Airgasm said:
That will flow solder!
You make a good point, commercial pizza ovens, and wood fired pizza ovens make a big diffrence.
The crust I had in Sicily is my ultimate. Chewy, crisp, light, flavorful, but not overbearing. A restaurant owner liked practicing her English with Americans, so she yapped our heads off. She said you must use Durham Semolina and good olive oil.
Sicilians use olive oil like we use salt - on everything. The wine rule applies to olive oil. If you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it. If you don't like your olive oil enough to eat with bread, buy something better and cook with that.
Our general purpose flour here is lower gluten. Get bread flour - it has a higher gluten content. Let it rise at least once, preferably twice. Use about 1 tsp. sugar/ 2 cups flour to feed the yeast.
The heat of the oven makes a big difference, but without a pizza oven it is hard to duplicate. Most home ovens do not heat evenly enough to use their top settings. Brick ovens maintain a constant temperature because the thermal mass of the pizza has little effect on the temperature of the oven. Electric ovens are either on or off, and the temperature can vary by at least 100 degrees during the cooking cycle. I've found that 450 degrees is best for a home oven. The lower heat results in a longer cooking time, but less burnage.
The recipe:
1 cup warm water 110 - 120 degrees
Mix in one packet of yeast (or about 3 tsp. More doesn't hurt, but don't go with less.)
Mix in 1 heaping tsp. sugar.
I use a kitchenaid with a doughook an low. Add 3 cups flour and start it up. Add 2 Tbsp virgin olive oil (if you don't use virgin, don't bother.)
Add 1 tsp. salt. Don't skip the salt, it is actually necessary for the chemical reaction.
I let it knead on low for 5 minutes. If it sticks to the side, add a little flour until it starts forming into a ball. Let rise for 30 minutes. Turn the mixer back on to low to knead for five miutes and look for sticking. If it sticks, add 1 Tbsp. flour and wait a minute until it forms a good ball.
If you have time, let it rise one more time, but you can make it now if you want.
If you want to be authentic, make a Pizza Margherita: tomato sauce, mozzarella, fresh basil, and fresh tomato slices with good olive oil drizzled over it. Awesome!
Or you could get even more authentic and add eggs, peas, and fungi.