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Pizza - The Best Methods And Techniques to Make it At Home


alan7147

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My initial impression from the top picture is that it heated unevenly, but the bottom seems to debunk that (and yet, the right side of the bottom looks a little bready (but that crust looks nice and sour regardless)).

This is sort of like a physician diagnosing a war injury sustained in Ghana via the internet.

Sharp eye. One skill a good pizzaiolo should have is the ability to read the fire and rotate the pizza to ensure an even cooking. Unfortunately, that's a task that's best utilized in an oven without a door (i.e. a wood burning oven). With a home oven, the trade-off is that, if I open the door to rotate the pizza, I end up letting all the hot air out and getting a five minute pie instead of a three minute pie. The texture and quality that you get with the faster pie is worth the trade-off of having a few hotter or colder spots.

The steel plate does an incredible job of keeping the bottom even, at least.

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So the latest fad in pizza making also happens to be one I intend to keep around for a long time: using a hot rolled steel plate instead of a pizza stone. In my case, 16"x17"x0.5".

Where did you end up buying the steel plate?

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Have been using this dough recipe without a hitch for a while: http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/breakfast-pizza/

I found the two stone technique intriguing so I tried it out today. Instead of the gap between the two, I put them on adjacent racks, one right on top of the other near the top of the oven. Pre-heated the two stones at 550 for 50 minutes.

Started the pizza in the lower stone and then finished on top as suggested. Worked really nicely. I think because the two stones were so close to each other the initial cook in the bottom one really worked out better. The heat must really bounce off the top stone. I got nice black char spots on the top and bottom of the pizza, better than I ever have before!

Made a great BBQ baby back rib meat pizza with our home made BBQ sauce and caramelized onions. P.S. Cooked ribs freeze really great wrapped in alum. foil. Just microwaved them in a zip top back for a few minutes to loosen the meat from the bone.

Thanks for the inspiration!

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It took me ten years, but I finally did it: leopard spots in a home oven (ignore the one on the left).

315782_988812664384_5317785_45159647_7304190_n.jpg

And another one:

307554_988812839034_5317785_45159654_2159091_n.jpg

This is a big moment. I feel like I finally took the cricket from my master's hand.

Bubbles and char baby! What's your recipe and method? I get good color and some char on my pizza, but no bubbles on the crust, which I really like. My crust is more Abeets than anything else.

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Bubbles and char baby! What's your recipe and method? I get good color and some char on my pizza, but no bubbles on the crust, which I really like. My crust is more Abeets than anything else.

This is a modified version of the "NY-style" dough used in Peter Reinhart's American Pie.

I used Caputo 00 flour, no oil, and my own wild yeast starter (started about a year ago with red cabbage - given a little rye on every feeding). I did a twenty minute autolyse right after mixing before adding any salt, and a twenty minute rest before sticking it in the fridge overnight. Removed to room temperature five hours before cooking.

Baking was done in a 550 degree oven on "Convection Roast" (fan on, broiler on), using a 1/2-inch hot rolled steel plate as the cooking surface. Rotated 180 degrees during cooking.

Topped with salt, a puree of roma tomatoes and basil from my garden (plus oregano, garlic, and red wine vinegar), and a cheese blend of Cappiello low moisture/whole milk moz, Collier's Welsh cheddar, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Finished with a roasted garlic, red pepper, basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano herb oil.

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This is a modified version of the "NY-style" dough used in Peter Reinhart's American Pie.

I used Caputo 00 flour, no oil, and my own wild yeast starter (started about a year ago with red cabbage - given a little rye on every feeding). I did a twenty minute autolyse right after mixing before adding any salt, and a twenty minute rest before sticking it in the fridge overnight. Removed to room temperature five hours before cooking.

Baking was done in a 550 degree oven on "Convection Roast" (fan on, broiler on), using a 1/2-inch hot rolled steel plate as the cooking surface. Rotated 180 degrees during cooking.

Topped with salt, a puree of roma tomatoes and basil from my garden (plus oregano, garlic, and red wine vinegar), and a cheese blend of Cappiello low moisture/whole milk moz, Collier's Welsh cheddar, and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Finished with a roasted garlic, red pepper, basil, thyme, rosemary, and oregano herb oil.

Thanks, Dan. The whole autolyse thing has me quite intrigued. I've bought American Pie just now on Amazon, free 1 day shipping. Will have it tommorow!

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I gather that you mix the flour and water together and let it sit for a time? Mix flour, yeast, water and rest. Salt after. That's the autolysing?

Some autolysing info here. BTW the web site is great if you are interested in bread baking of any type.

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I don't recommend an Autolyse in most cases..

Until you really understand your leavening process, you are doing weird things to your dough at this point. Autolyse WILL effect fermentation time, as well as gluten development. I would suggest that you have a set hydration period, (read this as a gradual addition of flour, salt, yeast, and whatever else you want to put in there,) over a set time period. A quick rest after this, (risposo) like a minute or 2 will allow the dough to drop off the mixer arm, or hook, or whatever, and "relax" I think this is often mistaken for an autolyse.

Don't forget, yer making pizza, not bread. Bread is wonderful, but it's a different animal.

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I think there are many delicious sauce recipes out there and I'd suggest you give the simplest tomato recipe a try. Drain a can of San Marzano tomatoes into a colander, pressing out excess liquid. Break tomatoes up by hand and spread on dough. Sprinkle kosher salt and continue with cheese, herbs, evoo and more s+p.

For homemade "jarred" pizza sauce, I use puree for my tomato product, Italian seasoning, chili flakes, garlic granules, onion powder, s+p, cooked down until thickened. Extra dried oregano on top after baking.

eta: a little pinch of sugar in the homemade sauce.

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I've been trying to make pizzas too on my large BGE, mediocre at best but still trying, I can't get the crust right.  Maybe we can exchange some notes here.   What is your pizza dough?  I'm trying to use the technique in this video:  http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/09/the-piemans-craft-stretching-pizza-dough-with-motorinos-mathieu-palombino.html

But I agree with monavano, I also scrape out the tomato seeds.  Add olive oil, salt, fresh basil, and chopped garlic.

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I've been trying to make pizzas too on my large BGE, mediocre at best but still trying, I can't get the crust right.  Maybe we can exchange some notes here.   What is your pizza dough?  I'm trying to use the technique in this video:  http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/09/the-piemans-craft-stretching-pizza-dough-with-motorinos-mathieu-palombino.html

But I agree with monavano, I also scrape out the tomato seeds.  Add olive oil, salt, fresh basil, and chopped garlic.

Since it is my first attempt I am going to use some dough from Vace.  More worried about the temperature and technique at this point.  Once I get this perfected I will move on to making my own dough.

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I would not use that technique on the BGE.  Are you trying to get the temp to like 800 degrees?  I put the pizza in fully loaded and it should be done in 3 minutes or so.

I use a 16 inch stone on top of the Rig Extender, direct heat.

I used the Vace dough the first time too.  My dough stretching was terrible and I didn't get a good bubbly crust.  I think the Vace dough is fine though.

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Okay... read the whole thread... Now, gonna try the dough recipe from 2005, and cook it on the gas grill. Put it on a cast iron stone, get it hot as possible, 2-3 minutes on one side, flip it, put toppings/sauce/cheese on, close the lid. Another 3-4 minutes. Sound about right? 

Couple of things

1) Can you use fresh mozzarella on the grill or will it not melt properly and you gotta use the shredded in the bag stuff?

2) Has anyone used any of those pizza stone boxes that trap the convection heat? Is there a low budget-DIY solution? Sounds like bricks on the side and another stone on top is the most used one?

3) As far as store bought dough in this era (in case it's not that fun making the dough), TJ's still pretty good? Whole Foods? Teeter's? Anywhere else in Del Ray/OT/South Arlington? Don't feel like driving to Italian Store... 

4) Sounds like meats have to be cooked. What about things like onions, green peppers, jalapenos, shrooms?

5) Why is rolling with a pin bad and hand stretching preferred?

Man, the pizzamaking forum is craaaaaaaaaazy ... I jumped in that rabbit hole and couldn't escape for a long time. Needed something a little less hard core for attempt #1

 

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42 minutes ago, Simul Parikh said:

5) Why is rolling with a pin bad and hand stretching preferred?

I think it has something to do with little air bubbles in the dough.  A rolling pin is not gentle enough and will pop the bubbles, while stretching will keep them intact and create nice little air pockets in the cooked dough.

A neighbor of mine used to swear by the hand stretching method, but I just use a rolling pin for ease and convenience. 

 

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3 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

Okay... read the whole thread... Now, gonna try the dough recipe from 2005, and cook it on the gas grill. Put it on a cast iron stone, get it hot as possible, 2-3 minutes on one side, flip it, put toppings/sauce/cheese on, close the lid. Another 3-4 minutes. Sound about right? 

Couple of things

1) Can you use fresh mozzarella on the grill or will it not melt properly and you gotta use the shredded in the bag stuff?

2) Has anyone used any of those pizza stone boxes that trap the convection heat? Is there a low budget-DIY solution? Sounds like bricks on the side and another stone on top is the most used one?

3) As far as store bought dough in this era (in case it's not that fun making the dough), TJ's still pretty good? Whole Foods? Teeter's? Anywhere else in Del Ray/OT/South Arlington? Don't feel like driving to Italian Store... 

4) Sounds like meats have to be cooked. What about things like onions, green peppers, jalapenos, shrooms?

5) Why is rolling with a pin bad and hand stretching preferred?

Man, the pizzamaking forum is craaaaaaaaaazy ... I jumped in that rabbit hole and couldn't escape for a long time. Needed something a little less hard core for attempt #1

 

2) When I was making pizza on the grill or in the oven used to use cheap red tile picked up from a tile store. Keep the heat and was only $10-5 at the time. Also instead of getting a pizza box just make an aluminum foil tent for the pizza. That helps to cook the toppings at the same rate as the crust. 

3) In my experience, Vace, Italian Store and then Whole Foods for premade dough. Recently, I've been going to the Italian Gourmet in Vienna, VA have noticed they have premade dough just haven't tried it out yet. They also have meats that would be good for pizzas.

4) Depending upon the thickness of the meats that you will use. If they are thicker that a 1/6 inch I would sauce them before hand. 

5) I always used a combination of hand stretching and pin rolling but I also let the dough rise twice. My dough recipe is a modified Margarita one which lends itself to be pushed out after the second rising. 

Pizza making is hard core for some. I went thru my own obsessive phase especially when I was making Chicago style stuffed pizza from scratch. But have fun experimenting! Its good to have parties for 6-8 and make the dough in advance and try and out different toppings. 

 

 

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We regularly make delicious pizza at home on a gas grill, but use a slightly less fancy approach that might interest you: Early in the day, we'll make pizza dough using "00" pizza flour. When it's time to make the pizza, we use a regular pizza stone (bought at Target), and heat it on the grill (around 15 minutes) to the highest possible grill temp (usually around 550). While this is happening, we spread the dough on the kitchen counter using a roller (we don't have the skill to do it by hand), then transfer the rolled-out dough to a pizza peel that has been covered in corn meal (or something that will prevent it from sticking). We fully dress the pizza on the peel (using all types of ingredients, including fresh mozz, shredded stuff, veggies, and meats). Then I slide the pizza off the peel and onto the hot pizza stone. Depending on toppings and personal preference, it usually takes about 7-12 minutes to fully cook. Yum!

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1 hour ago, Dr. Delicious said:

We regularly make delicious pizza at home on a gas grill, but use a slightly less fancy approach that might interest you: Early in the day, we'll make pizza dough using "00" pizza flour. When it's time to make the pizza, we use a regular pizza stone (bought at Target), and heat it on the grill (around 15 minutes) to the highest possible grill temp (usually around 550). While this is happening, we spread the dough on the kitchen counter using a roller (we don't have the skill to do it by hand), then transfer the rolled-out dough to a pizza peel that has been covered in corn meal (or something that will prevent it from sticking). We fully dress the pizza on the peel (using all types of ingredients, including fresh mozz, shredded stuff, veggies, and meats). Then I slide the pizza off the peel and onto the hot pizza stone. Depending on toppings and personal preference, it usually takes about 7-12 minutes to fully cook. Yum!

Interesting .. So you don't have to flip it? You don't seem to get the problem of a overly done bottom and not cooked enough top? Maybe I'll try it this way tonight for attempt number one.

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17 minutes ago, Simul Parikh said:

You don't seem to get the problem of a overly done bottom and not cooked enough top?

Nope.

I will add that the reverse (overdone top, soft crust) is a problem when doing everything above the same, but cooking in the oven in stead of on the grill. We made the switch to the grill 6 months ago, and it changed our lives.

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Kenji Lopez-Alt prepared a guide to grilling pizza here .  I have yet to grill pizza but have followed his other pizza recipes (NY, Sicilian, Neapolitan) successfully.  You’ll see that he weighs his ingredients when making dough.  I find I get better results when I weigh ingredients (I prefer metric measures).  Good luck.

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Okay, so decently successful.

Dough - 1/2 "00" and 1/2 all purpose - 2 c each. 3/4 tsp yeast x 2. 2 tsp salt. About 2 c water. 2 tsp olive oil from Croatia. Coursely mixed, then rested for 15 min. Then 3 minutes kneading. Then separated into four balls and put in fridge for 24 hours.

Sauce - sautéed 2 tbsp garlic, added 28 oz whole peeled tomatoes puréed, about a tsp of salt and tsp of pepper, simmered for 30 min.

Got dough out, it had risen some but not as much as I thought it would. Made 4 quite thin ten inch crusts. Topped with 3 large table spoons of sauce, then about 4 oz of fresh mozzarella and 2ish tbsp of grana padano Parmesan flakes. 

Heated oven to 550 with cast iron stone (decided not to grill) for over an hour. Smoke detector intermittently went off. Ugh. Placed pie and cooked for about 4.5 minutes. Cut up fresh basil (Ref: DiFara's) and topped. Scissor cut. Made four pies.

Good: it's pizza, bro, of course it's good. Outer crust better than in the middle. Sauce was good. Parmesan was a nice touch.

Eh: hard to char at that temp without burning cheese. A real conundrum. Also, slightly soupy in middle (in 2 of the pies).

Bad: smoke detector!! Annoying.

Anyway, I had 5 happy friends and we enjoyed ourselves. I think oven is more suited to Sicilian, or as I grew up with, Detroit style pizza. Will try that next. I'm a little obsessed, though.

image.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Tweaked said:

Serious Eats' Upside Down Sicilian Pizza is seriously good.  And since it is cooked in a sheet pan much easier to put together.  I've made it 4 or 5 times and it's always turned out great.

 

Pizza Sicilian.jpg

I fully agree--great recipe. I've only made it once so far, and 12 oz of pepperoni was too much for my tastes, and the result was much too salty.  The crust, however, was perfect. 

 

Nice picture, btw!

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2 hours ago, Simul Parikh said:

That's what I used!

Yes, your mention of the recipe up thread reminded me of the NYT article and video. The one time I tried it, I thought the crust had really good flavor. I had a little trouble getting the moisture content right. I need to find the time to try again.

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Cross posting with the Dinner thread.

We bought fresh dough and mozzarella from Vace, I had some leftover pasta sauce in the freezer, and I slow cooked some onion until they started to get a bit caramelized.  I'll have to say, we were pretty impressed with the Vace dough.  I left it on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours and it continued to ferment and expand.  We were able to make two medium sized pizzas.  I cranked the gas oven to 550 degrees, cooked them on heavy weight 1/4 sheet hotel pans for 10 minutes.  I probably could have pushed them to 12 minutes to toast the crust and mozz a little more.  Expect the pizza crust to come out a little more bread-y and soft rather than chewy and crisp.   But overall, great success.

PizzaVaceStyle.jpg

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On 2/19/2019 at 12:34 PM, Tweaked said:

We bought fresh dough and mozzarella from Vace, I had some leftover pasta sauce in the freezer, and I slow cooked some onion until they started to get a bit caramelized.  I'll have to say, we were pretty impressed with the Vace dough.  I left it on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours and it continued to ferment and expand.  We were able to make two medium sized pizzas.  I cranked the gas oven to 550 degrees, cooked them on heavy weight 1/4 sheet hotel pans for 10 minutes.  I probably could have pushed them to 12 minutes to toast the crust and mozz a little more.  Expect the pizza crust to come out a little more bread-y and soft rather than chewy and crisp.   But overall, great success.

Pizza looks good! Can't go wrong with the basics from Vace. 

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