The Home Made Pizza Thread

[Evets]

Check out this thread on pizzamaking.com. http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,21559.2000.html
Probably best to start on the last page and work back til you've had enough.

 

[TrickyDick]

Thats thuge detroit style pizza thread! I started reading already. I might read some over the next week during down time at work. I remember the pizzas I grew up eating were a mix of pizza hut pan pizza, and little Caesar's, which I thought used to be the square pizzas, but later went to the round style. Its been 20+ years since I lived in MI though so my recollections might be far off! I do recall those crusted edges on the pizza, and the sicilian-esque style of many pizzerias in the neighborhood. I was in Western MI, not Detroit area, so we didn't get the Buddy's stuff like everyone talks about. Found a source for a pan, so I am going to have to try my hand at this some day!

TD

 

[m3n00b]

Well this thread gave me the motivation to bust out the old pizza stone! Its been about 5 years. My first job was at a family owned pizza spot. I still got it as this came out great. Tasted better than anything I've ever ordered.

I love my pizzas simple and rustic. Made some garlic dough. Spread evoo and Italian herbs all over. Coated with fresh made sauce, cheddar, jack, pepperoni and 3 min before I took it out of the 550f oven I melted some fresh mozzarella on top. Making another one tomorrow as I had some dough left.

 

[ChshreCat]

I want to get back on this. I started making a lot, but then my weight started climbing and I quit my homemade pizzas cold turkey, but I miss them so much.

 

[mpride1911]

Haha yeah. It was declared a vegetable by the government after all. I have to work off the gluttony from my South Korea trip, then I'll start making some again.

 

[m3n00b]

Made two more pies last night.

 

[finsfan]

Made two more pies last night.

that looks very nice

 

[mtnagel]

Beautiful m2n00b.

I made some no-knead dough last night and it's been sitting out since then. I will give spread it out when I get home and do another hour or so rise and then I'll grill it tonight. I'm very excited for dinner

 

[mb82]

Thanks to this thread I got back to making pizza. Never was that good at it before, I'm terrible now. My friends have been raving about this dough you buy at a local market and cook up to a thin crust. Threw the pizza stone onto the grill on a hot temp. Got the dough as thin as I could threw on my toppings and put it onto the stone. Well lets just say the bottom was black within a minute and the rest of the dough was raw. Oh yeah apparently what they think is a thin crust isn't, not by a long shot. Oh well looks like I have some more work to do in order to get it right. I won't be buying storebought dough again... unless it is from the local pizza joint.

 

[Evets]

FWIW, It's much easier to make good pizza in a regular oven than on the grill.

 

[terrapinj]

recently started making pizza on my little charcoal grill and couldn't be happier

i put the dough directly on the lightly oiled grill for a few minutes until it doesn't stick then flip it over onto a cookie sheet or board apply sauce and toppings on the side that was just facing down and then place back on the grill for a few more minutes

crispy fluffy crust

this one was done with light amount tomato sauce and fresh mozz - we added the fresh tomato arugula and sliced parm after it cooked

 

[mb82]

FWIW, It's much easier to make good pizza in a regular oven than on the grill.

As I discovered. I used to make it in the oven, I didn't want to heat up the kitchen if I could.

 

[mtnagel]

FWIW, It's much easier to make good pizza in a regular oven than on the grill.

Eh, maybe you are right. But it's a, "to each their own kind of thing."

As I discovered. I used to make it in the oven, I didn't want to heat up the kitchen if I could.

But definitely this. It's faster and doesn't heat up the kitchen so for me, grilling is the winner. At least when it's hot out.

Here's the pizza I made this week on the grill. No end picture because I was so excited to eat it. Of course I put too many toppings and cheese on (it's so hard to resist even though I know I shouldn't). Because my grill heats unevenly (I need a new burner), I kept rotating slightly maybe 6 times in the 6 or so mins it was on the grill and it didn't get burned. Tasted great.

 

[mtnagel]

Dupilcate.

 

[Evets]

Hey, whatever works for you.

Those grill pies above look great, BTW.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I love grilling pizza, the crust fries a little bit with the opil and is a different animal than the same crust on a stone.

Only thing I don't like so much is the lack of heat on the top. the cheese melts but no browning at all.

HB's pellet gril seems to take care of that, but my regular one did not. Even way preheated, lid closed.

 

[Melana]

My charcoal grill gets rocket hot and does a nice job browning the pizza...

CD - are you playing with gas or charcoal?

 

[Jaysus]

Evets> What's the trick to get that Airstream at an event?

 

[cheezydemon3]

My charcoal grill gets rocket hot and does a nice job browning the pizza...

CD - are you playing with gas or charcoal?

Both. I find that if it browns the top at all the bottom is charcoal.

I have considered sliding in a cookie sheet or stone underneath to let the top get more done.

 

[headbanger]

Both. I find that if it browns the top at all the bottom is charcoal.

I have considered sliding in a cookie sheet or stone underneath to let the top get more done.

Try a good stone, a pan will still burn the bottom if you're not careful. My grill cooks top down so it's really not an issue for me, in fact I usually have to move the pizza up over the fire pot at the end of the cook to get the bottom good and done.

 

[Melana]

Both. I find that if it browns the top at all the bottom is charcoal.

I have considered sliding in a cookie sheet or stone underneath to let the top get more done.

Directly over the coals or in a two zone fire indirect?

 

[cheezydemon3]

Direct, I see where you are going. The deficient gas grill won't do indirect (the 3 gas lines run across) But I will try it that way on charcoal.

 

[ChshreCat]

I love grilling pizza, the crust fries a little bit with the opil and is a different animal than the same crust on a stone.

Only thing I don't like so much is the lack of heat on the top. the cheese melts but no browning at all.

HB's pellet gril seems to take care of that, but my regular one did not. Even way preheated, lid closed.

There's more than one way to brown the top...

 

[cheezydemon3]

I actually do have the little "Creme brulee" burner and have used it, it just feels fake!

 

[Gutpunch]

Thanks to this thread, I have a new way of making pizza in my life. Somebody (and I wish I had the memory to give credit where its due) said he/she doesn't make sauce, but rather he/she just layers tomato slices on the dough and that's all the sauce he/she needs.

That gave me the idea to skip making my regular red sauce and just throw together sort of a big salsa, like a giant Italian pico de gallo, throw that on the dough, and basically cook the "sauce" right there on the pie. I grabbed a bunch of things from the garden (really just whatever was harvestable)...

3 large tomatoes, diced
Big ol' fistful of oregano
Slightly smaller big ol' fistful of basil
4 jalapenos, seeds and pith removed, sliced
2 serranos, seeds and pith removed, sliced

And some stuff from the pantry...

1/3 onion, sliced
8 garlic cloves, sliced
Salt
Red pepper flakes
Olive oil

Combine it all in a colander and let it sit for about an hour so the salt can leech out the moisture (so you don't end up with pizza soup). Make sure the colander is perched on something to catch the run-off, because you might collect a couple ounces of God's V8. Seriously, even just straight, that stuff is amazing. If I'd had any vodka on hand, it would have made for an awesome Bloody Mary shot or three.

I grated cheddar and parmesan on top, but only because that's what happened to be in the fridge. I'll probably sub mozz for the cheddar in the future.

But, holy crap, highly recommended. This might be how I make pizza from now on, red sauce be damned.

And I owe it to inspiration found in this thread.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Thanks to this thread, I have a new way of making pizza in my life. Somebody (and I wish I had the memory to give credit where its due) said he/she doesn't make sauce, but rather he/she just layers tomato slices on the dough and that's all the sauce he/she needs.

That gave me the idea to skip making my regular red sauce and just throw together sort of a big salsa, like a giant Italian pico de gallo, throw that on the dough, and basically cook the "sauce" right there on the pie. I grabbed a bunch of things from the garden (really just whatever was harvestable)...

3 large tomatoes, diced
Big ol' fistful of oregano
Slightly smaller big ol' fistful of basil
4 jalapenos, seeds and pith removed, sliced
2 serranos, seeds and pith removed, sliced

And some stuff from the pantry...

1/3 onion, sliced
8 garlic cloves, sliced
Salt
Red pepper flakes
Olive oil

Combine it all in a colander and let it sit for about an hour so the salt can leech out the moisture (so you don't end up with pizza soup). Make sure the colander is perched on something to catch the run-off, because you might collect a couple ounces of God's V8. Seriously, even just straight, that stuff is amazing. If I'd had any vodka on hand, it would have made for an awesome Bloody Mary shot or three.

I grated cheddar and parmesan on top, but only because that's what happened to be in the fridge. I'll probably sub mozz for the cheddar in the future.

But, holy crap, highly recommended. This might be how I make pizza from now on, red sauce be damned.

And I owe it to inspiration found in this thread.

You are welcome

It is so flaming easy and TASTES better, lol.

I am not saying that I never want pizza with an amazing fire roasted sauce or something, but sliced tomatoes sprinkled with Cavenders is my GO TO. Fresh basil and oregano? even better. Fresh peppers?



One use for sauce I can't give up.....is freezing peppers, sausage, etc.

For instance: I had a BUNCH of Italian sausage I browned up in chunks but didn't use 1/4 of (it was on clearance and needed to be cooked).

Rather than freezer burn all of that I put enough sauce in the freezerbag to submerge the sausage and squeeze out the air. No freezerburn.

 

[Melana]

CD I'm stealing this idea!

 

[TrickyDick]

Thanks to this thread I got back to making pizza. Never was that good at it before, I'm terrible now. My friends have been raving about this dough you buy at a local market and cook up to a thin crust. Threw the pizza stone onto the grill on a hot temp. Got the dough as thin as I could threw on my toppings and put it onto the stone. Well lets just say the bottom was black within a minute and the rest of the dough was raw. Oh yeah apparently what they think is a thin crust isn't, not by a long shot. Oh well looks like I have some more work to do in order to get it right. I won't be buying storebought dough again... unless it is from the local pizza joint.

I have had plenty of failures myself. I then stumbled onto this thread, and from here to the pizzamaking.com forums, where there is an excellent tool called the lehman pizza dough calculator. It makes it foolproof. try it out.

I'm making three pizza tonight with some dough I made using the calculator. My 8 year old son helped. super easy.

TD

 

[Bensiff]

I have had struggles on the big green egg with getting the top and bottom finishing at the same time. I have tried a pizza stone on top of the grate, directly on top of the place setter, and place setter with grate then pizza stone so no kidding, grilling is harder. Next attempt will be place setter with the pizza stone elevated a centimeter above it using the egg feet. Hopefully the smaller gap will be the trick.

 

[Bensiff]

Made dough tonight using white labs Mexican lager strain. Gonna let it ferment a night or two and then see how that yeast works for my standard pie recipe.

 

[Evets]

Here are a few from the camper oven last night.

 

[cheezydemon3]

CD I'm stealing this idea!

Police!!!Heeeeelp!!!

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I think ABG would "help" but if I remember correctly he is fond of pizza himself...

 

[cheezydemon3]

I think ABG would "help" but if I remember correctly he is fond of pizza himself...

It wasn't the pizza that itself that was stolen, it was my intellectual property of an idea I stole from somewhere that was stolen.

 

[TrickyDick]

Made dough tonight using white labs Mexican lager strain. Gonna let it ferment a night or two and then see how that yeast works for my standard pie recipe.

How did that turn out?

Didn't take any pics of my three pies this past weekend. Used my new perforated peel to scoop the dressed pies off the countertop and launch them into the oven. Worked pretty well, but easier with fewer toppings.

Loving that dough calculator!! Pure genius!

 

[DisturbdChemist]

Made a few this weekend. First is a buffalo chicken. Little over cooked but not burnt. Really good and latter is standard pep. This is getting me into trouble because its too easy lol

 

[cheezydemon3]

No D, the burnt one looks FANTASTIC

 

[Bensiff]

How did that turn out?

Didn't take any pics of my three pies this past weekend. Used my new perforated peel to scoop the dressed pies off the countertop and launch them into the oven. Worked pretty well, but easier with fewer toppings.

Loving that dough calculator!! Pure genius!

My final solution on the BGE is to run it with the bottom vent and daisy wheel wide open with the pizza stone directly on the plate setter. Having the pizza stone slightly elevated above the plate setter didn't get hot enough so the dough was slow to finish. I took pictures, but the HBT iPhone app refuses to let me upload them to my album so I suppose no pics. The smoke character covered up the dough too much to assess the yeast strain, but I will oven cook two more pies from the same batch later this week to get an idea how it did.

 

[DisturbdChemist]

No D, the burnt one looks FANTASTIC

It was good. I little under cooked the second. Its a softer crust but fully cooked. Next time i'll cut back big time on the cheese lol. For the buffalo i added some hot sauce and some ranch for the total experience. :rockin:

 

[cheezydemon3]

It was good. I little under cooked the second. Its a softer crust but fully cooked. Next time i'll cut back big time on the cheese lol. For the buffalo i added some hot sauce and some ranch for the total experience. :rockin:

I'll take a little overdone over underdone any day.

The darker color is more flavorful.

I need to do a Buffalo Chicken myself. Thanks for sharing!