Galette ka ba?
If charred Neapolitan pie is impossible in your home oven, make this rough puff pizza instead.
When it comes to making proper Neapolitan pizza at home, not everyone gets to enjoy a piece of the pie.
Thanks to outdoor ovens like the Ooni, however, we’re seeing more of a dough-mocracy. In under a minute, you get to “Dracarys!” some dough in your backyard, achieving the char and chew of Neapolitan pie.
The catch: we don’t all have a backyard. Plus many of us rely on non-Targaryen ovens that stop getting sexy at 400F—maybe a notch hotter with a baking stone in there.
But hey, just ‘cause we can’t ride dragons, doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to fly!
As a frustrated home pizzaiolo, I considered the Neapolitan pie’s beauty standards. Was it at all possible to subvert them? Is dough that’s crisped, bubbling, and beautifully burnt the only stage that rich tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and torn basil can thrive on?
If Selena’s early days singing at weddings and quinceañeras is any proof, absolutely not!
Recalling pie priestess Erin McDowell’s recipe for rough puff pastry, I considered those same margherita ingredients covering crust that swells up just as strikingly. Crust that’s flaky rather than bubbly, and is much more indulgent from its buttery underpinnings. It’s different dough real estate, for sure—but hey, Housewives drama doesn’t exist solely in Beverly Hills (I hear Real Housewives of Dubai is a good time).
What’s great is I can get my rough-puff dough ready in less time than a lot of recipes for Neapolitan dough call for. A good three hours as opposed to the recommended overnight (or even 72-hour) fermentation.
The best part, for me at least, is I get to enjoy the ceremony of rolling the rough puff out. Granted the AC’s on while you’re working wisps of butter into your dough, there’s a rhythm to making this that just vibes with the virgo in me.
Regular pizza dough requires a lot more rest; rough puff, more of a routine. Either way, you get to experience the joy of making pizza. And yes, just as much satisfaction in enjoying it.
ROUGH PUFF PIZZA MARGHERITA
For a single 9–inch Pie
INGREDIENTS
Dough
151g All-Purpose Flour
¼ Tsp Fine Sea Salt
113g Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into ¾-inch cubes (I prefer compound butter like Marquis for this since richer French butters melt a lot quicker in a tropical climate.)
1 Cup Ice Water
Egg Wash
1 Large Egg
1 Tbsp Cold Water
Sauce
6oz Whole Peeled Canned Tomatoes
¼ Tsp Sea Salt
½ Tsp EVOO
Toppings
1 Cup Pasteurized or Low-Moisture Mozzarella, shredded
½ Cup Fresh mozzarella, torn into ½-inch to one-inch chunks
5 Basil Leaves
Make Your Dough
Combine the flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl, then add the cubes of butter. Toss them in the mixture until all pieces are properly coated.
Press the butter between your fingers, flattening each cube into pieces that resemble Corn Flakes. Then toss and coat the flattened pieces with the flour mix.
Make a well in the center of your bowl and add just 36g of the ice water or about ⅛ cup. Toss the water into the flour mix and as you see more pieces clump together, begin to gently press everything together, digging from the bottom to spread moisture evenly over the floury bits. Still see dry patches? Add one tbsp of ice water at a time until just hydrated. The goal is not to soak everything to smoothness but to get it to a craggy cohesiveness!
Now press the clumps into an inch-thick disc and wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Once chilled, transfer the disc to a floured surface. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to between ¼ and ½-inch thick (Note: Any buttery bits at the edges that won’t adhere can be plucked off and pressed back into stickier areas. You can also pat the sides to form a more rectangular shape that’s easier to fold.) Apply flour on the dough as necessary.
Once rolled, fold the dough in half, then once more. Wrap and chill for 15 to 20 minutes. (Note: If the dough is still dry enough to roll out and you can keep the butter from sticking to your surface, you can roll the dough out a second time and then proceed to wrapping.)
Repeat folding and chilling the dough 3 more times, with a minimum 15-minute rest between each folding.
Upon your final fold, pat the sides in to favor a rounder shape, then tuck the sides beneath it and cup the mound with your hands to create a ball.
If using immediately, pre-heat your oven to 400F and let the dough rest between 15 and 20 minutes before rolling out as a pizza crust. Otherwise, wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze wrapped in plastic and aluminum foil for up to 3 months.
After the final rest, generously flour a surface and roll your dough out. Run a rolling pin from the middle of the disc outward, then turn the dough 45 degrees (or follow the notches on a clock). Repeat until you’ve achieved as close as you can get to a circle that’s at least nine inches in diameter.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and carefully place your dough on top. Leaving a one-inch border from the edge untouched, dock your dough all over with a fork. The untouched border will puff up more, serving as your pizza’s outer crust.
Puff the Magic Pizza
As your oven heats up, prepare your sauce. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blitz to your preferred consistency.
To get maximum cheese coverage, layer the crust first with the pasteurized mozzarella, spreading it liberally across the pie but keeping everything an inch away from the border.
Next, ladle your sauce over where you’ve scattered your cheese, spreading lightly with the bottom of your ladle to cover any bare dough spots.
Now scatter ¾ of your fresh mozzarella, setting the rest aside for later.
Finally, add your basil, tucking the leaves beneath some of the larger mozzarella chunks.
Crimp the bordering dough all around and then brush this with egg wash.
Bake the pie for 30 to 35 minutes. 10 minutes before it finishes baking, spread your reserved fresh mozzarella on top for greater goo and cheese pull.
Once baked, wait at least five minutes before cutting into the pie.
Divide as you please, enjoy, and give yourself snaps for making pizza in a very DIY Handmaid’s Tale Martha kind of way!
MAKE YOUR MAC & CHEESE MEOW!
My safe space as a kid was wherever Sanrio was stocked. The mother lode was, of course, Gift Gate in Greenhills c. 1990s.
Be it Twin Stars stationery or a huge stuffed Kuromi, Sanrio characters always shone a light in a world only darkening each year. (Especially ‘cause of all the blackouts in the early ‘90s.) To a budding homosexual, that kind of cuteness was calm before the storm of adolescence.
These days, anything Sanrio feels like sanity. Times like these call for less Kardashians on our feed and more kawaii in our food. So as soon as I spotted a pack of dried Hello Kitty macaroni (₱ 97) at SM Aura’s Supermarket, I knew it would make for purr-fect pasta comfort.
Making Snoop Dogg’s Mack & Cheese from his Crook to Cook book over the weekend, it turns out I was right!
Each durum wheat flower and kitty held its shape. Not to mention, our kitty’s iconic bow was just one of many nooks and crannies that clung superbly to all that sauce and cheese.
Whether or not you do a Hello x Dogg collab like I did, this is dried pasta that deserves a spot in your pantry. Some meals just require more uplift than regular ol’ linguine can offer.