The Home Made Pizza Thread

[applescrap]

Just curious. Has anyone ever used their pizza dough recipe to make a Stromboli? Basically the same thing?

Yes, stromboli, calazones, pinwheels, you name it. Moms stromboli had different toppings and was thicker. Like a pizza ham sandwich. So I am not sure I have made traditional strombolis but any dough would work I am assuming. For mamas stromboli seek non pizza ingredients.

 

[applescrap]

View attachment 679651View attachment 679652View attachment 679653View attachment 679654
Before and after pictures. One pepperoni and the other buffalo chicken. Realized the after of the buffalo chicken pic didn’t turn out very well.
I like to season the crust with some oil, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic salt & Parmesan cheese. It’s like a breadstick and crispy.

The crust on that pepperoni has my mouth watering.

 

[applescrap]

Has anyone here on HBT built a wood-fired concrete pizza oven using an exercise ball as a mold? I've been reading about them lately and watching youtube build videos, pretty intriguing and pretty cheap to build a basic one.

Good question. Based on my vast amounts of research on using the foam template with brick guides, I think thats the way to go. The base is a simple u shaped block base. I think its woodfired ovens dot com. There are a few other sites like this. But sure your ball will work well too. The one where they layer it over and over. Seems simple enough and affordable. There are lots of videos too of people making them. My oven, and the oonis are a good option too. The option to use gas is so much more convenient. And mine uses gas and wood so I get best of both, but I have a wandering eye for an oven

 

[jrgtr42]

I've been messing around with making my own dough for a couple weeks now. Using the recipe and technique from the Baking Steels website - so far I've done the same-day dough, but I want to try their 3 day ferment dough.
Its come out pretty good, though a touch salty - next time I'm going to drop that down a few grams and see how that works.
After that I want to try using my sourdough starter on it. Or maybe I'll just jump right in...

 

[applescrap]

The weather has been a little too hot to have the oven cranking for hours so I started playing around with the grill doing bread and pizza. First attempts last week was with just a pizza steel on the grate and ended up with burnt bottoms or under cooked tops. This is my latest configuration.
View attachment 683410
I went with a plain dough with no sugar or oil to keep it from burning. First pizza done only on the pizza stone. Maybe need to be turned during cooking as it was browned a little uneven.
View attachment 683413


Last ones start on the pizza steel for a couple minutes then drop to the stone to finish for a few more minute. Cooked in about 5min for a 10 or 11in pizza.
View attachment 683414
No oil or sugar in the dough made a crisp chewing crust, it is standing on edge without flexing.
View attachment 683415View attachment 683416

This was the last one, less time on the steel and more on the stone got a little better browning. I might brush a little oil on the edge of the crust next time to aid browinng. View attachment 683417

Great write up. I appreciate the experimentation very much. Perhaps one of those boxes we discussed a ways back is what you seek. Btw, that is like my crust then as I use no sugar or oil in my bucket dough.

 

[applescrap]

I'm going to try to make my own pizza. Which dough, sauce, cheese should i use? Dont give me expensive brands. I just want something that's better than frozen pizza

The mozzarella from sams is inexpensive and very good. For inexpensive quick sauce I use cans of tomato sauce from sams with salt and seasoning. Pizza sauce can be made and bought fairly inexpensively and easily as well. There are lots of dough recipes, but most include flour and yeast. Buy those in bulk to save money.

 

[Jayjay1976]

The mozzarella from sams is inexpensive and very good. For inexpensive quick sauce I use cans of tomato sauce from sams with salt and seasoning. Pizza sauce can be made and bought fairly inexpensively and easily as well. There are lots of dough recipes, but most include flour and yeast. Buy those in bulk to save money.

A few years back we were shopping at restaurant depot and on a whim I bought a huge sack of pizza flour from new york, I want to say it was ~20-25 lbs for like $15. It lasted a good long while and turned out some great crust in our oven at 575f. Flour in bulk is cheap but you can also get the high grade specialty stuff meant for restaurants which beats the pants off grocery store brands.

I believe all you need is a tax ID# to get a membership card.

 

[brewswithshoes]

Great call out on pizza dough flour @Jayjay1976

one of the first things i stopped doing when making pizza dough was using any typical grocery store type flour (not to say you can't get good flour there). I've settled on the Caputo brand "00" flour for my use.

Have found a 55# sack from webstaurant dot com for about 45 bucks. Seems like a lot of flour at once, but we split up into ziplocs based on our 1000g batch recipe. Stored in some extra grain mill buckets. Easy peasy to pull out a ziploc when whipping up a batch, and this was a huge financial savings over the way we were buying our pizza flour.

Long story short is you can make top quality pizza dough on the cheap.

 

[bkboiler]

Love me some pizza! Have always used my grandma's recipe, which is from a time-life "recipes of Italy" cookbook. Apparently the authors traveled around Italy to get these recipes--who knows the exact origin though.
I can get my oven on convection bake up to 550F, with my cast iron "stone" and parchment it seems to work.
My peel broke the other day. So I flip over a hotel pan to use to slide the pie-on-parchment into the oven.
Works okay, gotta take out the spare shelf in the oven otherwise I burn myself.
I made pies last week--pep and mushroom, sausage and olive, just pep, and just cheese.
My 4 year old loves helping put the sauce, cheese and toppings on as well as kneading the dough!
My masonry skills have been improving over the years...done many a brick wall, stucco, footings, grinding, drilling, cutting...
Reckon I may fab a pizza oven one day...

 

[orionol73]

The aftermath

 

[applescrap]

A few years back we were shopping at restaurant depot and on a whim I bought a huge sack of pizza flour from new york, I want to say it was ~20-25 lbs for like $15. It lasted a good long while and turned out some great crust in our oven at 575f. Flour in bulk is cheap but you can also get the high grade specialty stuff meant for restaurants which beats the pants off grocery store brands.

I believe all you need is a tax ID# to get a membership card.

Good tip. I go through a massive amount of flour. I make all our own breads, rolls, pizza everything. I have heard this before. I am in denver could you help me a little more down the path, thanks.

 

[applescrap]

Great call out on pizza dough flour @Jayjay1976

one of the first things i stopped doing when making pizza dough was using any typical grocery store type flour (not to say you can't get good flour there). I've settled on the Caputo brand "00" flour for my use.

Have found a 55# sack from webstaurant dot com for about 45 bucks. Seems like a lot of flour at once, but we split up into ziplocs based on our 1000g batch recipe. Stored in some extra grain mill buckets. Easy peasy to pull out a ziploc when whipping up a batch, and this was a huge financial savings over the way we were buying our pizza flour.

Long story short is you can make top quality pizza dough on the cheap.

I have heard that caputo is the best, I will check it out. 55 pounds would last us idk 3 or 4 months.

 

[applescrap]

The aftermath
View attachment 685915View attachment 685916

That cheesy bread looks so good. I have to know how you made it.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Good tip. I go through a massive amount of flour. I make all our own breads, rolls, pizza everything. I have heard this before. I am in denver could you help me a little more down the path, thanks.

 

[Jayjay1976]

*Restaurant Depot is business-to-business only. To qualify for a free membership account, on your first visit you need to show a valid reseller's permit (business license) or tax-exempt certificate (for a non-profit organization) and show proof that you are authorized to purchase for said business or organization. In the following states, you also need your FEIN: CT, IN, MA and PA.

Don't qualify for membership? Get access to most of our items on instacart (except in CA)

I would suggest first trying the path of least resistance, try ordering the pizza flour with instacart. If you do want a membership, you need a tax ID number. My wife easily got one of these when she incorporated her business as a freelance photographer/food stylist. On the application form it asks what type of business, all of the options listed were in food service, but there is also a 'general business' option. Go with that.

 

[applescrap]

Thanks so much, wow I had no idea that was there. I am a little worried though. If I go in there I am worried that I will freak out and jump down a rabbit hole I cant get out! Starting with bulk chocolate and ending with Idk a new bar in my house! Lol.
My sister is a podiatrist? Wonder if that would get me in.

I was gone a month but havent stopped making pizza! I sadly havent fired up the wood oven, despite begged by wife and kids. They are pretty lucky, pizza goes like this, do you want thin ny style with large slices, pan pizza, chicago pizza, detroit pizza, Sicilian pizza, calazone, normal pizza, crunchy crust, soft crust, cooked cheese, gooey cheese, thick crust, white pizza, etc....the normal is soft chewey and gooey. But that changes based on moods. I dont like the cheese overcooked! According to my son(8 yo) they use glue in cheese to make pizza commercial cheese look stringy. These are all different pizzas on different nights

 

[Jayjay1976]

My sister is a podiatrist? Wonder if that would get me in.

If the location by you is anything like the one by us, that will probably work. I remember going there with the documentation they told us over the phone that we would need, and standing there nervously waiting for them to say sorry, no chance, but then they handed us a membership card and said have a nice day.

They are a business and is is in their interest to sell more product, and anyone who can provide them even the minimum documentation required will get a membership. And its free. Of course, that was a couple of years ago and things change. Rather than bothering with the online application, just call them and ask what you need to bring along to sign up.

Another option would be Gordon Food Service, though I don't think they have locations that far west. They are similar to restaurant depot but no membership required, just walk in.

 

[Beernik]

Trying It for the first time.

Just curious. Has anyone ever used their pizza dough recipe to make a Stromboli? Basically the same thing?

 

[Brewsncrabs]

It sure looks good!

 

[Beernik]

Thanks. Normally we do calzones when making pizza like things from scratch. But our kid isn’t a big bread eater, so we decided to try something more sliceable.

It was:
Vegan deli chicken & ham
Vegan mozzarella & cheddar
Black olives
Pine nuts
No marinara inside the Stromboli, only on the side
The crust wasn’t anything special, just quick & dirty out of the Joy of Cooking.

If I had to do it again, I’d roll the crust a little thinner. It was slightly undercooked on the inside. I’d also season the inside crust before placing toppings. It’s easy to underseason vegan cooking.

 

[Hanglow]

some from yesterday - dough was a bit underproofed due to old yeast

 

[applescrap]

Those look like they turned out really well Hanglow, like they always do! Hows the sauce only? Always looks tasty. Nice stromboli up there too beernik. Looks really good and I like the crust seasoning. I guess I forgot to mention that I have also been making what I call lunch lady ham and cheese sandwiches. I am not sure how the lunch ladys do it but I spread a ball of dough into half sheet pan. Then layer with ham and cheese and roll top and put on. I think I pinched edges and forked top to release steam. Like an American stromboli. Still a work in progress. Worth a try to change things up. I have also made idk what to call them, spicey pork buns maybe. I take shredded meat I have smoked and put in middle if dough ball and bake. Another kids favorite is to wrap hot dogs with dough. Although not quite the right dough my dough would be better for buns.

 

[bkboiler]

My sister is a podiatrist? Wonder if that would get me in.

Well...in Naples I'm told they sell pizza by the foot!

 

[applescrap]

Omg I am stuffed. The kids wanted calazones, my wife wanted white pizza with basil from the garden and I wanted the quickest way to beer thirty. Whipped up red sauce with contadina and organic jar garlic and Italian seasoning. Made calazones. And then a red pizza and two white. One with garlic spread all over it and one with garden basil. Man that basil was pungent
Of course I had to taste every type. Gwaaak I went nuts. Haha my kids face seeing that calazone was priceless. My preferred calazone would have cream cheese and garlic in it.

 

[applescrap]

We devoured it so no pics, but I reheated the pizza on the campfire grates last night. The garlic white pizza from above and wow was it good. No defrost, worked really nicely. Campfire pizza is on of our favorites, we use boboli or something like it but this was great.

 

[schematix]

Made 3 but this one stood out. Bbq chicken.

 

[Staestc]

Wow. I don't think I have ever seen this thread this slow. I've been off the thread since last Monday since I had major dental surgery and have been on liquid and mush diet for the last week and knew I could not stand to view real food! That BBQ chicken pizza looks awesome Schematix. Particularly like the thin sliced red onions!

 

[schematix]

Wow. I don't think I have ever seen this thread this slow.

Bad time of the year for pizza making when its 100F+ out everywhere.

 

[TallDan]

Bad time of the year for pizza making when its 100F+ out everywhere.

Outdoor ovens are pre-heated!

 

[ba-brewer]

These were from my last pizza session, too hot to cook inside so did on the grill. I used the blue pizza flour no sugar or oil to see if I get less burning on the bottom(seemed to help). The blue pizza was a bit slower to proof so I needed to roll the dough until the last pizza which I was able to stretch by hand.

Last pizza I built backward by adding the sauce after the cheese, as I heard that was suppose to give a crisper crust. Don't think it worked and may have made the crust sort of soggy in places but it really made the sauce stand out from a flavor stand point.