Making Pizza

[McMalty]

Anybody here make pizza?

I make pizza every friday and i like to think i've gotten pretty decent at it. Anyway....just wondering if anyone else does, maybe we could trade secrets or whatnot.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

I make home made pizza all the time. The key is the dough/crust for sure. Just like beer....yeast makes it or breaks it. Do you have a standard dough recipe you use? Here's mine:

1.25 cups bread flour
2 tsp bread yeast rehydrated in .5 cups lukewarm water
pinch kosher salt

Mix everything in a stand mixer with dough hook attachment until a ball forms, then mix on medium for 12 minutes or until dough passes windowpane test. For best results, let rise 1 hour then place in refrigerator overnight, remove 1-2 hours prior to using. If you're in a hurry you can use it the same day after it doubles in size, but it wont be nearly as good. Bake on a screaming hot pizza stone with your oven on full blast for that brick oven taste.

 

[viking73]

Where's curly when ya need him?

 

[bob1852]

Where's curly when ya need him?

He buys his dough!

 

[jmendez29]

I make home made pizza all the time. The key is the dough/crust for sure. Just like beer....yeast makes it or breaks it. Do you have a standard dough recipe you use? Here's mine:

1.25 cups bread flour
2 tsp bread yeast rehydrated in .5 cups lukewarm water
pinch kosher salt

Mix everything in a stand mixer with dough hook attachment until a ball forms, then mix on medium for 12 minutes or until dough passes windowpane test. For best results, let rise 1 hour then place in refrigerator overnight, remove 1-2 hours prior to using. If you're in a hurry you can use it the same day after it doubles in size, but it wont be nearly as good. Bake on a screaming hot pizza stone with your oven on full blast for that brick oven taste.

No oil? I've made pizza at home about 12 or 15 times in the last 6 months, tried three different dough recipes and they all had olive oil or vegetable oil in them. I'll have to give this a shot.

I use my kids as a barometer for "pizza goodness". They definitely agree that my pizza is better than store bought, but not as good as our favorite local pizza delivery place. It's been a few weeks since I made any, I think it's time for another crack at it this weekend.

 

[tbel]

No doubt the crust can make or break it but I think the sauce is the most important ingredient. I make mine from scratch just like my mom did. IMHO it is the best sauce I've ever had. No I won't share the recipe, mostly because I really don't have one. I learned from Mom and use the same technique. No measuring! As for crust quite honestly my luck with pizza crust is about the same as I have with Pasty crust. NONE!
I could make two batches back to back and have one be the best I ever made and the second be the worst.

 

[Homercidal]

Got a corner store in Cadillac, MI that makes a thick crust pizza I'd like to emulate. They sell TONS of pizza by the slice.

 

[jetmechG550]

There was a recipe posted for Mellow Mushroom's crust on the egghead forum not long ago. I think it was added to the recipe section. I use a very basic recipe most of the time and while it may not be the best crust out there it is good, consistent and makes for a nice crispy crust. Cook em on my Big Green Egg for that woodfired effect.

 

[TxBrew]

We do from time to time, but always use store bought mixes for the crust.

 

[mr_goodwrench]

I make pizza from scratch including my sauce every couple of weeks. I will try to post my crust recipe this evening if I have time.

 

[two_hearted]

I spent over a year tweaking my pizza doughs. I've got a couple different ones up my sleeve. The key is time, I let it sit at room temp for 2 hours, then overnight in the fridge, then at least 2 hours to come up to room temp before I bake. I alternate between a thicker crust with bread flour and a thinner with AP flour.

I heat my pizza stone to 550 for 45 minutes before baking. Makes a big difference. With toppings, less is more. I use very little sauce, if any.

 

[OCLemon]

Here's a technique I like that makes an excellent crispy thin crust.

Turn your broiler on.
Put something cast iron under it - I just a rectangular cast iron griddle, the back of a big cast iron frying pan works well too.
When your pan is really hot, ever so carefully slide your prepared thin crust pizza on to it and slide it under the broiler.
The crust cooks very quickly, and the broiler browns the cheese very quickly, and your pizza is ready in minutes.

This works best with smaller pizzas, as I don't have any 14" diameter cast iron surfaces...

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

No oil? I've made pizza at home about 12 or 15 times in the last 6 months, tried three different dough recipes and they all had olive oil or vegetable oil in them. I'll have to give this a shot.

I only use oil to coat the dough ball after kneading so it doesn't dry out while rising. Oil in the dough will shorten the gluten chains giving you a more crumbly interior crust. If you use no oil, knead until it passes windowpanes test and let it rise slowly overnight (fridge) you will end up with a crust that is crispy on the outside and light but chewy on the inside, with lots of flavor. It's all about developing the gluten, and letting the yeast ferment the dough to develop flavors.

 

[jmendez29]

I only use oil to coat the dough ball after kneading so it doesn't dry out while rising. Oil in the dough will shorten the gluten chains giving you a more crumbly interior crust. If you use no oil, knead until it passes windowpanes test and let it rise slowly overnight (fridge) you will end up with a crust that is crispy on the outside and light but chewy on the inside, with lots of flavor. It's all about developing the gluten, and letting the yeast ferment the dough to develop flavors.

Ok. Just learned a little bit more about glutens, and I now know what a windowpanes test is. I'm on a fairly passive quest to learn how to make really good bread, so I'm learning as I go. Does anyone here use a mixer? Once upon a time, I had a bread machine. It made decent bread, but I hated having to dig the mixer out of it and I didn't really care for a loaf of bread that looked like a cube. I now have a Kitchenaid mixer, and I've been using that. Assuming this doesn't offend anyones sense of cooking, does anyone have any recommendations for when to take it out of the mixer to finish by hand?

 

[jarod7736]

I've just started recently, and IMHO have nailed the Giordano's Chicago style stuffed pizza. Check out pizzamaking.com for another forum full of recipes for all different styles.

 

[Grimm]

I don't make pizza dough from scratch but my friend said that he makes spent grain pizza dough and it's great. I'll try to get the recipe from him.

 

[passedpawn]

I make my own dough when I make pizza because I only like it very thin and crackery. I have to use a food processor to grind the dough because it is very dry. Rolling it out is an ordeal, too.

I dock it and then onto a pizza screen. I bake the bare crust for a few minutes before I add the fixings.

Anyhoo, that's how I make a thin and crispy.

 

[azscoob]

I bake my pizza on a modded Weber grill, cut the bottom out of a weber 22" kettle grill, make the hole big enough to get a turkey fryer burner in it, place pizza stone on the grate and line the lid with heavy foil to help reflect the heat better. I made mine following these plans.

 

[coypoo]

We make pizza every Friday as well. Our recipe has about 1/3 whole wheat flour and the rest AP. We have learned that with the whole wheat flour the peak sitting time is ~4 hours, after that it starts getting sort of chewy.

I agree with what someone else said above about having your pizza stone sit in the oven for a good amount of time before you put pizza on it. The hotter the stone the better the pizza crust will be

 

[azscoob]

Good and hot is the key. With my ghetto rig it takes 3 to 4 minutes and the pizza is done, nice crisp crust too.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I also make my own pizza dough, our favorite is pesto pizza.

I make pesto from home grown basil, pine nuts, olive oil, good parmesan cheese, and garlic. I use this as the sauce on the pizza, big slices of home grown tomatoes go on top, mozzarella, a sprinkle of pine nuts, feta cheese, salt and pepper! So damn good!

 

[Chuginator]

Dammit, you guys are making me hungry.

 

[JonK331]

I used to make pizza all the time and actually worked in a pizza shop when I was younger. I got frustrated because the dough always came out too dense. I used Fleischman (sp?) packets from the grocery store. I also let it rise, beat it down, and then let it rise again. I didn't try the overnight method though. Will letting it rise slowly overnight make it lighter? I also used at least some olive oil in the dough, maybe that was making it denser as well? What brand of yeast do you guys use? Anyone tried Red Star (yes they make bakers yeast as well)? A guy at my work makes awesome bread from yeast starters he keeps in his fridge. He has a sourdough starter and a French starter. Seriously way better bread than I've even ever come close to making. He also makes pizza dough from both starters, I've never had it but I'm sure it's damn good.

 

[HexKrak]

I bake my pizza on a modded Weber grill, cut the bottom out of a weber 22" kettle grill, make the hole big enough to get a turkey fryer burner in it, place pizza stone on the grate and line the lid with heavy foil to help reflect the heat better. I made mine following these plans.

That's pretty awesome!

 

[azscoob]

I use red star yeast in all of my baking. I don't put oil in my pizza dough,

I do use olive oil, a peeled boiled potato and the potato water in my Focaccia bread dough, fantastic stuff!!

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

Excuse my ignorance but where do I pick up some bread yeast? Is it at the grocery store??

 

[azscoob]

I get my red star yeast at my local Costco, in a 1 lb sack I think.

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

baking supplies isle??

 

[GodsStepBrother]

I have made the dough with brewers yeast before, it came out awesome but took a little longer to rise.

 

[azscoob]

Yes, your local grocery should have rapid rise bread yeast too, in small packets. they should also be in the baking aisle