Pastrami Pizza and Pulled Pork BBQ Pizza

There are not too many things I like more than a pastrami sandwich, so when my wife suggested I try using some left over pastrami on a pizza I figured it was worth a shot.  I also had some left over smoked pulled pork in the refrigerator so I figured I would make a barbecued pulled pork pizza as well

I recently was gifted a cool item called the "Kettle Pizza" attachment.  This item fits on top of an existing Weber kettle style grill and allows you to get your grill over 700 degrees which is ideal for pizza.  I have used this a  few times with some great success and was looking forward to trying it again.    I have been reading many posts about using 00 style flour and how it really only works best when you can get your heat source over 700 degrees so while I could have used a 100% "00" flour pizza I still decided to do a 50-50 blend with bread flour.  If you don't have any "00" flour you can use 100% bread flour or another low protein flour.  The "00" flour does require less water so if you use it make sure to watch your hydration.  I suggest you add 50% of the water in the recipe before adding more and adjust as needed.

For the Pastrami pizza I used a simple fresh tomato sauce consisting of 1 can of diced tomatoes with red peppers, salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano, basil, 1/2 of a lemon and a dash of red wine vinegar. I also used fresh mozzarella along with some Munster cheese and Pastrami for the topping.

For the Pulled Pork pizza I used my home-made barbecue sauce along with fresh mozzarella.

I adapted a recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Baking Everyday for the basic dough.  I have made this recipe several times and it is very simple and comes out great.

If you want to make this in your oven you certainly get great results as well.

I have tried the method suggested by  Steve B. at http://www.breadcetera.com where he suggested to put your pizza stone on the highest shelf of your oven and set your oven to broil.  The purpose of this is to get as much heat as possible to be retained by the stone.  I have to say it worked perfectly in the past for me so give it a try!

If you don't have the Kettle Pizza attachment for your grill you can still put a pizza stone on your grill and end up with a successful pizza.  The biggest issue is trying to get the desired char effect on the crust.

I have to say both pizzas came out great and I would definitely try both of these combinations again.  Maybe next time I would put some carmelized onions on the Pulled Pork version.

Ingredients

340 grams, 12 ounces Italian Style (00) Flour

340 grams, 12 ounces Bread Flour

14 grams, .5 ounces, or 2 teaspoons salt (sea salt or table salt)

3 grams, .11 ounces or 1 teaspoon instant yeast

28.5 grams, 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons sugar

428 grams, 17 ounces water (90 degrees)  (I suggest you decrease this amount if using "00" flour)

28.5 grams, 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in your mixing bowl and mix on the lowest speed possible for 1 minute.  The dough should be rough and a little sticky.  Let it rest for 5 minutes so the flour gets fully hydrated.

Knead the dough on medium low-speed (or by hand) for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough is smoother.  Next put some olive oil on your work surface and your hands and transfer the dough to your work area.  Do a stretch and fold and form the dough into a ball.  Divide the dough into 5 pieces weighing about 8 ounces each and form into balls.  Spray the inside of a mini plastic storage bag with oil and seal each dough ball in the bags.  Put them in your refrigerator overnight or up to 4 days.  You can freeze them also for several months if desired.

About 90 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizzas take how many dough balls you plan on using out of the fridge and put them on your lightly oiled work surface.  Stretch the dough balls and reshape them into a tight ball.  Cover the dough balls with either plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray or a clean lint free kitchen towel sprayed with some water and let them rest until you are ready to bake.

One hour before you are ready to bake pre-heat your oven or grill  to the highest temperature and put your pizza stone on the highest shelf possible in your oven.

Prepare your favorite sauce and get your cheese and toppings ready.  Remember, that more is less.  Don't use too much cheese or sauce or you will end up with a soggy mess.

Put some bench flour in a bowl and dip each dough ball in the flour as well as your hands.  Flatten the ball of dough on the work surface with your hands first and if desired either use a rolling-pin or pick the dough ball up and using both hands start stretching it out using your thumbs and the back of your knuckles.   Your thumbs should actually be doing all the stretching and not your knuckles.  you want dough to be fairly thin, but not too thin or it will end up ripping.

If cooking on the Kettle Grill set-up be sure to have your pizzas ready to go as you want to get your additional pizzas in as soon as possible after the first one is done.  In order to get the heat so high you must use a bed of coals with wood chunks or small logs and you want to cook your pizza before the temperature gets too low.

If using your oven, turn your oven on broil 10 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizza and get the stone as hot as possible.  Assemble your pie and brush some olive oil on the crust if desired.  You can either sprinkle corn meal or flour on your bakers peel and place the pizza on your peel before putting the topping on it. Alternatively you can put your pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper and slide the peel underneath when ready to put in the oven.  The worse thing that can happen is for your dough to get stuck on your peel and make a mess in your oven, not to mention ruin all your good efforts.

Make sure you turn the oven off broil before you put the pie inside and turn it back to your highest setting.  Let the pizza cook until the crust is blistering and the bottom is nice and brown.

If using the Kettle Grill attachment, you want to bake the pizza turning it a couple of times with your peel until the bottom and top crust is nice and charred.

I hope you give this recipe a try yourselves.  It is actually fun to make and relatively easy.

Feel free to visit my website at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for some of my older posts or search the TFL site.

Pastrami Pizza