cheese)
Your roasted vegetables
Aleppo chili pepper
Crushed garlic
Etc.
And bake until very browned on the edges and not raw on the inside, which is god knows how long, but start at 8 minutes and then keep checking.
Cool, slightly, and cut into 9 squares.
Store leftovers (if there are any) in a salad container, to be chaotic.
Have a good weekend,
Soph
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