How to make pizza?

[LuNchBoX1371]

So i have tried to make good pizza for a while and i can't seem to get it right; i use a: generic dough recipe, a homemade sauce that always comes out to watery even after adding tomato paste or i add to much and it turns to paste or it doesn't taste good-by adding to much oregano or basil or what not, generic Stater Bros. cheese (ive tried one other cheese but it got all waterery when heated), and generic yeast (dont know where to get bread yeast at?).

Sooo i kinda gave up on it but this forum has revitalized me to make some pizza-and some pretzels- but i would like kinda a step by step type of thing, sorry if thats to much i just want to know where im goin wrong, of how to make sauce- from what kind of tomatoes to use to how long to let it simmer and cook, how to make the dough, what kind of yeast to use, what kind of cheese to use, etc. Any tips or links to websites or a detailed intrusction would be much appreciated. Also if you have any beers that would go great with pizza i would like to brew some. Thank you.

 

[headbanger]

:fro: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f56/home-made-pizza-thread-405838/ :fro:

 

[boydster]

^ What he said. Also this: http://www.craftsy.com/class/perfect-pizza-at-home/186

Great info there, with videos.

 

[unionrdr]

I like IPA's with pizza,but nothing too crazy. We like to go down to Berlin,OH to Heini's Cheese Chalet. I like to use aged smoked Amish provolone & yogurt cheese with garlic,herbs & sun dried tomatoes.

 

[aiptasia]

I use my artisan bread dough recipe usually these days. Just remember 6 3 3 13 and use semolina flour from King Arthur.

Six cups water, 3 teaspoons salt, 3 teaspoons yeast, 13 cups flour. It's enough dough for about eight pizzas. Add it to a mixer with a big bowl and mix. The dough should be wet. Stick it in a big greased tupperwear bowl and let it rise for an hour or two. Put plastic wrap over it and stick it in your fridge.

Don't knead it. No.

When you want to make pizza, wet your hands with water and rip off a grapefruit sized hunk. Proof it immediately with a 1/4 cup of dry flour all over so it's easy to handle. Shape it into a ball and form your pizza round in the usual way. I use a perforated pizza pan but you can use a pizza stone if you want. Top your pie with your favorite toppings and bake the hottest you can crank your oven up to. In our house, that's 500 degrees for eight minutes. A gas grill cranked up to 600 degrees is even better and adds more crunch to the crust.

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

Ok thank you guys for the help and unionrdr that sounds like a good pizza, idk about the yogurt cheese i have never had it before so i can't judge yet but im eager to try my second hand at pizza. And aiptasia what it 6 3 3 13?

 

[Rhumbline]

Aiptasia's recipe is what I use exactly.

As for sauce, all I can say is experiment to find what you like. if it's too watery, just cook it down to make it thicker. I frequently used stewed tomatoes that I king of mash up.

Pizza sauce is usually pretty salty, you may not be adding enough salt. Also, go lightly with the sauce, it shouldn't be sitting like a puddle.

Cheese is whatever you prefer, I like mozzarella, parmesean, and asiago.

Try sprinkling some finely minced fresh basil leaves over it after it comes out of the oven.

For cooking, I use a cast iron frypan under the broiler. Let it get smoking hot before you put the pie on it and then pop the whole thing back under the broiler.

The gas grill doesn't work so well for me, I cant get the toppings hot before the crust burns but that's my grill.

the cool thing is that with that recipe you've got a ton of dough for experimenting and it's just a few $ in ingredients. Go crazy and experiment!

Mangia!

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

Ok thank you for the tip. Ill try cooking down the tomato sacue and see what happen then, but ill try the basils

 

[unionrdr]

Yogurt cheese doesn't taste like yogurt. It's the same consistency as farmer's cheese or gouda. The herbs,garlic & sun-dried tomatoes are in the cheese. I use the usual toppings under the cheese.

 

[Jacob_Marley]

When I make pizza I try to always use a biga (or a "poolish" for the french).
I always try to let the dough sit overnight in the icebox.
I make the dough a bit wet.
If I am making it only with light toppings like vegetables or chicken I use a sugo (or a marinara), and if heavier toppings like pepperoni and sausage I usually use a cooked sauce and make sure that it has been pince'd; which usually happens fine if you make the sauce on the stove over a period of hours, but you can also do it by putting a cup or two of sauce in a frypan and saute it with a little olive oil, stirring constantly, until the sauce changes color a bit.
Pince is that "cooking with Clemenza" thing in the movie The Godfather where he gives Mike instructions on if he needs to "cook for 20 guys someday" ... Clemenza says "you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn't stick" ... it's that caramelizing bit of the sauce that I'm talking about; that is pince.

And as mentioned, also cook the pizza in as hot an oven as you can get.
The point is, to make the preheated oven as heat retaining as possible so that the flame does not need to come back on which will increase the chance of burning the bottom of the pizza. Also put the pizza near the roof of the oven on the top rack so that it cooks from the top too from the radiant heat. And for that matter, I have a big cast iron griddle that I store in the bottom of my oven that helps hold and disperse the heat better too.

 

[haeffnkr]

I use my artisan bread dough recipe usually these days. Just remember 6 3 3 13 and use semolina flour from King Arthur.

Six cups water, 3 teaspoons salt, 3 teaspoons yeast, 13 cups flour. It's enough dough for about eight pizzas. Add it to a mixer with a big bowl and mix. The dough should be wet. Stick it in a big greased tupperwear bowl and let it rise for an hour or two. Put plastic wrap over it and stick it in your fridge.

Don't knead it. No.

When you want to make pizza, wet your hands with water and rip off a grapefruit sized hunk. Proof it immediately with a 1/4 cup of dry flour all over so it's easy to handle. Shape it into a ball and form your pizza round in the usual way. I use a perforated pizza pan but you can use a pizza stone if you want. Top your pie with your favorite toppings and bake the hottest you can crank your oven up to. In our house, that's 500 degrees for eight minutes. A gas grill cranked up to 600 degrees is even better and adds more crunch to the crust.

How long will it keep in the fridge?
Can you freeze the dough?

thanks
Kevin

 

[Jacob_Marley]

How long will it keep in the fridge?
Can you freeze the dough?

thanks
Kevin

freezing ... yep, you can, but ...

Some years ago I made my own frozen pizza's.
The trick is to use Compressed Yeast ("fresh" yeast) ... this would be the little yeast cakes found in the refrigerated section at supermarkets.
The compressed yeast rather than the foil packed "instant active dry yeast" (fast rise yeast) or regular "active dry" yeast ... seems to work better to preserve the dough's ability to rise after it has been frozen. I used a bit more (maybe 25% more) of the yeast as well when I did this.
When you are ready to do the final bake on a pizza made with frozen dough, let the pizza come to room temperature so the yeast can get re-established and rise before going in the oven.
fwiw - It's possible to make some nice "rising crust" frozen pizzas when you make em yourself.

 

[LuNchBoX1371]

When I make pizza I try to always use a biga (or a "poolish" for the french).
I always try to let the dough sit overnight in the icebox.
I make the dough a bit wet.
If I am making it only with light toppings like vegetables or chicken I use a sugo (or a marinara), and if heavier toppings like pepperoni and sausage I usually use a cooked sauce and make sure that it has been pince'd; which usually happens fine if you make the sauce on the stove over a period of hours, but you can also do it by putting a cup or two of sauce in a frypan and saute it with a little olive oil, stirring constantly, until the sauce changes color a bit.
Pince is that "cooking with Clemenza" thing in the movie The Godfather where he gives Mike instructions on if he needs to "cook for 20 guys someday" ... Clemenza says "you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn't stick" ... it's that caramelizing bit of the sauce that I'm talking about; that is pince.

And as mentioned, also cook the pizza in as hot an oven as you can get.
The point is, to make the preheated oven as heat retaining as possible so that the flame does not need to come back on which will increase the chance of burning the bottom of the pizza. Also put the pizza near the roof of the oven on the top rack so that it cooks from the top too from the radiant heat. And for that matter, I have a big cast iron griddle that I store in the bottom of my oven that helps hold and disperse the heat better too.

Thank you that has been tremedous help. I think im gonnna: cook down the sauce for a couple of hours with fresh basil garlic onion and oregano, start kneading the dough for 30 min., heat my oven as hot as possible, and get some good cheese; hopefully something good comes out