Anyone make their own pizza?

[georgevan]

I have concluded that the only way to get a pizza that i like is to make one myself. I hope that I am right and not disappointed. But I will buy the pizza dough instead of making it from scratch. Maybe youtube has some directions worth following. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Andy M.]

Buying the dough is a good way to go. Then you only have to worry about the sauce, toppings and oven temperature.

Pizza sauce is fairly simple to make. (or you could buy it by the jar if you prefer)

For baking the pizza a good stone or steel is key to success. I'd opt for a composite stone (cordierite) over a clay stone because it's MUCH more durable and not prone to cracking.

Preheat your oven with the stone at or near the bottom of the oven. A temperature of 500ºF - 550ºF is good. You should preheat your oven for an hour minimum as it takes longer for the stone to heat all the way through.

Buy a wood peel and dust it generously with cornmeal before putting the pizza dough and topping on it. The cornmeal acts like ball bearings so the raw pizza will slide off the peel onto the hot stone easily.

Before preheating the oven and cooking the pizza, disconnect your smoke detectors unless you like that high-pitched screech while you're cooking.

 

[buckytom]

Make sure ypu let your dough come to room temp.

The first time that I tried to make pizza, I tried to stretch out dough that I'd taken directly from the fridge.

It was an exercise in futility. Cold dough retracts faster than you can spread it.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

...Buy a wood peel and dust it generously with cornmeal before putting the pizza dough and topping on it. The cornmeal acts like ball bearings so the raw pizza will slide off the peel onto the hot stone easily...

While a peel is pretty cool (and on my wish list), you can use a cookie sheet as a peel. While not as easy to hold as a peel's long handle, it works good enough. The secret is the cornmeal.

 

[Andy M.]

While a peel is pretty cool (and on my wish list), you can use a cookie sheet as a peel. While not as easy to hold as a peel's long handle, it works good enough. The secret is the cornmeal.

Ideally, you should have two peels. A wood one to side the raw pizza onto the stone and a metal one to take the cooked one off. But I have made do with one.

 

[buckytom]

I recently saw a pretty cool "first stage" (oven loading) peel that was essentially made of wood, but had a thin, cloth, rotating surface reminiscient of those old hand towel rotary things in gas station bathrooms.

Lol, maybe I didn't paint the best proverbial picture of it, but it was cool. Sort of a cloth conveyor belt built into a wooden peel.

 

[GinnyPNW]

All good information up above! Personally, I prefer a metal peel. I can build my pizza on it and remove it from the oven too...and turn the pizza too, if using a regular home oven. I then remove the pizza the pizza to a cutting board. I prefer Semolina flour over Cornmeal, as it doesn't tend to bring complaints from DH (finer grain). I generally make my own pizza dough, but I make 3 or four at a time and then freeze what's not needed now. Pizza sauce is a subject on its own! There's red sauce, white sauce, pesto, olive oil...and so on.

All that said, I have a gas pizza oven that lives on my porch. It does take about 15 minutes or so to heat up, but it gets to 800 degrees and pizza cooks in a couple of minutes. Neapolitan style, that is.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

sometimes
you can freeze dough in portions and defrost fast in the fridge (shouldn't take long)


i've many other ideas for making pizza and i like the outcome so much.....


i'm overwhelmed by how much i can try to write about it


i don't like a lot of cheese


look at this crusty crust

 

[karadekoolaid]

I have concluded that the only way to get a pizza that i like is to make one myself. I hope that I am right and not disappointed. But I will buy the pizza dough instead of making it from scratch. Maybe youtube has some directions worth following. Any suggestions are appreciated.

So what´s the point of making it yourself if you´re going to buy in the pizza dough? Why not make the whole caboose?

 

[taxlady]

So what´s the point of making it yourself if you´re going to buy in the pizza dough? Why not make the whole caboose?

It adds more work and one more thing that could go wrong. The point is to be able to choose the sauce and toppings that one prefers. Also, sometimes it's good to test things out with some of the ingredients pre-made. Why invest a lot of time and effort if it turns out that it didn't make enough difference to be worth doing it yourself? If it is good enough to be worth extra effort, then making the dough oneself another time might have more appeal.

 

[dcSaute]

it takes less time to make&rise your own dough than thaw a frozen block of dough.
and it is a whole lot 'more better'

pizza sauce is NOT pizza sauce. I make my own from garden tomatoes. my sauce is essentially de-watered stewed tomato, an incredible 'fresh taste' vs. anything in a jar or can.

another aspect is the order of applied toppings. putting the cheese down first is like the worst thing to do. flat stuff - pepperoni, thin sliced onion, then stuff with a dimension - mushrooms, sweet pepper, olives - then the cheese to melt and hold everything together.

 

[pepperhead212]

Ideally, you should have two peels. A wood one to side the raw pizza onto the stone and a metal one to take the cooked one off. But I have made do with one.

That's what I have - when putting the dough on the metal, unless there is way too much cornmeal or semolina, I always had them get stuck, by the time the sauce and cheese were on, and I tried to slide it off. Slides off the wood much easier, with less cornmeal. But the metal slides right under, when removing it, with no problem.

 

[GinnyPNW]

You know, it just occurred to me...maybe we should ask what kind of pizza you wish to make? There are many kinds. Neapolitan, New York, Chicago, Detroit...thin crust, thick crust, deep dish pan pizza. Many of them you could cook in a pan instead of a stone.

Some of my fondest memories are about pizza from the local ball field. If I had it now, I might gag, but then....oh, so wonderful!

 

[Andy M.]

That's what I have - when putting the dough on the metal, unless there is way too much cornmeal or semolina, I always had them get stuck, by the time the sauce and cheese were on, and I tried to slide it off. Slides off the wood much easier, with less cornmeal. But the metal slides right under, when removing it, with no problem.

Since I just have the wood peel, I find the best way to take the pizza out is to pair the peel with tongs. I lift the front edge of the pizza with the tongs and hold it so it won't slide while I push the peel under the pizza. Works fine.

 

[SEEING-TO-BELIEVE]

i meant saying "crunchy" not "crusty crust"

 

[larry_stewart]

Since I just have the wood peel, I find the best way to take the pizza out is to pair the peel with tongs. I lift the front edge of the pizza with the tongs and hold it so it won't slide while I push the peel under the pizza. Works fine.

Thats kinda what I do. But I do the " Stupid Idiot, you should know better, you're going to burn yourself one day" Method, by using my hand to slightly lift up the edge, just enough to get the wooden peel underneath, then it slides under easy.


Another thing to mention is, depending on how even your oven heats up, you may have to rotated it half way through the cooking process to get an evenly cooked end product.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I am not a traditionalist, though I do love a good pizza, cooked on a heated stone in a 600' pizza oven (or whatever brick ovens reach in temperature. I enjoy all kinds of pizza, depending on my mood, New York Thin crust, Chicago deep dish, Detroit Square Pizza, Thick crust, stuffed crust, etc. However, my favorite is a ten inch thick crust pie, cooked in a cast iron skillet over charcoal, in a screaming hot Webber Kettle, with enough oil on the bottom to fry the crust.

My go-to sauce is homemade, made with a cup and a half of crushed San Marzano tomatoes , combined with 6 oz. good tomato paste. I enjoy strong flavors, and so my sauce is flavored with:

• 4 cloves minced garlic,
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 1 tbs. dried oregano,
• 1tsp. dried sweet basil
• 1 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic
• 2 tsp. coarse grid black pepper
• 2 tsp. crushed red pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary
• high temp cooking oil

My topping usually include:

• 1 pack, or stick of the spiciest pepperoni I can find
• Thin sliced hot capicola
• 1 cup sliced cremini, or button mushrooms
• Thin sliced sweet peppers, red, orange, and yellow
• 6 oz. sliced black olives
• fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup browned, hot Italian sausage
• fresh mozzarella in brine
• Havarti slices
  [/LIST
  
  Tip: The key to great pizza is to balance the flavors. Before adding the toppings , the sauce should be spread on so that you can still see a bit of the crust. Then build, starting with the flat stuff, like meat slices. Then comes the browned, crumbled meat, followed by olives, sliced onion, sliced peppers, basil leaves, and sliced mozzarella, and Havarti cheeses.
  
  Be careful. If the toppings are too thick, heat won't penetrate to the top layer of the crust, resulting in half-cooked crust. I found that out the hard way; and this goes for all pizza types.
  
  The beauty of cooking in cast iron over screaming hot charcoal is that you can make any style pizza you prefer, with the added benefit of the smoke flavor. Make sure to cook with the cover on, vents fully open.
  
  Just another option.
  
  Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[bethzaring]

I preheat my baking steel in a 500*F oven, the highest temp my oven reaches.

My bread machine prepares dough for two pizzas. I mix up the flours; whole wheat bread, semolina, and unbleached white bread flour. I tear off two large pieces of parchment paper and rest the divided dough on oiled parchment paper. Then I build my pizzas on the paper. Using one metal peel, I transfer one pizza to the preheated baking steel. Half through baking, I rotate the pizza by grabbing the edges of the parchment paper (no burned fingers) and turning the pizza. When done, 17 minutes in my oven and altitude, I remove the pizza with the same peel and transfer cooked pizza to a pizza pan I no longer use for pizza making. Slice first pizza and cool then package for the freezer. Then repeat process with second pizza, deposit baked pizza on same pizza pan and consume second pizza immediately with a few leftover pieces for the next day.

 

[Roll_Bones]

I have concluded that the only way to get a pizza that i like is to make one myself. I hope that I am right and not disappointed. But I will buy the pizza dough instead of making it from scratch. Maybe youtube has some directions worth following. Any suggestions are appreciated.

I have concluded the only way to get a great pizza is to go to the pizza shop.

 

[georgevan]

I have concluded the only way to get a great pizza is to go to the pizza shop.

I am beginning to think that that is the way to go.