Welcome to Letters from Paris on the Genesee by me, Peter Berkes. This will be a space where every week, I will talk about whatever has caught my interest. If that sounds vague, it’s because it is. I’m not setting any hard rules here, but the main focus of this newsletter will be food and cooking. I’ll be sharing my favorite things I’ve made or eaten that week, some original recipes, and whatever else. No rules, just right.
Over the last 5-10 years, cooking has become maybe my greatest interest and hobby. Food can be source of immense joy, of comfort, of stability. Sharing food is one of the best ways to show you care for someone, and to welcome them into your home and your life. Maybe not as much during a pandemic, but still.
I’d like to begin this journey by talking about finding comfort in food. In this instance, though, I’m talking about the process of cooking, rather than eating. Eating is wonderful and necessary, but there are certain dishes that give me an even greater sense of comfort and satisfaction just by going through the process of making them. In being able to turn your brain off and just go through the motions because you have made it so many times. For me, pizza is this dish.
The process of making pizza is basically zen for me. The dough, the toppings, the construction. I’ve done it enough times that I can make it happen without thinking about it, like a shark swimming while it sleeps. It’s a refuge I can go to when I need it most, when I need to get away from mine and the world’s problems for a couple blissful minutes.
As you may know, things are hard right now. A lot of folks are out of work and just trying to make it to the next day without getting sick, let alone worry about what life is going to look like after this if we’re lucky enough to make it through. The ones that are lucky enough to be working from home are either lonely and bored out of their minds, or struggling to balance work and childcare and school. It’s very easy to get caught in a downward spiral and not come out of it. Taking a few minutes to do something you genuinely enjoy, whether it’s reading, drawing, home improvement, or in my case, cooking, can help make the days a little more tolerable.
The Brands and The Celebs are fond of telling us we’re all in this together. As nice as that sounds, the last month has shown that to be wishful thinking. But for the regular, everyday people who are just trying to get through this in one piece, every kindness we can provide each other is precious. In the absence of physical social bonds, though, we’re stuck spending a lot of time with our harshest critics: ourselves. Take it easy on yourself and remember to spend time doing things you love.
Alright, enough of that. Let’s make some pizza.
Pizza Dough
Ingredients
5.25 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1.5 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
2.25 cups of warm water, and 2 teaspoons yeast whisked in
Instructions
Combine the dry ingredients in your mixer at low speed, then add the wet ingredients. Increase speed to medium-low and run for about 10 minutes.
Pour the dough onto a floured work surface and split into two equal balls. Apply a light coating of cooking spray to the inside of two one-gallon freezer bags, and fill each with one ball of dough. Refrigerate overnight.
Remove dough from refrigerator 3 hours before shaping, letting the dough come up to room temperature. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 550 degrees.
Shape dough and top as desired. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown, making sure to rotate pizza 180 degrees halfway through.
Notes
You can also make the dough the same day you want to eat it, but it is not quite as easy to work with and doesn’t develop the same complexity of flavor as overnight fermentation. Place dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap, letting it rise until doubled in size, roughly 90 minutes to two hours. Split in half, and proceed with shaping and cooking as in Step 4 above.
This dough freezes very well. After rising overnight, remove excess air from the freezer bag and toss it in the freezer. Let it thaw in the refrigerator for 24 hours before using, and start with Step 3 as listed above.
If you enjoyed this, it would mean a lot to me if you told your friends!