The Home Made Pizza Thread

Trader Joe's dough. Baked on a stone w/ parchment paper.

 

Thank you! I'll run to Trader Joes.

 

The picture above is a pie I put together quickly for lunch today using TJ dough. It turned out really well! That's my go to dough.

 

My wife and i make pizza every camping trip anymore it seems. We use boboli and cook them over the coals from the fire. They have to be on this thread, more than once. Wish i knew how to find stuff. To use fresh dough over open fire throw spread dough over fire (gas grill too). Flip after some browning and top the warm side over fire, not to heavily. Our friends had a cool propane portable camp oven they used. With an old beat-up jelly roll type pan, I bet you can make an awesome Pizza in the fire, maybe a cast iron skillet. Trader joes, store dough, is fine and pretty cheap to.

 

So I got a wild hair and decided to make a home made KIZZA oven Yep that is a 1/2 BBL keg I converted into a pizza oven.
How it works.
I built a gas manifold from some scrap stainless tubing and parts. I rolled a ring and welded it into the keg for the stone to set in. I then added a stainless perforated basket that holds oak chunks. The gas manifold keeps the temps up and keeps the oak on fire for the added heat and the smoke.
I am on version 5 at the moment. It has been a challenge to get the temps right above and below the stone. But I think I have nailed it. Last weekend I pumped 30 pizzas through the oven in just a few hours.
Cheers
Jay

 

Just like that!

 

Man! That is some slick handywork.
I just picked up my Trader Joes ingredients and will do the poor mans version next week at the campsite.

30 pizzas? Dude... you are serious about this!

 

Jay, that’s just awesome, as always! Well done!

 

Awesome pizza oven!
I checked your site and I guess you're out of stock. Let us know when the finalized version is in.

 

Ha Ha Ha. I don't have plans to make this for sale really. I have built a couple for friends locally but that's it so far.

Cheers
Jay

 

Niiiice
Seems if you need more top heat maybe trim a bit off of the stone on one side, giving it a 4 inch or so flat edge.
Also, a narrowed opening in the front would probably help. I'm guessing the height above the stone isn't helping either. Just my guessing...

 

No match compared to what's posted here, but I followed the advice and used Trader Joe's garlic crust, bolognaise garlic and onion sauce, pepperoni, salami, greek olives, and a sht load of mozzarella. Pressed out into a 9 X 13 pan and at was sensational! RV trip was a hit. Next time, I might bake the crust a bit first before finishing with the toppings.

 

Potato pizza?

 

Whipped up some pizzas real quick for lunch. I used the broiler and got some better results on the top. I think what I'm looking for for better top Browning has something to do with the broiler. But I wasn't able to get the steel preheated enough to do a good job on the bottom. I think maybe I should try to get the oven as hot as I can for a half hour or hour and then switch to broiler, idk.

 

Preheating for a while helps a lot

Are you using pre grated mozzarella? That usually has starch added to it so it doesn't clump, but it makes the cheese brown quicker than when you grate your own.

I've recently liked using a mix of low moisture mozz/gouda/scamorza and fresh mozzarella

 

I've yet to find the perfect mozz that is creamy, oozy, stringy, and doesn't over brown.

A cheese blend is definitely the way to go. These days i do something like mozz, prov and jack (about 60%/30%/10%). It might be different though based on the ingredients you have readily available.

 

Monterey Jack is my go to for pizzas now. Used to be a mozzerella guy but the flavor and meltiness of Monterey is hard to beat imho

 

WHO THE HELL IS GOING TO ARGUE THAT WITH A NAME LIKE @Cheesy_Goodness ? lol

Cheers
Jay

 

Public Service Announcement:
Don't let you're granddaughter help cut the pizza.....

 

Sourdough pies tonight. 5 day fridge proof with a warm push earlier today. I missed photos of the pies but got some great cast iron garlic cheese bread on the side.

 

Man I'm hungry now. That cheese bread looks great. How do you use cast iron in pizza making? Never learned. I never had any luck in the kitchen either. Mom used it with two fingers of oil to fry chicken. Why do my hamburgers stick, arghh. Hoping you can help.

 

some from a couple of days ago, I froze these and we ate another 3. Not my best efforts but they were still tasty

 

Me, every time I come to this thread.

 

Mozzarella and smoked pork butt. Not a big trip, threw it together for lunch. Using spray oil on my hands and parchment I am able to stretch the dough out and make these pizzas surprisingly quick.

 

Nice.... Just needs some fresh basil leaves on there (and yes, I know this is a couple weeks later...)
I like the TJs dough also - especially the garlic herb one. All of theirs seems to be a bit harder to stretch out that another place I usually go - a local sort of permanent farmers market that we go to all the time. That's where I get my dough balls - they come out frozen (usually,) and I thaw them one at a time and it works well.

For cheese, as someone else mentioned above, besides using fresh mozz balls when I get around to it, I've had pretty good luck with the BJs brand shredded (Wellesley Farms here, don't know if they have other names around the country.) a good balance of stretch / ooze but will still cut off easily enough when biting.

 

Griddle pies

 

Poor mans wood fired oven. Gas grill with wood chunk and chips. I make the pie on the back of a parchment lined pan. Slide parchment and all onto stone. After 3 minutes, remove parchment from underneath. I shoot the stone with a laser thermometer. 450°F to 550°F is good. 10 to 15 minutes. Over 550°F will blacken the crust way to much in a very short time. Hydration as high as I can handle it (65 to 70%). A little cornmeal in the dough for crunch.

 

One of several tonight but the only one we photographed due to... well, let’s just say the Summer Ale is flowing.

 

Napolitana

 

Thursday night is pizza night, italian deli, mortadella pizza, classic NY style pepperoni (somekind of proud of this one ) and my son found the california pizza section on the pizzamaking forum, went for a Thai chicken pizza!

 

Why didn't i post these yesterday? Now i have to follow icebob! Those look awesome. You are such a good pizza maker. I may get that black stone oven at some point, but I don't think I could make them like that even if I did have it. Check out my new Blackstone griddle ice Bob. Used flour today instead of my lately normal oil and or using parchment paper. Because I felt like the parchment paper was messing with the crust and it would be better thrown straight on. I'm not sure it was much better and it was a pain in the neck. With this really wet dough especially working with it cold, i think I should have made the pizzas and thrown them straight on to the griddle. They were not sliding off anything very well. Good thing they weren't topped. Seared the leftover brats from Father's Day on the side while the pizza cooked and then threw it on top. The pizza had a crispy little bubbly surface that I really love in pizza, I tried to get a pic of it but it doesn't quite convey. It's been nice making pizza and getting the heat out of the house. Before we had the griddle I made pizza on the grill in a similar method and I think there's some pics on here of it. Knowing what I know now I might go back to that method to keep heat out of the kitchen .

 

I've been eyeballing that griddle for a bit now...!

 

6 made today, oven wasn't quite as hot as I'd like. Think my wood is a bit moist :0

 

I see pizzas in my future! I played with a simple 2-4 hour dough recipe last week. SUPER SIMPLE! Turned out SO GOOD! SO GOOD! my son. Very picky kid (must take after his grand mother) was like "Dang DAD! That dough is KILLER" I almost fell over.....Ha Ha Ha!

Cheers
Jay