FROZEN MEALS
MAKING PIZZA AT HOME
As is the tradition of all neighborhood pizza joints, Howie’s is happy to provide you with dough balls, pizza sauce, cheeses, toppings and all the other necessities of making pizza at home.
Traditional pizza is round, thin and crisp. It is baked directly on a hot (stone or ceramic) surface.
Get Instructions for Making Traditional Pizza at Home
Nonna Style is rectangular. It is baked in a pan on a rack in a typical home oven.
PIZZA KIT
Instructions for Making Traditional Pizza at Home
For best results you will need:
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A pizza stone in a hot (500 degree) household oven or an actual pizza oven in your home kitchen or backyard.
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A pizza peel or a standard ½ sheet pan or a big, flat thing to facilitate getting your uncooked pizza into the oven.
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A Pizza Cutter
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A Ladle
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A little bowl of Flour (for dusting things)
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Pizza Fixin’s From Howie’s (or even better, a Pizza Kit)
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A back up plan
If you don’t have these things, I suggest making a Nonna Style Pizza following the directions offered in the next section.
DIRECTIONS
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Liberally flour your dough ball and work surface. This is paramount. Work quickly.
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Roll or hand stretch the dough ball into a circle app. 12 inches in diameter.
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Use a ladle to apply the red sauce evenly. We suggest using app. ½ cup of sauce.
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Lay out the cheese on the red sauce. We suggest using 4-6 slices of cheese.
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Apply toppings to your liking.
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Dust the pizza with grated Parmesan, oregano, or chili flake as you prefer. Drizzle with olive oil.
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Transfer the pizza to a well-floured pizza peel. Did you liberally flour your work surface?
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Once the pizza is on the peel, put it in the oven immediately or it will stick to the peel.
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Optimal baking temperature is a true 475-550 F. (on the cooking surface)
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Baking time will be 5-7 minutes. Maybe.
Instructions for Making Nonna Style Pizza at Home
Nonna Style, also known as Sicilian style or Pan pizza is really the best option for household cooks who want to make a spectacular pie. A pan pizza does not require the intense bottom heat that a Traditional or Neapolitan style pizza requires. In fact, it bakes beautifully in a standard home oven. This will change your life.
For best results you will need:
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One Howie’s Pizza kit (or the same ‘Pizza Fixins’ purchased separately)
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2 standard half (rimmed) sheet pans (12 inches x 18 Inches)
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Olive Oil
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A pizza cutter
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An Oven
DIRECTIONS
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Place ¼ cup of olive oil on one of the sheet pans. Distribute it evenly on the bottom of the pan and make sure the sides are also coated. Very lightly oil the bottom and sides of the second sheet pan.
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Allow two dough balls to come to room temperature. Best to keep them in their packages.
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Stack the two dough balls one on top of the other, and gently press them together with your fingertips.
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Place the dough ball(s) onto the heavily oiled sheet pan and then flip it over. The dough is now oiled on both sides. Use your fingertips to make sure the dough ball is evenly coated in olive oil.
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Using your fingertips, begin to press (not stretch) the dough from the center outward towards the edge of the pan. This will take several tries, so just push it until it starts to fight back and stop. There might only be a little bit of progress towards the edge of the pan. That’s okay.
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Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes or more. Then press again, working towards the edge of the pan. Until the dough begins to resist. Carry on like this until the dough reaches the edges of the pan. Pinch up the edges (press hard) None of this needs to be perfect. Main thing is the bottom of the pan is covered.
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Cover the surface of the dough with app. one cup of pizza sauce. More if you prefer. If you do not have a defined lip of dough around the edges, Leave a half inch border without sauce.
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Liberally apply the mozzarella cheese. We recommend 8-12 slices (ounces).
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Apply your favorite toppings
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Dust the pizza with grated Parmesan, oregano, or chili flake as you prefer. Drizzle with olive oil.
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Place the pizza into the pre-heated oven. Place the second pan on top of the pizza as a lid. Bake for app. 20-25 minutes or until the bottom is well browned (have a peek) and the cheese is fully melted.
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Remove the lid and continue to bake (watch it carefully), until the cheese is beginning to brown and bubble and the whole shebang thing looks like a delicious, cooked pizza. Cut (12 slices) and serve in the pan.
Keep your dough balls refrigerated until 2-3 hours before using. Held at room temperature, the dough balls should be slightly proofed and ready to use in that time. Experienced bakers will know how to speed up and slow down this process. The dough ball(s) should be at room temperature and slightly puffed when they are called to duty. The dough should spring back when poked with a fingertip.
Stretch or roll the pizza on a liberally floured work surface and transfer it to the peel just before going into the oven. Once the stretched dough ball is on the peel, you only have a minute to slide the pizza into the oven otherwise it will stick horribly to the peel and ruin your evening. Test to see if the pizza will move on the peel before going for the oven. If it sticks, lift small sections of the perimeter of the dough and throw a little flour under it. At 450-550 degrees, the pizza should cook in app. six minutes. The higher temperatures readily accessible in a wood fired oven are not advisable.