Crisis: My Oven Won’t Heat Up

It was a quiet Sunday night, and I was doing what I often do at the end of the week—heating up a store-bought croissant in my oven.  If I can get it hot enough, I’ve found that an American croissant tastes remotely like a croissant straight from a Paris bakery.

A few hours earlier I had made a pizza from scratch.  I’m not saying it tasted like a pizza I once had in Sorrento, Italy, but it was close.  My oven and I understood each other, or so I thought.  However, after heating my croissant for 10 minutes, I discovered it was still cold.

Long story short, the oven repairman arrived two days later, diagnosed the problem (something wrong with the control panel), ordered the part and is coming back on Saturday to fix it—just in time for my regular Saturday night pizza. 

With a working oven, pizza really is easy to make.  I have written about this before, but I can never say enough about homemade pizza.  So here is my latest version.  Hope you like it.

          Basic Pizza – makes 1 10-to-12-inch pizza (enough for 2 people) 

Dough: 

1 teaspoon active dry yeast    

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar 

1/2 cup water (or more if needed) 

1 1/2 cups flour (or more if needed) 

1 tablespoon olive oil + more to grease the bowl 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

Toppings: 

1/2 jar pizza sauce  

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 

1 small onion, thinly sliced (optional) 

4 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced (optional)

4 medium mushrooms, thinly sliced (optional) 

Pepperoni slices (optional) 

Other toppings you prefer 

Prepare the Dough: 

Using a food processor or an electric mixer with a dough hook: 

Add the yeast and sugar to the bowl.  Then add 1/4 cup water and stir to dissolve.  Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes.  

Add the flour, olive oil, salt and rest of the water and process or beat on slow speed to incorporate.  Add more flour as necessary, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough stops being sticky and becomes smooth and satiny.  If the dough is too dry, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and process or beat until it becomes smooth and satiny.  In a food processor, this takes about 1 minute; in a mixer 5 to 6 minutes.  

Mixing by hand: 

Pour the water into a large bowl.  Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into the water and stir to dissolve.  Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, olive oil and salt and mix with a wooden spoon.  

Sprinkle 1/4 cup flour onto a dry, clean work surface and carefully transfer the dough onto the flour.  Knead the dough by folding it over and over on itself while pushing it with your hands, for 8 to 10 minutes.  Gradually add more flour as necessary, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is smooth and satiny.  

Pour 1 teaspoon olive oil into a large bowl and spread around with a paper towel.  Be sure to grease the sides as well as the bottom.  Place the kneaded dough in the bowl and turn it over so that the top is greased.  Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel, set aside on a counter and let rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.  If you’re in a hurry, turn your oven on to 350 degrees for 1 minute and immediately turn it off.  Put the bowl with the dough in it in the oven and let it rise for about 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, prepare the toppings. 

If the dough is rising in the oven, remove it about 20 minutes before you are ready to make the pizza.  Set on the counter.  Put a pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven and begin heating the oven to 500 degrees (or high).  If you don’t have a pizza stone, bake the pizza on a heavy-duty baking sheet. 

Sprinkle a pizza paddle or the back of a baking sheet with cornmeal or flour to prevent the pizza dough from sticking. 

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on the paddle or baking sheet.  Push and pull it into a rough circle about 10-to-12 inches in diameter.  Flatten as much as possible and pinch together any holes. 

Spread the pizza sauce over the pizza and sprinkle on the grated mozzarella cheese.  Add your toppings.  Slide the pizza off the paddle onto the pizza stone and bake for 8 or 9 minutes.  The pizza crust should be browning and the pizza itself firm enough to slide off the stone onto a serving platter.  If you don’t have a pizza stone, use the baking sheet itself to bake the pizza. Cut and serve immediately. 

NOTE: Pizza stones are available from $10-$35.

          For more recipes, order "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"