Party-Pan Pizza by David Lebovitz

 photo by http://www.davidlebovitz.com

Ingredients:

Garlic Oil :

For the pizza shown: 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.

Pizza Dough

Instructions;

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, 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 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.