Karl’s New York Style Pepperoni Pizza

Nephew Braden is coming to Sunday dinner. When Miriam told him about my New York Style pizzas he expressed interest. I learned to make New York style pizza crusts a few weeks ago. Each batch makes enough dough for 2-3 pizzas. To keep things interesting, I usually make each one differently. In addition to pepperoni, I made an artichoke and feta pizza and an apple and prosciutto pizza. This recipe is written as if I was making all three pizzas the same.

Note: Daughter Miriam is also having trouble with garlic lately, so I left it out of the sauce.

Karl’s New York Style Pepperoni Pizza

Ingredients

1 batch of Karl’s New York Style Pizza Crust

1 lb. part-skim milk mozzarella, shredded
7 oz. pepperoni slices

Karl’s tomato pizza sauce

1 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste (omitted)
2 Tbs. tomato paste
15 oz. tomato sauce
2 Tbs. oregano, dried
2 Tbs. basil, dried

Directions

1. Un-bag your pizza dough and set it on your floured bread board to come to room temperature.

Tip: I store my dough in quart sized plastic bags to ferment for 3-5 days. To keep from mashing my dough I cut up the sides of the bag to free the dough intact.

Note: For directions on making the pizza dough see Karl’s New York Style Pizza Crust.

2. Shape your dough into a pizza shapes and transfer them to a flour dusted  peels.

Tip: I use three cookie sheets, and an old flat steel sheet to remove the pizzas from the oven

3. Add the olive oil to a sauté pan over medium high heat and (if using) sauté the garlic until fragrant, about one minute.

4. Add the tomato paste and cook until it is starting to darken, about another two minutes.

5. Add the tomato sauce and deglaze the pan with it.

6. Stir in the herbs and simmer the sauce until it starts to thicken, another 4-5 minutes.

7. Let the sauce cool slightly and then spread about one third of it over each pizza round.

8. Scatter one third of the mozzarella over each pizza.

9. Scatter the pepperoni evenly over the pizzas.

10. Bake each pizza for 8-10 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is browned on the bottom.

Tip: Rotate the pizza halfway through the cooking time to get an even bake.

11. Transfer the pizza to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before consuming.