Here is a recipe for St. Louis-styled pizza that's been one of the top emailed kinks on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch website for a couple of days now. Today it was the most email link. St. Louis styled pizza is a very thin pizza that usually uses a lot of Provel cheese. Think Imo's. Here's the recipe as is from the link.
Cook's Country magazine
Yield: 2 (12-inch) pizzas (8 servings)
For the sauce:
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
The note at the bottom of the recipe has the Provel amounts if you are able to get that type of cheese at your local deli. For those of you who don't have access to Provel cheese...
For the cheese (see note):
2 cups shredded white American cheese
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
3 drops liquid smoke
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position. Place a
pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet on the rack. Preheat the oven
to 475 degrees.
2. Prepare the sauce. Whisk together tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, 1 tablespoon sugar and oregano in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Prepare the cheese. Toss American and Monterey Jack cheeses with liquid smoke in a medium bowl. Set aside.
4. Prepare the dough. Combine flour, cornstarch, 2 teaspoons
sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Combine water and olive
oil in a measuring cup. Stir water mixture into flour mixture until
dough starts to come together. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface
and knead 3 or 4 times, until cohesive.
5. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Working with 1 piece of
dough at a time, press into a small circle and transfer to a sheet of
parchment paper dusted lightly with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll
and stretch dough into a 12-inch circle, rotating parchment as needed.
Lift parchment off work surface and onto an inverted baking sheet.
6. Top each piece of dough with half of the sauce and half of
the cheese. Carefully pull one sheet of parchment paper and pizza off a
baking sheet and place on the hot baking stone. Bake until underside of
crust is golden brown and cheese is completely melted, 9 to 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, roll out the remaining dough and top with sauce and cheese.
7. When first pizza is done, transfer to a cooling rack and let
cool for a few minutes. Bake second pizza. Cut pizzas into 2-inch
squares and serve.
Note: Substitute 2 1/2 cups of provel cheese, if available, for
the cheese mixture. The dough can be made in advance; tightly wrap in
plastic and refrigerate for up to 2 days.
Per serving: 310 calories; 15g fat; 8g saturated fat; 35mg
cholesterol; 12g protein; 33g carbohydrate; 12g sugar; 2g fiber; 870mg
sodium; 100mg calcium.
Before baking any homemade pizza, I brush the uncovered crust with olive oil. It adds a wonderful olive oil flavor to the last bights of the pizza and it gives this part of the pizza a wonderful golden hue.
I am not a fan of St. Louis styled pizza per-se, but the dough recipe is intriguing to me because it uses no yeast. I have not made this recipe yet, but when I do I'll use my usual sauce recipe and cheese mixture.
