The Home Made Pizza Thread

[Natdavis777]

Is everyone using AP flour? My dough comes out ehh... I mean I have the process down. I have a good recipe. I think it is just either spreading the dough out too thin, not using semolina, and not using a pre-heated vessel.

 

[Yeastieboy]

I use Antimo Caputo 00

 

[schematix]

Is everyone using AP flour? My dough comes out ehh... I mean I have the process down. I have a good recipe. I think it is just either spreading the dough out too thin, not using semolina, and not using a pre-heated vessel.

Not saying I have the perfect dough, but I drastically prefer the flavor of dough made with about 25% semolina.

I normally use KA AP flour. I stopped using their bread flour because it made my pizza crust taste too similar to my bread. Not a bad taste, just too similar for me.

 

[Natdavis777]

Not saying I have the perfect dough, but I drastically prefer the flavor of dough made with about 25% semolina.

I normally use KA AP flour. I stopped using their bread flour because it made my pizza crust taste too similar to my bread. Not a bad taste, just too similar for me.

So you are using 25/75 semolina/AP? I am about to splurge in to 00, but I know I have made decent pizza in the past using AP.

Recently I have been pre-heating the dough after stretching, then pulling, adding the toppings, and finishing. I used to just throw everything on and back at 550.

First pic is 2 pizzas that wernt pre-heated dough. Was going for a more neopolitan style. Both turned out well.

Second is a margahrita with pre heated dough, and was ok.

Third was more of your pub style pizza, pre-heated dough, and lbs of toppings. Tasted amazing.

 

[applescrap]

Saw a recipe today was 25 percent wheat. I think beau jo's pizza here uses mostly wheat. They give you bottle of honey to negotiate crust with.

 

[cannman]

SWMBO does a AP/Whole Wheat or Buckwheat 50/50... I have to admit it's not too bad...

 

[Fire Me Boy!]

OH man... that bubble at 4 o'clock... TO DIE FOR....

This pizza is totally a 10/10... BUT How about two leaves of PURPLE basil in place of two green ones...... *drool...*

I actually have some purple basil in the garden. I'll give that a try next time.

 

[headbanger]

Is everyone using AP flour? My dough comes out ehh... I mean I have the process down. I have a good recipe. I think it is just either spreading the dough out too thin, not using semolina, and not using a pre-heated vessel.

I've always used either King Arthur AP or Bread flour kneaded in a kitchen-aid mixer with good results.

 

[schematix]

So you are using 25/75 semolina/AP? I am about to splurge in to 00, but I know I have made decent pizza in the past using AP.

I actually do 25% semolina, 7% whole wheat and 68% AP. I've made it with 00 before and only thing i could say was different is that the crumb was a little more tender. I'd do it again, but 00 isn't readily available to me.

 

[kev211]

What yeast is everyone using? Ive been using the fleischmans pizza yeast and its worked ok, but Id like something better if someone had a suggestion

 

[ericbw]

Is everyone using AP flour? My dough comes out ehh... I mean I have the process down. I have a good recipe. I think it is just either spreading the dough out too thin, not using semolina, and not using a pre-heated vessel.

I got much better results with bread flour. I also think that you can make decent crust by letting it rise for a couple of hours at room temp, but you get a much better crust if you let it rise 1-3 days in the fridge, then letting it rise on the counter, then shape, top, bake.

If you use a stone, preheat it for a long time. And I think cornmeal or semolina is essential for easy in and out on a stone or an upside down sheet pan. For a pan pizza in the pan (pan style, deep dish, grandma style), then oil the whole pan really well.

And don't spread it too thin.

 

[TrickyDick]

Is everyone using AP flour? My dough comes out ehh... I mean I have the process down. I have a good recipe. I think it is just either spreading the dough out too thin, not using semolina, and not using a pre-heated vessel.

People make a bid deal out of the flour. I think its probably more important to measure flour and water by weight than anything else. Type of flour is important based on the baking temps as well. If you are looking for New York style pizza, Bread Flour has a higher protein content and gluten than AP flour and will give you better results. Shoot for 500-550º oven temp. Semolina is unnecessary. The coarse texture helps some folks to launch their pie off the "peel" into the oven or heated stone/steel sort of like ball bearings. It can burn though. I use an aluminum GHA perforated peel, pricey but worth every penny. Can build your pie on floured countertop and scoop onto the peel, shake to release flour though perforations (so it won't burn in the oven), then launch into hot oven. Try a No-Knead dough prep per "serious eats" website, using only water flour yeast and salt for improved gluten formation. 61-64% hydration. You can get windowpaning results. Most of the commercial pizza buy bulk flour, which is cheaper and more options than the grocery store 5# sacks. I get a big sack of All-Trumps brand flour ($20) and divvy into Homer buckets. Lasts me a year or more depending on how much I make.

Save the Caputo 00 flour for 90 second Neapolitan style pizza baked at 900+º. It yields a softer texture typical of the style but not as good at New York Style 500-500º bakes in my opinion. Its harder to do correctly than NY style, and 900º ovens are not very forgiving (burnt flour on bottoms, undercooked toppings if you aren't "doming" and uneven cooking unless you are rotating during the bake) and the brief 90 second bake requires continuous vigilance.

What is your recipe?

 

[krackin]

At times I add 25% to 30% multi-grain flour to my bread flour for a different crust. It contains red and white wheat, rye, barley, rice, triticale and buckwheat. It needs slightly more hydration as it will stiffen up during rise.

My big stove croaked so I can't get high temps currently so what I do is use my rendered lard to liberally grease my thin carbon steel pizza pan. Sometimes I also dust with corn meal. This tends to fry the crust bottom and crisp it up. This is at 450* for 15 to 18 minutes. This works pretty well, not perfect but really quite good, better than most joints around here.

 

[schematix]

What yeast is everyone using? Ive been using the fleischmans pizza yeast and its worked ok, but Id like something better if someone had a suggestion

I use red star instant. I'd rate it as slightly better than Fleischmans. Seems to rise a touch slower and develop more flavor.

 

[hotwatermusic]

Since everybody is out and chatty today... Any poolish guys? Even more to the point, any of my wort users try poolish with wort in the starter? I've tried a standard poolish. Thought it was great, not groundbreaking, but I've never met a pizza I didn't like.

 

[krackin]

Wrong thread if you don't want to talk pizza.

There is a friendly thread for special friends somewhere.

 

[Natdavis777]

I got much better results with bread flour. I also think that you can make decent crust by letting it rise for a couple of hours at room temp, but you get a much better crust if you let it rise 1-3 days in the fridge, then letting it rise on the counter, then shape, top, bake.

If you use a stone, preheat it for a long time. And I think cornmeal or semolina is essential for easy in and out on a stone or an upside down sheet pan. For a pan pizza in the pan (pan style, deep dish, grandma style), then oil the whole pan really well.

And don't spread it too thin.

Lately Ive been doing the cold rise method. So I make my dough a day or two ahead of time. I like the result of the dough. Again, I think it is my pre-baking giving me issues. I had a stone once and it literally cracked... I need to invest in another. Id like to use it on the grill where I can get 600+ temps and see the results then.

 

[Natdavis777]

People make a bid deal out of the flour. I think its probably more important to measure flour and water by weight than anything else. Type of flour is important based on the baking temps as well. If you are looking for New York style pizza, Bread Flour has a higher protein content and gluten than AP flour and will give you better results. Shoot for 500-550º oven temp. Semolina is unnecessary. The coarse texture helps some folks to launch their pie off the "peel" into the oven or heated stone/steel sort of like ball bearings. It can burn though. I use an aluminum GHA perforated peel, pricey but worth every penny. Can build your pie on floured countertop and scoop onto the peel, shake to release flour though perforations (so it won't burn in the oven), then launch into hot oven. Try a No-Knead dough prep per "serious eats" website, using only water flour yeast and salt for improved gluten formation. 61-64% hydration. You can get windowpaning results. Most of the commercial pizza buy bulk flour, which is cheaper and more options than the grocery store 5# sacks. I get a big sack of All-Trumps brand flour ($20) and divvy into Homer buckets. Lasts me a year or more depending on how much I make.

Save the Caputo 00 flour for 90 second Neapolitan style pizza baked at 900+º. It yields a softer texture typical of the style but not as good at New York Style 500-500º bakes in my opinion. Its harder to do correctly than NY style, and 900º ovens are not very forgiving (burnt flour on bottoms, undercooked toppings if you aren't "doming" and uneven cooking unless you are rotating during the bake) and the brief 90 second bake requires continuous vigilance.

What is your recipe?

No way Im getting to 900F so Neopolitan is out of my territory. Ive been doing mine by weight for awhile. Last recipe was 250g flour, 170g warm water, 5g salt, 7g yeast, 3g sugar. I didnt cold rise last time as I was pressed for time.

 

[hotwatermusic]

Wrong thread if you don't want to talk pizza.

There is a friendly thread for special friends somewhere.

Right, thanks.

 

[Yeastieboy]

Caputo is slightly higher in protein content then KAAP and the tipo 00 fineness makes for an great texture. I use it for all styles of pizza.

 

[applescrap]

Since everybody is out and chatty today... Any poolish guys? Even more to the point, any of my wort users try poolish with wort in the starter? I've tried a standard poolish. Thought it was great, not groundbreaking, but I've never met a pizza I didn't like.

A wort poolish for pizza or bread dough?, i am so intrigued. Could you elaborate. Sorry some people dont know how to use google for things they dont know. Why not just a beer poolish?

 

[kev211]

Wrong thread if you don't want to talk pizza.

There is a friendly thread for special friends somewhere.

Uhhhh... GOOGLE

 

[hotwatermusic]

Ha. It's all good. I've used a poolish with pizza dough, it definitely adds something. I think the preferment time is important and I haven't experimented enough.
I like to substitute wort for water in my dough but haven't gone so far as to use it in the poolish because I assume all those simple sugars would distract or little buddies and they wouldn't develop any more complex bready flavors.
It's worth trying the technique if for nothing else than to see what a fraction of a gram of yeast can do with just some flour and water in less than a day at room temps.

 

[hotwatermusic]

Sorry... And as far as using beer for the poolish, I'd worry that the alcohol might be too much. A typical example is something like equal parts flour and water by weight and just .2% yeast. It ferment at room temp for anywhere from 8 hours to a day.

 

[Staestc]

I'm pretty sure that most of us agree that your original post on poolish belonged here. I am fascinated now that I looked it up about the possibilities and what it might bring to the table.

High alcohol beers might be an issue with the yeast in dough, and wort would be no problem, but I'm thinking that 5% beers might not do more than slightly slow down the rise. Sounds like experiments are in order!

 

[CrewDog]

Anybody got a good Sourdough rye crust recipe i can try? We just inherited a ton of rye from a neighbor an I'm looking for delicious ways to use it!

 

[brewbama]

I use 50/50 beer/water to bring another dimension to my pizza on occasion

I like KA Bread flour for the gluten content. I have caputo 00 and have used it in varying ratios from 100% to 50/50 to 75/25 KABF/Caputo but decided I like the 100% KABF better

I also use the no kneed recipe but prefer 24 hours @ 72*F vs cold ferment @ 3 days.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

What yeast is everyone using? Ive been using the fleischmans pizza yeast and its worked ok, but Id like something better if someone had a suggestion

Fleischmans quick rise or Red Star is what I use, I don't notice much difference in the crust or flavor.... fresh baked bread always smells wonderful.

 

[applescrap]

Can someone give me a definitive on the no knead ferment method. Is this the best way to go or does it really matter?

 

[Jwin]

16" NY style with boars head turkey pep and extra cheese (fresh grated) on half for the adults

Did another with pinapple pep and turkey bacon but I got hungry and forgot to take a pic.

Tomatoes are about an inch big right now. Gonna can some sauce and ragu this year, all from the garden. Can't wait.

FYI, the trick to a crispy NY street slice is to par bake until just brown,
Cool on a rack while your stone reheats, and then bake the rest if the way. Serve immediately. Par baking cuts down on the steam generated by the crust IMHO.
Only way I've ever gotten it to work in a 550 oven. I'm constantly chasing the nyc street pie.
I've been slinging dough for a decade and a half and experimented with convection ovens quite a bit as wrll as eaten half my body weight in slices between two different trips to nyc. Par baking like they do on the street has its merit. But without a hot stone, atleast for the second bake cycle, it's not even close

View attachment 1464234156358.jpg