The Home-made Pizza thread

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Originally Posted by dumpy

I make something similar to pizza thats more akin to real pizza than anything made with whole wheat, honey, BBQ sauce, oat, rye, soylent green, etc on my gas grill. I won't call it pizza cause I'm not starting with fresh dough, but damn is it good and it's basically pizza.

I start with some Naan, I like this kind for my grill pizzas.

I heat the grill up HOT, as close to 500 F as I can get it. I brush one side (the flat one) of the naan with olive oil, typically I make a garlic oil by cutting up some fresh garlic, adding it to the oil and microwaving for ~60 seconds.

I now grill just the side that I oiled, just to crisp it up a bit and add some burn lines, I rotate it a few times to even this out. This will become the top of the pizza.

Grab the naan, close the grill lid, go back inside. Brush the uncooked side with oil, flip over and start topping.

Once your grill pizza is ready to go, make sure your grill is back up to temperature.

This next part is very important and how you do this will vary depending on your grill. A modern gas grill is essentially a convection oven and grill in one. You want the heat from above to melt the cheese/cook toppings and the heat from below to crisp the crust. these two values are typically not in the proportion you want them to be, Here is how I handle this:

I put the grill pizzas on the front of the grill and quickly shut the lid. I then turn off the front burner, I let this cook for about 30 sec-1 minute, then I rotate the pizza (if done right you can get sweet grid lines) and shut the lid. I then hit the gas in the front for another 15 seconds or so, then turn the front gas off again and let cook some more. I keep repeating these steps until it looks crispy on the bottom and the cheese is melted, typically between 4-6 minutes.

I can usually whip up a couple of personal sized pies in under a 1/2 hour using this method and they are fucking delicious, most of the time is in the prep.

Oh and never call it 'za.

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Cheers man.

PS I got me a charcoal weber, so no gas burners... This is what got me thinking...

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Originally Posted by Tectonically_Neglected

Cheers man.

PS I got me a charcoal weber, so no gas burners... This is what got me thinking...

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I think charcoal would also work well, it's just a little harder to control temperature. I think the pizza stone may alleviate some of that need though.

This thread's been neglected for too long. With all that Paleo talk, I forgot all about my roots!

Dough overflowing in the fridge after 24 hours of fermentation...
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._5850517_n.jpg

Lots of pizza!
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._2679312_n.jpg

One of the best I've ever made...
http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._1208971_n.jpg

I just started seedlings for San Marzano tomatoes, hoping to grow A LOT this spring/summer.

Post yours up!

If anyone is on a gluten free diet try Namaste pizza crust mix. I was skeptical at first, but it makes a pretty good pizza.

Anyone know any good yeast-free crust recipes?

Burnhard: Looks good, but are you cooking it directly on the rack in the oven? (It looks that way in the last pic.) For all the effort you're putting into the dough, you should really use a pizza stone. If you preheat the oven to 550 for an hour with a stone on the bottom rack, the stone will superheat to 600-700 degrees and you'll get something pretty close to a real pizza oven temp. Plus the stone dries out the air a bit, getting that crisp, slightly charred bottom.

If you're already using a stone, then... carry on. Pizza looks great.

These things work great http://www.gopresto.com/products/pizzazz/

http://www.gopresto.com/products/piz...ideo_wm_bb.php

http://cdn1.gamepro.com/article_img/...111608-2-1.jpg

This is a secret Pizza location. If I told you where it is I would have to kill you.

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Originally Posted by Pegleg

Burnhard: Looks good, but are you cooking it directly on the rack in the oven? (It looks that way in the last pic.) For all the effort you're putting into the dough, you should really use a pizza stone. If you preheat the oven to 550 for an hour with a stone on the bottom rack, the stone will superheat to 600-700 degrees and you'll get something pretty close to a real pizza oven temp. Plus the stone dries out the air a bit, getting that crisp, slightly charred bottom.

If you're already using a stone, then... carry on. Pizza looks great.

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Unless I am still fucked up from last night, physics fail.










But get a stone.

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Originally Posted by Crampedon

This is a secret Pizza location. If I told you where it is I would have to kill you.

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WOW....pizza oven shangri la...private residence?

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Originally Posted by TyWebb

WOW....pizza oven shangri la...private residence?

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It is a residence as well as an Art and Pizza Sanctuary, A place were beautiful women enjoy Pizza being served to give them energy for the nights music, wine and dance.


Attachment 93838Attachment 93840

Anyone else tried broiled eggplant on a pie? Usually do eggplant, chicken, and some crimini shrooms, delicious!

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Originally Posted by krp8128

Unless I am still fucked up from last night, physics fail.

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Yup, you're still fucked up. The idea is that the bottom of the oven is where the heat source is (coils or gas flame). That heating element itself is significantly hotter than the temp of the oven. (That's why the oven cycles on and off as it cooks - the element comes on when the temp starts to drop, then clicks off when it's hot again. If the element stayed on the whole time, the oven would get too hot because the element is hotter than the ambient temp of the oven.) So, by putting the stone very close to the bottom, it absorbs and retains heat directly from the element which lets it get hotter than the ambient temp of the oven. That's why people usually say to put the stone on the bottom of the oven. Here's an interesting discussion of the effects of putting the stone in various places in the oven - note that it mentions that with the direct blast of radiant heat from the bottom, the stone gets up to around 680 degrees while the ambient temp in the oven is only 550.

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Originally Posted by js3908

Anyone else tried broiled eggplant on a pie? Usually do eggplant, chicken, and some crimini shrooms, delicious!

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Never broiled it but tossed in itaian dressing and grilled is winner. In the above pictured wood-fired oven I often roast vegetables then put them on top. Mmmm.....

Great pasta dish to, grilled the veggies, toss with penne of bucatini and add herbs, soft cheeses,seasoning pesto or oil.....

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Originally Posted by Pegleg

Burnhard: Looks good, but are you cooking it directly on the rack in the oven? (It looks that way in the last pic.) For all the effort you're putting into the dough, you should really use a pizza stone. If you preheat the oven to 550 for an hour with a stone on the bottom rack, the stone will superheat to 600-700 degrees and you'll get something pretty close to a real pizza oven temp. Plus the stone dries out the air a bit, getting that crisp, slightly charred bottom.

If you're already using a stone, then... carry on. Pizza looks great.

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Using a stone, no worries ;)
I take the pizza out with the pizza paddle and immediately put it on the rack to let it cool without getting soggy.

Right now I'm using a pizza stone that someone left at my place, I want to get some kind of heavier and larger terracotta stone soon...

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Originally Posted by BurnHard

I want to get some kind of heavier and larger terracotta stone soon...

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I use a 17" terracotta saucer. Flip it upside down and it works great. It's big, heavy and only about $15 at Lowes/HD.

^^^Yup, I line my ovens with unglazed red quarry tile.
Great for bread and pizza.
Side notes:
Salt, rest, rinse eggplant before roasting.
proofing, folding and de-gassing are your friend, as is levain for the dough.
corn meal is essential to the peel and stone (works better than flour).
pizza ovens can never be too hot (99% of the time).
too much topping will affect cooking temps and times in a bad way.

I have learned that the tastiest homemade pizzas I make are the ones with the least "stuff" on them. Specifically, sauce. I use crushed tomatoes now, and strain them through cheesecloth (real "cheesecloth", like you use for making cheese - not the gauze that's usually sold as such) to get a lot of the liquid out, add some spices to the tomatoes, then spread it very, very thinly on the crust. It keeps the crust from getting soggy, and delivers more of a flavor punch than anything else I've used. Then, 2, maybe 3 toppings, and we're done!

Here's a change of pace: anyone making chicago-style deep dish at home? Any recipes for the crust? Can't get a deep dish pie in Colorado that's worth a damn.

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Originally Posted by Dantheman

I use a 17" terracotta saucer. Flip it upside down and it works great. It's big, heavy and only about $15 at Lowes/HD.

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Great tip for home use! Going to look today.

I've been making pizza at home once a week for what seems like months now. It became an addiction and now its a Sunday night tradition.

I do a 2-4 day cold ferment for the dough depending on how much time I have and then let it come to temperature and rise on the counter 3-4 hours pre-bake. They are fired in a 550f gas oven.

Piquillo Peppers, Kalamata Olives, and Speck:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...6&d=1299184773

Spicy Italian Sausage and Roasted Crimini & Shitake Mushrooms:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...3&d=1299184773

Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Speck:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...5&d=1299184773

Square Pie. 48 hour cold ferment, high hydration dough recipe. Fresh mozz, Spicy Italian Sausage, Roasted Mushrooms and Basil:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...4&d=1299184773

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Originally Posted by Pura Vida

I've been making pizza at home once a week for what seems like months now. It became an addiction and now its a Sunday night tradition.

I do a 2-4 day cold ferment for the dough depending on how much time I have and then let it come to temperature and rise on the counter 3-4 hours pre-bake. They are fired in a 550f gas oven.

Piquillo Peppers, Kalamata Olives, and Speck:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...6&d=1299184773

Spicy Italian Sausage and Roasted Crimini & Shitake Mushrooms:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...3&d=1299184773

Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Speck:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...5&d=1299184773

Square Pie. 48 hour cold ferment, high hydration dough recipe. Fresh mozz, Spicy Italian Sausage, Roasted Mushrooms and Basil:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...4&d=1299184773

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I'm coming over. I'll take that last one.

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Originally Posted by Pura Vida

I've been making pizza at home once a week for what seems like months now. It became an addiction and now its a Sunday night tradition.

I do a 2-4 day cold ferment for the dough depending on how much time I have and then let it come to temperature and rise on the counter 3-4 hours pre-bake. They are fired in a 550f gas oven.

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FKNA SON! Looks awesome.

Funny coincidence, I love making square deep'ish-dish high hydration pies just like that, it's actually what we call "Pizza al Taglio" in Italy and it's a very Fast Food form of eating pizza in Italy. I've tried up to 75% hydration on those. I pour a metric fuck-ton of olive oil in the bottom of a very heavy square/rect. pan, stretch the dough in, let it rise for 20-30mins, pour the tomato sauce on top and nothing else, bake it for ~10mins until the edges are just becoming golden, take it out, let it cool on a rack, once cooled put all the toppings on and back in the oven for ~10mins... comes out AMAZING, crispy, doughy & airy inside, perfectly done.

@Burnhard Yep, that’s very similar to how I made that square pie. I did a 48 cold ferment in the fridge, let it come to room temp in a bowl on the counter, and the gently stretched it out on and the pan and let it rise for an hour, topped with sauce and fired for 10 minutes, removed from the oven and then put on the rest of toppings and some dollops of sauce and back in the over for ~15 minutes.

I think the square pie slices reheated the next day in the oven are almost even better than fresh out of the oven, but either way it's not my usual style but still damn good.

@supermodel159 Ha, I'm right up the road follow the smell of pizza. We live in a pizza wasteland so I had to work on getting it dialed at home. The best I've found in the greater SB area is up at Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos. Only open Fri-Sun, worth a trip. We are actually headed up there in a few hours for a winemaker's dinner they are hosting tonight, stoked!

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...6&d=1299184773

Lookin' damn good.

What kind of flour are you using?

@RootSkier I use King Arthur Bread Flour. I've found that much lauded "Tipo 00" flour just doesn't work all that well at home (unless you have a wood fired oven in your back yard). I've had the best results with bread flour by far.

Here's last night’s pies. The dough was a 4 day cold ferment. The sauce for the first two pies was some pulverized buffalo mozzarella, some liquid from the mozzarella container, buttermilk, cream, and caciocavallo cheese. For the last pie its Six-In-1 Tomatoes, microplaned garlic, oregano, and olive oil.

Shaved Mushroom, Carmelized Leek, Mahogany Smoked Bacon, Fresh Thyme, and Fontina Cheese:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...8&d=1299513197

Rapini, Olive, and Buffalo Mozzarella:
http://stk.tetongravity.com/forums/a...9&d=1299513199

"Margherita" Buffalo Mozzarella, Basil, and Olive Oil:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...7&d=1299513195

I can hardly believe the effort I used to put into pizza dough. When I moved I lost my shitty oven that would happily reach into 650 degrees territory. My current oven, while much nicer, barely reaches into 550 and struggles to hold it. I gave up on the nice, wet doughs and have been making a version of Lieberman's relatively dry basic dough recipe. While not quite the same, I'm getting some good pies and doing much less work.

I am a little ashamed that I killed my starter though. It got lost in the back of the fridge and got moldy. That's something that, I think, makes the biggest difference of all. A good, fresh starter does more for the dough and the pizza than just about anything. Good, fresh sauce is a close second. The rest is just flare. :D

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Originally Posted by bagtagley

A good, fresh starter does more for the dough and the pizza than just about anything. Good, fresh sauce is a close second. The rest is just flare. :D

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I keep telling my wife this - pizza is 85% about the dough, 10% about the sauce, and 5% everything else. She thinks the opposite - the dough is just a delivery mechanism, and the sauce lubrication, for the cheese and toppings. It got me to thinking, that's a very midwestern way to think of pizza, and it's why pizza sucks out here. (Case in point: Nick and Willy's. Shitty, shitty crust that doesn't even get cooked in a pizza oven, but people are willing to pay top-dollar and think they're great because they use all kinds of fun toppings. I call bullshit.)

I am just starting to experiment with homemade pizza and have a few questions for the culinary gurus…

-I am trying to make a whole wheat crust, the first one turned out crispy/hard on the bottom, undercooked in the middle and top. Any ideas what the problem is? (wheat flower, oil, honey, salt, let rise at room temp. about 3 hours, cooked on preheated stone at 550)


-Where is a good place to start with the sauce? Fresh tomatoes, canned whole, crushed, chunked, paste?

I like crushed tomatoes. Lots of garlic, a tablespoon or two of olive oil, cook that a bit then add in a can of crushed tomatoes. Let it cook for say 5 minutes to get nice and mixed with garlic and you're set. Crushed red pepper is nice too if you like spicy sauces.

Did you proof your dough? After the initial rise you want to shape it into balls that will later turn into pizzas and let it rest for at minimum 30 minutes, the best results will come with an overnight stay in the fridge in a sealed container. Then pull it out a few hours before you want to cook. I find it works well with doing it at home because the schedule is so easy to maintain. You never have more than 15 minutes of work at one given point so you're not slaving over it for hours. More importantly, it tastes better.

Otherwise, I think making a good whole wheat is difficult, I'd start with a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and tipo or all purpose flour. After that starts tasting good experiment with larger and larger ratios of whole wheat and see what you have to change to make it a better crust.

Like brice said, a little white flour will lighten things up. If you're set on 100% WW, you need to up the water content, increase the kneading time and allow for a longer rise.

You really need to get the yeast working to get the dough good and light. Making a sort of sponge works well. Mix together all the ingredients, but leave out the salt and half the flour. It should be the consistency of batter. Let that bubble up and rise for about an hour, then add the rest of the flour and salt and knead as normal. Don't be afraid to add water as the flour sucks it up to get it to the right consistency.

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Originally Posted by snowquest

I am just starting to experiment with homemade pizza and have a few questions for the culinary gurus…

-I am trying to make a whole wheat crust, the first one turned out crispy/hard on the bottom, undercooked in the middle and top. Any ideas what the problem is? (wheat flower, oil, honey, salt, let rise at room temp. about 3 hours, cooked on preheated stone at 550)

Whole wheat is a PITB at first. I would recommend to learn with white flour first. In any case, it sounds like you might've under-hydrated your dough. What hydration percentage are you using? I'd say for an 'easy' first whole wheat dough I'd shoot for ~70% hydration, little change of messing that up. And I would also give the dough more time to develop, 3 hours isn't much for the yeast to do it's work.


-Where is a good place to start with the sauce? Fresh tomatoes, canned whole, crushed, chunked, paste?

I rarely start from fresh tomatoes, since most fresh tomatoes you get at most grocery stores are crap, IMHO. I like starting from canned whole peeled San Marzano's ... canned whole romas or crushed romas work too, no problem. Lots of olive oil in your sauce pan, fry up some garlic, throw in the tomatoes, salt & pepper, let it simmer for 1-2 hours to reduce it to optimal thickness. You can add other spices, too, but i rarely do, I like tasting the tomatoes as strong as possible, so I usually only add a dash of Oregano on top.

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asdf4567

How do you process the whole tomatoes burnhard? Wooden spoon in the pan? Blender? Masher?

best luck i have had with whole wheat is on the grill.
cook one side, flip and add toppings.
a spicy fig sauce (homemade by my m.i.l.) with caramelized onions and feta is the bomb!

Spicy fig & caramelized onions & Feta sounds DA BOMB!!

brice - if cooked long enough, no processing needed other than some light crushing with the wooden spatula. Extra bonus: the long slow simmering will reduce the sauce down to a thick'ish incredibly tasty paste.

When cooking on the grill, do you put the dough directly on the rack or on a preheated stone?

Also when working with a heated stone, do you flatten out the dough on the hot stone? or prepare the pizza elsewhere and transfer to the stone?

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Originally Posted by snowquest

Also when working with a heated stone, do you flatten out the dough on the hot stone? or prepare the pizza elsewhere and transfer to the stone?

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I use a peel to lay out the dough, and then slide it onto the stone. I've found that as long as I have the "proper" amount of toppings, it slides well. I've come to value a pie with just a little sauce, and no more than 3-4 toppings (a favorite is mushroom, sliced tomatoes, feta and spinach)

roll it out on a cutting boardw/flour + toss , place it on a peel with some corn meal. right amount of cornmeal and a careful hand you can slide it off with any amount of topping. pepper, onion, mushrooms, garlic, jalapeno, prosciutto, salame is the most recent favorite.

What is the appeal of whole wheat? It's hard to make, tastes like shit (on a pizza), and is not somehow magically healthier.

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Originally Posted by RootSkier

What is the appeal of whole wheat? It's hard to make, tastes like shit (on a pizza), and is not somehow magically healthier.

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Exactly. Whole wheat by nature sucks for pizza, if you insist on using it only use a small amount of it and mix with another type. For a home oven plain ole bread flour or a mix of bread and AP is the way to go. Same goes for "00" flour. It works great in a WFO where temps are super hot, but dough made with 100% "00" just doesn't work all that well in a standard home oven. Lately though I've been using a ratio of ~80% bread flour and 20% "00" with good results. Also skip the cornmeal, it alters the flavor and texture of the finished pie and its nasty when it gets burnt. As far as good pizza peel lube, Wondra flour in the blue tin of all things is the way to go. It's super fine and less of makes its way on to the dough, also its very easily absorbed so if it does make it on the pie you don't get that undesirable raw flour taste.