I recently found out that my good friend Josh Ginsberg spent some time tossing pizzas while living in Montreal. None of this pizza pizza commercial garbage either, the real deal 100% handmade from scratch pizzeria pizza. Luckily he was willing to comply, and became my mentor.
The dough:
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 tsp yeast
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tsp salt
1 egg
1 Tbsp olive oil
Dissolve the yeast in some of the warm water and let it sit for 10 minutes. Place the flour and salt in your mixing bowl, then slowly slowly add the yeasty water, oil, and egg, making sure to distribute it. Continue to mix in the rest of the water slowly just until all of the flour has been absorbed into the dough ball. This is the crucial moment where you need to be patient. Only add tiny bits of water if necessary; It's done when you get the mixing bowl to shine, and have one solid piece of dough around the dough hook. Remove, divide into 5 or 6, form into balls, cover, and let it sit for at least 30 minutes... the longer it sits, the easier it is to work with.
The sauce:
28 oz can of peeled tomatoes
grated Parmesan cheese
oregano
salt and pepper
Process the can of tomatoes through a food mill. Scrape the bits of pulp off the mill into the sauce. Season with Parmesan, oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. That's it... no simmering.
Rolling and Tossing the Dough:
Dust a ball of dough heavily with flour, then punch it out flat with the palms of your hand. Roll it into an oval, then turn it 90 degrees and roll it into a circle. Only dust with more flour if the dough is sticking. Then start tossing the crust: fingers pointing towards yourself, use the left hand to hold and the right hand to spin. The crust should sit on your knuckles, somewhere between the middle and the edge so that it doesn't pull too much. Use your hands to feel for evenness and correct this by pinching with the thumb and index fingers, letting it stretch out where it's too thick.
Assembly:
Put the pizza crust onto a dusted pizza spatula. Ladle on and spread the sauce. Once the pizza's been sauced, you have to top it quickly. Otherwise the sauce will seep through and make for a soggy pizza.
Baking:
Baking stone is the way to go. We preheated our baking stone on the barbecue to 400F. Use a light jerking motion to shimmy the pizza onto the stone. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the edges and bottom are lightly browned.
Thick Crust Variation:
Roll the dough out thicker (1/4 inch or so) then place it into a shallow cake pan and cover. Let the pan sit in a warm spot to proof for at least 30 minutes, until puffy to the touch. Top and bake the pizza in the pan:
Excellent pizza... at least as good or better than the pizza you'd get at one of those high-priced Italian restaurants.