A margherita pizza cut into pieces.

In September 2008 I returned from Slow Food Nation convinced I would, by the end of the week, build a mud oven in the alleyway next to my apartment and, as a result, have wood-fired pizzas at my disposal from then on out.

I had watched volunteers at SFN stomp in the mud and cobble together an oven in two days, and I couldn’t stop dreaming about the pizzas, thin and crisp with a blistered bubbly edge, that emerged from that wood-fired oven.

After doing a little research, I made a list of supplies and stuck it to my fridge. I even bought a book: How to Build Your Own Hearth Oven. It was going to happen. I would get my wood-fired oven.

But a few weeks passed, and I never got around to building it. And before I knew it, a few years passed. And then a few children appeared. And then a few dreams disappeared.

Friends, guess what? It’s never going to happen. I am nev-er going to build that mud oven nor am I going to drop ten grand on a more professional wood-fired oven.

But guess what? It’s OK, because there is a product that will make all desires for acquiring these high-speed tools disappear. I had read about the Baking Steel in the Wall Street Journal and then in Food and Wine, but it was this post on Serious Eats that convinced me I had to buy one immediately.

The story of the Baking Steel begins with Andris Lagsdin, a passionate cook, who, after reading about the conductive properties of steel in Nathan Myhyrvold’s Modernist Cuisine, began baking pizzas at home on steel plates made at his family-run steel company, Stoughton Steel.

Pleased to discover that what he had read proved true — that because “steel is a more conductive cooking surface than stone,” pizza “cooks faster and more evenly at a lower temperature, resulting in a beautiful, thin, crispy crust” — Lagsdin initiated a Kickstarter campaign. And so was born the Baking Steel. Serious Eats’ Kenji Lopez-Alt, describes the tool as “the most impressive home pizza product [he’s] ever tested.”

About a year ago I discovered tipo 00 flour, which, when used in the Lahey pizza dough recipe, produced the best pizzas I had ever made. Learning to shape the rounds with a delicate hand, moreover, created great bubbles throughout the pie as well as that ballooned and blistered outer edge characteristic of Neopolitan pizzas. The Baking Steel takes these bubbles to another level. Kenji offers this explanation:

For the past month, I have been making some sort of pizza or flatbread nearly every day, and they have never tasted so good. A few pictures below capture the “oven spring” as well as the crispy, speckled “undercarriage,” the two traits that separate Baking Steel pizzas from the sheetpan pizzas I have been making for years.

There are other virtues to the steel as well — it’s lighter and more durable than stone; it doesn’t require a supply of wood — and again, you can read a thorough and more scientific analysis of the steel on Serious Eats. Below are recipes for two of my favorite pizzas: margherita made with a barely cooked tomato sauce; and caramelized onion and burrata.

So, am I telling you that the next $79 you spend should be on a Baking Steel? Yes, I am. But this is the way I see it: with the Baking Steel now a permanent fixture in my oven, I have no use for any backyard wood-fired apparatus, which means I basically just earned $10,000, which will pay for what, a week (maybe two?) of one child’s college tuition?

I know, I know, you can thank me later. Go on, order that steel and while you’re at it, crack open a few bottles of champagne. There’s never been more reason to celebrate.

Oven spring:
A side view of the crust of a slice of Margherita pizza.

A bowl of barely cooked tomato sauce.

Making the sauce:
A montage of photos showing how to make the barely cooked tomato sauce.

Margherita pizza toppings: sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella.

Lahey pizza dough:
A board with three rounds of Lahey pizza dough.

I noted last week in the za’atar flatbread recipe that using parchment paper on a pizza peel is kind of wimpy. A nicely floured or cornmeal-sprinkled peel should allow a pizza to slide gracefully onto that heated surface, right? Well, in my experience, this doesn’t always happen. And pies that stick to peels can make a mess both on the steel or stone and on the floor of your oven. Moreover, flour or cornmeal that is left on a steel or a stone burns, which might fill your kitchen with smoke and cause your fire alarm to sound. And think about it: at the best pizza restaurants with those magnificent wood-fired ovens, the pizza maker is equipped with both a peel and a broom, which he/she uses to sweep away any flour, toppings, etc. left in the main cooking area. Home cooks can’t really do this. Parchment paper has solved this issue for me. The pizza-topped parchment paper slides effortlessly onto the heated stone. The presence of the paper does not affect how the pizza is cooked, and the paper can be removed (if desired) after a minute or two.
Stretched round of Lahey pizza dough on a pizza peel.

Stretched round of Lahey pizza dough on a pizza peel topped with sauce.
Stretched round of Lahey pizza dough on a pizza peel topped with sauce and cheese.
Just-baked Margherita pizza on a pizza peel.
Just-baked Margherita pizza on a pizza peel topped with basil.
Just-baked Margherita pizza on a board topped with basil.
Just-baked Margherita pizza cut into pieces.

Caramelized onion & burrata pizza:
A just-baked caramelized onion and burrata pizza sprinkled with basil.

Oven spring:
The crust view of a caramelized onion and burrata pizza sprinkled with basil.

A just-baked caramelized onion and burrata pizza sprinkled with basil cut into wedges.

Undercarriage:
The under carriage of a caramelized onion and burrata pizza sprinkled with basil.

A just baked caramelized onion and burrata pizza sprinkled with basil, cut into wedges.
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A freshly baked Margherita pizza.

Baking Steel Margherita Pizza

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5 from 1 review

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Description

Adapted from Jim Lahey’s book, My Pizza

If you buy this Tipo 00 flour, this recipe comes together in seconds — each bag conveniently weighs 1000g, which is what the recipe calls for.

If you use the Lahey pizza dough, you need to plan ahead: the dough sits at room temperature for 18 hours before it can be used. Moreover, after the 18 hours, it benefits from some cold fermentation in the fridge. The 6 rounds of dough can be used over the course of three days.

Equipment: Baking Steel, pizza peel, parchment paper (optional)

Ingredients

  • 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1000 grams) plus more for shaping dough
  • 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast:for this pizza you’ll need:
  • tomato sauce (recipe below)
  • fresh mozzarella (buffalo if you can find it) or burrata, sliced or roughly torn
  • olive oil
  • sea salt
  • fresh basil

Instructions

  1. Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. Add 3 cups water; stir until well incorporated. Add more water if necessary, a tablespoon at a time — dough should not be stiff. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature in a draft-free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on the temperature in the room).
  2. Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape into a rough ball. Divide into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, quickly shape into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions.
  3. Let dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, until soft and pliable, about 1 hour. Proceed with recipe or transfer each to a plastic quart container, cover, and store in fridge (or wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap and store in fridge.)
  4. To Make the Pizzas: Pull out a pizza round from the fridge one hour before you plan on baking. Dust dough with flour and place on a floured work surface. Place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in top third of oven and preheat oven to its hottest setting, 550°F. Gently shape dough into a 10″–12″ disk handling it as minimally as possible. Transfer dough disk to parchment-lined peel.
  5. Spoon sauce in a light layer over the dough’s surface. Top with a light layer of mozzarella cheese. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt. Shimmy topped dough parchment paper and all onto preheated Steel.
  6. Remove pizza from oven using your peel — a pair of tongs might help, too. Transfer pizza to cutting board. Throw basil over top. Cut and serve.
  • Prep Time: 18 hours
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes
  • Category: Pizza
  • Method: Oven, Baking Steel
  • Cuisine: American, Italian
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A bowl of fresh tomato sauce.

Barely Cooked Tomato Sauce

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5 from 2 reviews

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Description

This is just a modified version of the widely adored Marcella Hazan tomato sauce. The differences here are that the onion is sautéed until soft, there is the addition of garlic, and the sauce just takes less time to throw together — once the tomatoes hit the pan, they simmer for five to 10 minutes and the sauce is done. I have been making this sauce to serve with pasta. Just add a handful of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, lots of chopped fresh basil and freshly ground black pepper. So fresh and delicious.

Ingredients

  • 3 to 4 beef steak tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 to 1 onion (depending on the size), diced to yield about 1/2 cup
  • Kosher salt to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

Instructions

  1. Cut a small “x” in the back of each tomato. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop tomatoes into water and cook for about a minute. Remove tomatoes and plunge them into a bowl of cold water. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the skin and discard it. Chop the flesh into fine dice.
  2. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and season it with a pinch of kosher salt. Sauté (or sweat — you don’t need the onion to brown or caramelize) the onion until it is soft and translucent, about five minutes. Add the minced garlic and the diced tomatoes. Season with more kosher salt. Simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until the sauce is just slightly reduced.
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Category: Sauce
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Italian, American
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caramelized onion pizza

Baking Steel Caramelized Onion & Burrata Pizza

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5 from 1 review

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Description

Pizza Dough Source: Jim Lahey My Pizza equipment: Baking Steel, pizza peel, parchment paper (optional)

Ingredients

  • 7 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (1000 grams) plus more for shaping dough
  • 4 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeastFor this pizza you’ll need:
  • caramelized onions
  • burrata
  • olive oil
  • sea salt
  • basil (optional)

Instructions

  1. Whisk flour, salt, and yeast in a medium bowl. Add 3 cups water; stir until well incorporated. Add more water if necessary, a tablespoon at a time — dough should not be stiff. Cover with plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature in a draft-free area until surface is covered with tiny bubbles and dough has more than doubled in size, about 18 hours (time will vary depending on the temperature in the room).
  2. Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Gently shape into a rough ball. Divide into 6 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time, quickly shape into a ball. Dust dough with flour; set aside on work surface or a floured baking sheet. Repeat with remaining portions.
  3. Let dough rest, covered with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel, until soft and pliable, about 1 hour. Proceed with recipe or transfer each to a plastic quart container, cover, and store in fridge (or wrap each dough ball separately in plastic wrap and store in fridge.)
  4. To Make the Pizzas: Pull out a pizza round from the fridge one hour before you plan on baking. Dust dough with flour and place on a floured work surface. Place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in top third of oven and preheat oven to its hottest setting, 550°F. Gently shape dough into a 10″–12″ disk handling it as minimally as possible. Transfer dough disk to parchment-lined peel. Scatter caramelized onions in a light layer over the dough’s surface. Top with a light layer of sliced/spread burrata cheese.
  5. Shimmy the whole piece of pizza-topped parchment paper onto preheated steel or stone. Sprinkle with nice salt. Drizzle with a splash more olive oil. Shimmy dough, parchment paper and all, onto preheated Steel.
  6. Bake pizza until top is blistered, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a work surface. Top with basil leaves. Slice and serve.
  • Prep Time: 18 hours
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes
  • Category: Pizza
  • Method: Oven, Baking Steel
  • Cuisine: American, Italian