NY Style Pizza

If you bought fresh pizza dough from the store let it sit out on the counter for about an hour.

Preheat your oven at 400 F.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add the pancetta. You want to cook this until it’s crispy but not burnt, 7-10 minutes. At the last minute drain off any excess fat from the pan and stir in the minced garlic. Cook only for about 30 seconds until the garlic is fragrant then remove from the heat.

While the pancetta is rendering use a food mill to grind the canned tomatoes and their juice into a bowl. You can discard the seeds and pulp. You could do this in a blender if you don’t have a food mill. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and stir to combine.

Slice your mozzarella into thin slices, about 1/4 inch thin.

Roll out your dough. Make it as thin as you can without tearing it. Put your dough on a pre-greased pizza pan or pizza stone. Poke the top surface of the dough with a fork so it doesn’t bubble up and add the tablespoon of olive oil, spreading it around the dough with your hands. Pop that bad boy in the oven and cook for about 8-10 minutes. You want the dough to cook about half way so your crust is nice and crispy.

Once it’s half way cooked take it out of the oven. Pour your tomato puree on the crust and spread around with a spoon. Sprinkle on the diced pancetta and garlic. Top with your sliced ball of mozzarella. You aren’t trying to cover the whole top with cheese but have large dots of cheese all over the pizza. Put it back in the oven and bake for about 12-15 minutes. You want the cheese to melt and start to bubble up, but you don’t want the crust to burn. Remove from the oven, let it sit for a couple of minutes and top with your juilienned basil. Cut and enjoy!