Party-Pan Pizza

Party-Pan Pizza
Four to six servings


Dough adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters


This kind of pizza is perfect to make for folks that shy away from pizza, thinking that it’s fussy or the dough is hard to deal with. In fact, nothing could be easier and it really just takes about five to ten minutes of work. And you don’t have to worry about shaping it in perfect rounds.
One of the secrets of working with yeasted dough is that soon after you start rolling and pulling it, it’ll become more resistant and “fight” back a bit. Instead of struggling with it, let it sit for five minutes to relax, then go back and work with it. You’ll find it a lot easier to handle. If you want to make more traditional pizzas with this dough, just divide it in two.
For the pizza shown, I used 2 pounds (1kg) tomatoes, oven-roasted, 2 sautéed onions, 6 slices of country-style ham (jambon de Bayonne), a few slices of chorizo, 1/2 cup pesto, 6 ounces (180g) grated Comté cheese, and 8 ounces (240g) fresh mozzarella.


Garlic Oil
1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced


Pizza Dough
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 cup (125ml) tepid water
pinch of sugar
3 cups (400g), plus 1/4 cup (35g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (35g) whole wheat or rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
3/4 cup (180ml) cold water

1. Mix the olive oil and garlic together and set aside for a few hours.
2. To make the dough, make the starter by mixing the yeast, 1/2 cup water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. (If making the dough by hand, mix them in a large bowl.) Stir in the 1/4 cup of flour and whole wheat flour, and let stand 30 minutes undisturbed, until foamy.
3. Mix in the salt, the 3 cups flour, then the olive oil and 3/4 cup water. Knead for five minutes with the dough hook attachment, or by hand, until a smooth, but slightly sticky ball of dough is formed. If it seems too wet, knead a bit more flour into it, if necessary.
4. Oil a large bowl and put the ball of dough into the bowl, then flip it over, so the oiled side it up. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
(After the dough has risen, you can punch it down and refrigerate it for a few hours, or overnight. Let come to room temperature before continuing.)
5. Preheat the oven to 500ºF (260ºC) or as high as possible.
6. Sprinkle cornmeal over an 11 x 17-inch (28 x 43cm) baking sheet, or line it with parchment paper. Roll the dough on a lightly floured countertop to approximately the size of the baking sheet. If the dough pulls back, let it rest a few minutes before continuing. Then lift the dough and stretch it out, then place the dough on the baking sheet, fitting it to the edges of the pan.
7. Brush a 1-inch (3cm) swath of just the garlic oil (without pieces of garlic in it) around the rim of the pizza dough, then smear the garlic and the rest of the oil over the rest of the interior surface of the dough.
8. Top the pizza with whatever toppings you wish (see post or suggestions in headnote.)
9. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, until the bottom is cooked and the top is golden brown.
Depending on your oven, you may need to monkey around a bit with figuring out which rack to bake it one. Usually I start mine on the lower rack, to get the bottom cooked, then move it to an upper rack to brown the top. Of course, if you have a pizza stone, use that under the baking pan for a crisper bottom crust.