[0 - 1] - I'm Frank Proto,
[1 - 2] professional chef and culinary instructor,
[2 - 3] and today, we're gonna make pizza.
[3 - 5] [air whooshing] Frank style.
[5 - 7] We're talking everything you need to know
[7 - 9] about how to make the perfect pizza at home.
[9 - 12] This is how to make pizza 101.
[12 - 13] I think that making pizza at home
[13 - 16] is an essential cooking skill to have.
[16 - 17] It is not as hard as you think.
[17 - 19] And that's what I'm gonna show you how to do today.
[19 - 21] [bright folk music]
[21 - 24] Today, we are making a simple margarita pie.
[24 - 27] I always judge a pizzeria by its crust.
[27 - 28] Is it crunchy? Does it hold up?
[28 - 31] Is it golden brown? Does it have some air bubbles?
[31 - 34] That's what you want in a good pizza crust.
[34 - 36] For my pizza today, I'm using store-bought dough.
[36 - 38] There's no shame in this.
[38 - 40] Did you know if you go to your local pizzeria,
[40 - 42] you can buy dough from them too?
[42 - 44] So find your favorite pizzeria and buy dough from them.
[44 - 47] I preheated my oven to about 500 degrees,
[47 - 49] basically as high as it's gonna go.
[49 - 52] And what I'm gonna do is make a makeshift pizza stone.
[52 - 54] The reason we have the sheet tray turned over like this
[54 - 55] is that it's easy to transport
[55 - 58] and slide the pizza off onto it.
[58 - 59] So I'm gonna put it in upside down,
[59 - 62] put it in my pre-heated oven and get it nice and hot.
[62 - 63] Putting our pan in the oven
[63 - 65] and pre-heating it does a couple of things.
[65 - 67] It starts our crust getting crisped right away,
[67 - 70] and we get a little bit of oven spring from that yeast.
[70 - 74] As it dies, it's giving a last breath of CO2 and flavor,
[74 - 76] and we get some nice bubbles.
[76 - 78] While it's getting hot, let's get to work.
[78 - 79] My store-bought dough is chilled,
[79 - 82] and what I want to do is kind of cut it
[82 - 83] into the portion size I want
[83 - 87] and then rework the dough slightly to redistribute the yeast
[87 - 89] and kind of wake this dough up.
[89 - 91] So I'm just going to kind of roll this under,
[91 - 94] give it a light rounding so that when we roll this out,
[94 - 96] we have a nice round pie.
[96 - 98] If you have bubbles, leave them alone.
[98 - 99] We don't want to crush them out,
[99 - 101] and we redistribute that yeast.
[101 - 102] So we're gonna work the dough lightly,
[102 - 104] not knead it, but just bring it together.
[104 - 106] And what we do is we want it to get a little tight
[106 - 109] so when I press down on it, it kind of bounces back.
[109 - 110] It's got some spring to it, right?
[110 - 112] We don't wanna work it so it's a tough dough.
[112 - 115] We just wanna work it a little, keep the bubbles in
[115 - 116] and give us a little spring back.
[116 - 119] I'm gonna put it on my sheet tray, give it a little room.
[119 - 120] I'm gonna put a towel on this
[120 - 123] and let it sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
[123 - 125] The gluten can relax a little 'cause we reworked it.
[125 - 127] We also want to get some more bubbling in there.
[127 - 129] We want the yeast to wake up.
[129 - 131] So while the dough rests, we can make our sauce.
[131 - 134] [bright folk music]
[134 - 138] For everyone that buys sauce in a jar, stop.
[138 - 140] This is so easy, so simple.
[140 - 142] It really takes no skill at all.
[142 - 145] I tend not to use fresh tomatoes on my pizza.
[145 - 147] Canned tomatoes have less water than fresh tomatoes,
[147 - 148] and they have a ton of flavor as well.
[148 - 150] I'm using crushed peeled tomatoes.
[150 - 152] You can use whole peeled or diced tomatoes.
[152 - 154] Whatever one makes you happy, just use it.
[154 - 156] Next thing I wanna do is put a little bit of garlic in here.
[156 - 158] Just one nice clove of garlic,
[158 - 160] and I'm gonna put this in just like this.
[160 - 161] I'm not gonna chop it.
[161 - 162] That's why I have the stick blender, right?
[162 - 164] I just want to throw my garlic in there.
[164 - 166] If you like more garlic, put more garlic in.
[166 - 168] If you like less, put less in.
[168 - 171] But please, use fresh, not the stuff in the jar.
[171 - 172] So next I'm gonna add some basil leaves,
[172 - 175] and I like to puree a few leaves in there, right?
[175 - 177] I just break them up. I'm gonna do about six or seven.
[177 - 179] Basil's gonna give some sweetness to the sauce.
[179 - 181] It's gonna give some brightness to the finished pizza.
[181 - 184] Some people use oregano. I like oregano.
[184 - 186] I like basil a lot more.
[186 - 188] I like a little bit of chili flakes in there.
[188 - 189] Not necessarily for a lot of heat
[189 - 191] but just a little bit of kick.
[191 - 193] I'm also gonna add some extra-virgin olive oil.
[193 - 194] This is really floral and green.
[194 - 196] It's gonna give our basil a little boost.
[196 - 198] It also just kind of brings everything together
[198 - 199] with a little bit of fat.
[199 - 201] Some salt, fresh cracked black pepper.
[201 - 203] Has better flavor than something you'd buy in a jar.
[203 - 206] If you don't have one of these fancy stick blenders
[206 - 208] or immersion blenders, you can put it in a blender,
[208 - 210] you can put it in a food processor,
[210 - 211] or you can just break it up with your hands.
[211 - 212] It's totally up to you.
[212 - 215] I just like for that garlic to be buzzed into my sauce
[215 - 216] so I get a good dispersion.
[216 - 218] The finished texture I'm looking for
[218 - 220] is that all of the ingredients are blended,
[220 - 221] but it's not super smooth.
[221 - 223] I wanna see some chunks in there if possible.
[223 - 224] The point of this is just
[224 - 226] to bring all of the flavors together.
[226 - 228] Some people like to cook their tomato sauce,
[228 - 230] but for this recipe we don't.
[230 - 233] Saves you a lot of time and still gives you a ton of flavor.
[233 - 236] [bright folk music]
[236 - 238] Alright, so our dough has been sitting
[238 - 239] for about a half hour.
[239 - 241] Let's take a look at it.
[241 - 242] Ooh, look at that.
[242 - 244] We got some nice bubbles.
[244 - 248] We want bubbles and a little less bounciness.
[248 - 250] We also reactivated some of the yeast in there
[250 - 252] to kind of get those bubbles rolling again.
[252 - 255] Bubbles usually equal flavor, right?
[255 - 257] Bubbles mean that the yeast is doing its work.
[257 - 259] So let's get this one piece of dough off.
[259 - 261] Put it out onto the board.
[261 - 262] If it's sticky, you wanna make sure
[262 - 264] that you put some flour on 'em.
[264 - 266] We can always shake the flour off later.
[266 - 268] I'm just gonna start going around the outside,
[268 - 269] and I want to use my fingers for this.
[269 - 272] A rolling pin's gonna knock out all the bubbles
[272 - 273] that we tried to get in there.
[273 - 275] What I'm gonna do is just go around the sides
[275 - 279] leaving a crust and then start stretching our dough.
[279 - 281] If the dough's not stretching easily, be patient.
[281 - 284] That means it just needs to rest a little longer.
[284 - 287] And what you can also do is pull on it if you want,
[287 - 289] but we really just want to stretch out that center.
[289 - 292] If I put it over my hands, my hands are curled under.
[292 - 293] I'm using my knuckles.
[293 - 296] We can use our hands to kind of stretch
[296 - 297] wherever there's heavy parts.
[297 - 299] Don't necessarily need to throw it in the air,
[299 - 301] you just really want to stretch it out.
[301 - 303] I want it as thin as I can make it
[303 - 304] without it tearing, right?
[304 - 307] If I get a little tear like that, all I do is take my dough,
[307 - 309] stretch it over the top, cover up my hole,
[309 - 310] give it a pinch, and we're good to go.
[310 - 311] But you definitely want it to be
[311 - 315] as thin as humanly possible without tearing through.
[315 - 316] Our pizza dough is stretched out,
[316 - 319] and what I'm gonna do is get another half sheet tray.
[319 - 320] It's not hot,
[320 - 323] and I'm gonna use this as a makeshift peel for my pizza.
[323 - 325] So we get our dough on here.
[325 - 328] Put enough flour on the bottom so that it doesn't stick.
[328 - 330] See how it moves around really well?
[330 - 331] And now we're ready to top it.
[331 - 333] So my dough is moving freely,
[333 - 335] and I'm gonna put some sauce on here,
[335 - 337] and we're gonna take the ladle, put some in the center,
[337 - 340] and then we're just gonna swirl it around
[340 - 341] all the way up to the edge.
[341 - 343] We don't want this to be wet, right?
[343 - 344] So we don't wanna put too much sauce in.
[344 - 346] Just a nice light coating of sauce.
[346 - 348] Every time, let's make sure that we're still moving.
[348 - 349] If you see that it sticks,
[349 - 352] we can always add like a pinch of flour underneath.
[352 - 353] As far as cheese goes,
[353 - 355] I try and stay away from fresh mozzarella
[355 - 356] because it has a lot of moisture,
[356 - 358] and it makes our dough soggy.
[358 - 361] I like to use a low-moisture mozzarella.
[361 - 363] It does not make my pizza soggy.
[363 - 365] So when it comes to grating my mozzarella cheese,
[365 - 366] and I go right on top, right?
[366 - 369] If it just drops in the center, that's fine.
[369 - 372] I give a nice hefty dash of that low-moisture mozzarella,
[372 - 374] and then I can kind of spread it out to the edges.
[374 - 377] You want to have just enough cheese to cover our pizza.
[377 - 379] The other cheeses that I use are grating cheeses.
[379 - 381] Whenever I use grated cheese for pizza,
[381 - 383] I like to use parmesan and pecorino.
[383 - 385] Parmesan gives us a nice nuttiness.
[385 - 388] Pecorino is sharp, kind of kick in the face.
[388 - 390] I like to kind of the mix of those on my pizza.
[390 - 391] I'm gonna hit it
[391 - 392] with a little bit of extra-virgin olive oil,
[392 - 395] always a little salt and some black pepper.
[395 - 397] You can put whatever toppings you want on this pizza,
[397 - 398] but just keep in mind
[398 - 400] how much moisture is in those ingredients.
[400 - 402] If it's like a mushroom, and it has a lot of moisture,
[402 - 404] cook them first before you put 'em on top.
[404 - 407] [bright folk music]
[407 - 408] So I wanna make sure this is flowered
[408 - 410] so our pizza moves easily
[410 - 413] and slides into the oven without any problems.
[413 - 416] The pizza's been in the oven for about 20 minutes.
[416 - 417] It's time to take it out.
[417 - 418] Isn't she pretty?
[418 - 420] Look, we got some nice browning on the crust.
[420 - 422] We got some beautiful bubbles. Let's get that out.
[422 - 425] Alright, let's slide it off onto the cutting board.
[426 - 427] Look at her, she's beautiful!
[427 - 428] Make sure you put the fresh basil on
[428 - 430] right before you're ready to serve it
[430 - 431] so that it doesn't go black.
[431 - 434] Right, we want a little bit of freshness from every bite.
[434 - 436] You can smell, we have a great crust.
[436 - 437] We have a lot of bubbles.
[437 - 438] You can smell the cheese.
[438 - 441] The basil is kind of hitting you really hard.
[441 - 442] All in all, it looks like a great pie.
[443 - 445] I'm just gonna use your regular chef knife,
[445 - 450] and I'm gonna cut it into like six nice slices. Mm, delicious.
[450 - 452] It's got a great balance of flavors.
[452 - 453] You can taste the dough, which is nice,
[453 - 455] 'cause it has some nice bubbles in it.
[455 - 457] Look at those nice crackly bubbles.
[457 - 459] You can taste all the cheeses,
[459 - 460] and that mozzarella's got a little bit
[460 - 461] of stretchiness to it.
[461 - 463] The basil just kinda like sets everything off,
[463 - 466] makes it fresh, cut some of the cheese flavor,
[466 - 467] gives you some nice brightness.
[467 - 469] It's totally worth the time to make your own pizza.
[469 - 471] This is a super easy process.
[471 - 472] All you gotta do is have a little bit of patience.
[472 - 474] [playful jazzy music]
[474 - 476] It keeps on like [laughs].
[477 - 481] Pizza, [laughs] Frank style.