2023 Perfect Your Pizza Winner: Timothy Flood’s “Dungeness Crab Pizza”

2023 Perfect Your Pizza Winner: Timothy Flood’s “Dungeness Crab Pizza”
Pair with Diamond Collection Prosecco

Recipe:
Dungeness Crab Pizza

• Homemade dough (recipe follows)
• White cream sauce (recipe follows)
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves
• Frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped to make 1/4 cup
• 3.5 oz provolone cheese, cut into small pieces
• Bellwether Carmody cheese, cut into small pieces
• 5 oz cracked and cleaned Dungeness crab
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• Pinch of Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 tsp chopped fresh chives, for garnish
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Two to three hours before baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator and portion it out to 4 dough balls of equal size- roughly 210 g. per ball. Let dough balls sit at room temperature to proof, covered with a dish towel, while you prepare your toppings.

2. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan. Sauté the spinach until just wilted; chop and measure out ¼ cup. Mix spinach with artichoke hearts and season lightly with salt and pepper and set aside.

3. Half an hour before making the pizza, pre-heat your oven to 800°F.

4. When the oven is ready, coat one dough ball in semolina flour, then open it up and stretch it out to a round roughly 10 inches in diameter. It is okay if the pizza is slightly undersized, you will do the final stretching on the peel once all the toppings are on.

5. Brush the surface of the dough with a layer of cream sauce, leaving about 1/4-inch perimeter around the edge.

6. Evenly distribute the spinach and artichoke over the cream sauce, followed by the provolone, Bellwether Carmody cheese and then the crab.

7. Finish by sprinkling the minced garlic and Old Bay over the surface.

8. Lightly dust a pizza peel with semolina and transfer the pizza to the peel. Feel free to stretch and distribute the toppings as needed.

9. Slide the pizza into the oven and begin to rotate in 90-degree increments once the crust starts to puff up and set. Continue rotating the pizza as needed to ensure the crust is completely puffy and golden brown around the edge, and that the underside is also golden brown.

10. Remove the pizza from the oven and cut into six slices. Garnish with chopped chives and serve with slices of lemon, if desired, for an optional pop of acidity while eating.

Dough Recipe:

• 3g instant yeast
• 340g water
• 450g 00 flour
• 50g whole wheat flour
• 10g fine sea salt
• 5g/(1 tsp.) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl
• Semolina flour (for coating dough and transferring the pizza)

Add 30g of water to a small bowl and add the yeast. Stir until the yeast dissolves and let sit for 10 mins to allow time for the yeast to activate.

While you are waiting, add the flour and the bulk of your water to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix for about 20 seconds so that the flour starts to hydrate, reserving a small amount of water (10g or so). After 20 seconds, add the yeast water to the mixing bowl, and rinse out the yeast bowl with your reserved water portion.

Begin mixing on slow speed, adding in your salt and oil. Once the dough begins to come together, increase the mixer to medium speed and let mix anywhere between 5-10 minutes until the dough has completely come together and looks smooth. Once the dough looks smooth, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, uncover the dough, wet your hands with water, then stretch and fold the four corners of the dough into the middle and flip it over creating a little ball. Let it rest for another 30 mins before doing another stretch and fold and then place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, making sure that you roll the dough ball around to coat it with oil. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Ingredients for White Cream Sauce:

• 3 tbsp white wine
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
• 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
• Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Combine wine, vinegar, garlic, and salt in a small saucepan. Boil and reduce until pan is almost completely dry. Remove from heat and add cream. Return saucepan to the stove and simmer until thick, about 5-7 minutes. Add Pecorino Romano cheese, lemon zest and freshly ground pepper, to taste. Let cool to room temperature before using.