Cooks Country St Louis Style Pizza Food

DETROIT-STYLE PIZZA

Steps:

• Pour warm water into the bowl of stand mixer; mix in yeast and sugar and let dissolve. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil, salt, and bread flour. Knead mixture together with a dough hook attachment until dough is very smooth, soft, and elastic.
• Drizzle remaining olive oil over the bottom of a 10x14-inch Detroit-style pizza pan and spread around with your fingers. Place dough in the center; pull and stretch into a roughly rectangular shape with oiled fingers. Cover and let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Prepare sauce and cheese in the meantime.
• Combine marinara sauce, oregano, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer to fully hydrate the oregano and garlic, about 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 500 to 550 degrees F (260 to 288 degrees C).
• Dice Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese into small cubes. Toss lightly to mix together.
• Rub fingertips with some olive oil from the pan. Press out air from the dough while stretching and pushing into a rectangle that goes all the way to the edges of the pan. Stretch up the sides about 1/2 inch or so.
• Lay most of the pepperoni onto the dough. Scatter cheese cubes evenly on top, making sure to fully cover all the edges where dough meets the pan. Ladle sauce on top in 3 long strips. Arrange remaining pepperoni over the sauce.
• Bake in the preheated oven until pizza is somewhere between golden brown and golden black, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes.
• Very carefully slide pizza onto a cutting board using a spatula. Cut into individual pieces using the lines of sauce as a guide.

COOKS COUNTRY ST. LOUIS-STYLE PIZZA

Steps:

• Whisk together tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil and 1T sugar and oregano in a small bowl; set aside.
• Toss cheeses with liquid smoke in a medium bowl; set aside.
• Combine flour, cornstarch, 2 tsp sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Combine water and olive oil in measuring cup. Stir water mixture into flour mixture until dough starts to come together. Turn dough onto slightly floured surface and knead 3 or 4 times, until cohesive.
• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, place pizza stone (or inverted baking sheet) on rack and heat oven to 475 degrees.
• Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, press into small circle and transfer to parchment paper dusted lightly with flour. Using rolling pin, roll and stretch dough to form 12" circle, rotating parchment as needed. Lift parchement and pizza off work surface onto inverted baking sheet (not one in the oven).
• Top each piece of dough with half of the sauce and half of cheese. Carefully pull parchment off of baking sheet onto hot oven stone. Bake until underside is golden brown and cheese is completely melted, 9-12 minutes. Remove pizza and parchment from oven. Transfer pizza to cooling rack and let cool a few minutes. Assemble and bake second pizza. Cut into 2" squares. Serve.
• Note - dough can be made in advance. Once mixed tightly wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate up to 2 days.
• Variation - If you would like to add pepperoni arrange them on a paper towel lined plate, cover with paper towl and microwave 2 minutes. Let cool. Add to pizza either before or after cheese.

DETROIT-STYLE PIZZA

Steps:

• Put the pizza dough in a large bowl and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm spot until the dough is slightly puffy, 30 minutes.
• Spread the butter all over the inside of a metal 9-by-13-inch pan and put the dough in the middle. Starting from the middle of the dough and using your fingertips, push the dough out to the corners of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until puffy and doubled in thickness, about 1 hour. Push the dough all the way to the edges, recover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes more.
• Meanwhile, position an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees F. Place a baking sheet on the rack to preheat.
• Combine the tomatoes and tomato paste in a blender and blend until smooth. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and soft but not brown. Add the tomato mixture, oregano, chile flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup water, bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium low and cook until thick, about 15 minutes.
• Uncover the dough and cover evenly with the pepperoni. Sprinkle about 2 cups of the Cheddar evenly along the edges of the pizza. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup Cheddar over the rest of the pizza, then top the entire pizza with the Havarti and scallions.
• Put the pan on the preheated baking sheet and bake the pizza until the edges are golden and the cheese is melted and bubbling, about 15 minutes.
• Loosen the sides and bottom of the pizza with a metal spatula and slide onto a cutting board. Spoon the sauce in 4 thick crosswise lines over the pizza. Cut into squares and serve.

ST. LOUIS STYLE PIZZA

Steps:

• Crust: Mix until thoroughly combined. The dough is ready to use "as-is" No need to rise or kneed. Divide the dough in half, shape into a round ball and roll out paper thin. In order to move the crusts around a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal works well. Sauce: Combine together and it's ready to use - do not pre-cook the sauce! This Makes enough sauce for about four (4) 12" pizza pies Cheese: Toss until cheeses and smoke flavoring are completely incorporated. It's enough cheese for two (2) 12" pizza pies. Now it's ready to be lightly sprinkled with some Italian seasonings. Seasonings: Combine all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl and blend well. At home you'll have the best results using a pizza stone and an oven temperature around 450 degrees. If you don't have a pizza stone, use the thinnest baking sheet you have and the lowest over rack position. The pizza is done when the underside of the crust is a dark golden brown, and the cheese is has a slight golden tint to it. Underbaking the crust will result in a limp crust, overbaking will result in a hard, tough, burnt-tasting crust, getting the right baking time to produce a crisp crust will require a bit of experimentation. The amount and type of toppings you use will also affect the total baking time. A rule-of-thumb is to check the pizza after about 10-12 minutes and adjust baking time from there accordingly.

SALT AND PEPPER SPARE RIBS

Steps:

• Mix salt, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne, and garlic powder together in a small bowl. Set spice rub aside.
• Stir Dijon mustard and vinegar together in a small bowl.
• Place ribs on a foil-lined baking sheet. Turn the ribs over so that the meat side is down. Use the tip of a small, sharp knife to make some very shallow slashes every few inches through the membrane that covers the ribs. Poke the knife 3 or 4 times between each rib bone, about 1/4 inch deep.
• Brush about 1/2 of the Dijon mustard mixture on top. Sprinkle with about 40% of the spice rub. Turn the rack over and brush on the rest of the mustard and vinegar mixture. Sprinkle on the rest of the rub, reserving 1 or 2 teaspoons in case you want to use it to season the cooked ribs later.
• Refrigerate the ribs, uncovered, 4 to 12 hours before baking.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Remove ribs from the refrigerator.
• Cook in the center of the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and baste with the pan drippings. Continue to cook until very tender and the tip of a knife slides in very easily, about 1 1/2 hours more.
• Remove from the oven, baste again, and let ribs rest for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.