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Homemade pizza - what's your secret?
Posted on 8/18/14 at 11:15 pm
Posted on 8/18/14 at 11:15 pm
I'm working on my homemade pizza technique and it is pretty darn good now, but I still want to improve it. Wood like a wood-fired oven, but don't think that will happen any time soon. Presently I:
Dough - AP flour, water, yeast, salt, touch of olive oil. 65-69% hydration. Minimum 24 hour fermentation in the fridge (preferably 2-3 days). Tried Tipo 00 flour and liked it ok, but you really need a super hot oven (wood-fired) to get char on it. Best crust is with higher hydration, but dough is so soft it can be a challenge to handle.
Sauce - San Marzano tomatoes crushed with a bit of salt.
Oven - 550 degrees (max for my oven) preheated for at least an hour. Pizza cooked on 23 pound slab of steel. Usually takes 4-5 minutes.
Current favorite topping is blue cheese/prosciutto .
How do you make pizza?
Dough - AP flour, water, yeast, salt, touch of olive oil. 65-69% hydration. Minimum 24 hour fermentation in the fridge (preferably 2-3 days). Tried Tipo 00 flour and liked it ok, but you really need a super hot oven (wood-fired) to get char on it. Best crust is with higher hydration, but dough is so soft it can be a challenge to handle.
Sauce - San Marzano tomatoes crushed with a bit of salt.
Oven - 550 degrees (max for my oven) preheated for at least an hour. Pizza cooked on 23 pound slab of steel. Usually takes 4-5 minutes.
Current favorite topping is blue cheese/prosciutto .
How do you make pizza?
9
Posted on 8/18/14 at 11:44 pm to ChEgrad
quote:
preheated for at least an hour.
Seems like overkill.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 12:10 am to Jones
I preheat my baking steel a good while too. That's how you bring the temp in the oven up to mimic the wood fired oven which is the point of the baking steel as I appreciate it.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 12:19 am to ChEgrad
Fig
Proscuito
Goat Cheese
Arugula
Balsamic Vinegar drizzle on top
Proscuito
Goat Cheese
Arugula
Balsamic Vinegar drizzle on top
This post was edited on 8/19/14 at 12:19 am
Posted on 8/19/14 at 6:40 am to ChEgrad
Sounds good. We've been grilling our pizzas recently, with great results.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 8:06 am to vistajay
One thing that made a lot of difference in my pizzas was when I started using high gluten flour. That's what the pizza places generally use. I'd buy a 50 lb sack and it would last a year or more. This was my source:
Honeyville Farms Xtra High Gluten Flour
I also use a HearthKit oven insert that mimics a stone pizza oven. They don't make them anymore, but you might find one on eBay - that's where I got mine. I preheat for at least an hour to "charge up" the stone. I check heat using an infrared thermometer - I can get it to about 600 degrees because I have a self-cleaning oven. (Self-cleaning ovens have higher temp levels and are better insulated to hold in heat.)
I used to buy high temperature pepperoni by the 5 lb bag a Sam's, but the one by me doesn't carry it anymore.
PizzaMaking.com is a great source of information for making any kind of pizza you want to make.
Peter Reinhart's book, American Pie, has great recipes for pizza. That guy really knows his stuff. I also got a small Hobart mixer ($1500 new) for $35 at a garage sale and I have a nice big dough board, but those are just extras.
Oh yeah, use San Marzano tomatoes for your sauce.
Honeyville Farms Xtra High Gluten Flour
I also use a HearthKit oven insert that mimics a stone pizza oven. They don't make them anymore, but you might find one on eBay - that's where I got mine. I preheat for at least an hour to "charge up" the stone. I check heat using an infrared thermometer - I can get it to about 600 degrees because I have a self-cleaning oven. (Self-cleaning ovens have higher temp levels and are better insulated to hold in heat.)
I used to buy high temperature pepperoni by the 5 lb bag a Sam's, but the one by me doesn't carry it anymore.
PizzaMaking.com is a great source of information for making any kind of pizza you want to make.
Peter Reinhart's book, American Pie, has great recipes for pizza. That guy really knows his stuff. I also got a small Hobart mixer ($1500 new) for $35 at a garage sale and I have a nice big dough board, but those are just extras.
Oh yeah, use San Marzano tomatoes for your sauce.
This post was edited on 8/19/14 at 8:34 am
Posted on 8/19/14 at 8:54 am to Stadium Rat
+ 500 degree oven
+ Lodge Cast iron skillet heated smoking hot on stovetop.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 8:56 am to ChEgrad
that's a lot of work
Trader Joe's premade crust
Some type of red sauce
Cheese
Peperroni
Oven for 15 minutes on 400
Good enough.
Sometimes if i feel fancy, i'll use pillsbury dough to make stuffed crust.
Trader Joe's premade crust
Some type of red sauce
Cheese
Peperroni
Oven for 15 minutes on 400
Good enough.
Sometimes if i feel fancy, i'll use pillsbury dough to make stuffed crust.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 8:56 am to Stadium Rat
I'm teaching a whole class on pizzamaking in a few weeks...that's lots of fun. We do 3-5 different kinds of pizza in 2.5 hours.
I too like to bake on steel under the broiler and a long-fermented 65% hydration dough. I use AP flour and let it go at room temp for 12-18 hours before dividing & refrigerating (at least overnight, and up to 4 days).
A full 45 minutes to an hour is necessary to get the steel uber-hot. Skimp on the preheat and your crust will suffer.
I'm stuck on calabrese dry cured sausage, a very small amount of pureed tomatoes, capers, and black olives. No cheese.
I too like to bake on steel under the broiler and a long-fermented 65% hydration dough. I use AP flour and let it go at room temp for 12-18 hours before dividing & refrigerating (at least overnight, and up to 4 days).
A full 45 minutes to an hour is necessary to get the steel uber-hot. Skimp on the preheat and your crust will suffer.
I'm stuck on calabrese dry cured sausage, a very small amount of pureed tomatoes, capers, and black olives. No cheese.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:01 am to hungryone
Is there a calculation for how much flour, water, yeast, oil to use based on how many crusts you want to make?
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:03 am to ChEgrad
Mid's Pizza Sauce
Oven - maybe like 450
Topping - Arugula & Prosciutto or Pepperoni & Peppers
Oven - maybe like 450
Topping - Arugula & Prosciutto or Pepperoni & Peppers
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:09 am to ChEgrad
I can put a Papa Murphies take and bake pizza on my Primo and it comes out great. I think high heat and wood fire goes a long way in a pizza. Start there...
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:16 am to hungryone
quote:
I'm teaching a whole class on pizzamaking in a few weeks...that's lots of fun. We do 3-5 different kinds of pizza in 2.5 hours.
I would love to be that patient, but I want instant gratification when I crave pizza.
Now NOLA has so many good pizzerias that are convenient and affordable, I can't rationalize that much effort.
Plus, I feel I would butcher the shite out of the crust.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:18 am to Oenophile Brah
quote:
Now NOLA has so many good pizzerias that are convenient and affordable, I can't rationalize that much effort.
Not everyone lives in NOLA....sadly, I'm at least 15-20 miles from decent pizza. Plenty of crap chain pizza, but no REAL pizza in my burg.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:20 am to hungryone
quote:
Not everyone lives in NOLA....sadly, I'm at least 15-20 miles from decent pizza. Plenty of crap chain pizza,
That certainly changes the calculus.
I thought that's why they have those Johnny's take and bake?
Best pizza outside of Italy, or so I'm told.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 9:30 am to Oenophile Brah
The long, slow fermented means you can mix up the flour/water/yeast/salt on any random evening, divide it the next day, and then make pizza over five days. You KNOW you'll have a pizza envie at some point during the week. Or freeze the dough, then you can move it from fridge to freezer in the AM and have pizza in the PM.
To the poster upthread, if you have a decent pizza recipe, you can just do the baker's math, figure out the percentage of each ingredient, and scale it up accordingly. To calculate the ratios, you assume that the flour weight is 100%. All other ingredients are a percent of the flour's weight. Look at Varasano's chart (scroll way down to the square chart), which might help explain this: LINK
To the poster upthread, if you have a decent pizza recipe, you can just do the baker's math, figure out the percentage of each ingredient, and scale it up accordingly. To calculate the ratios, you assume that the flour weight is 100%. All other ingredients are a percent of the flour's weight. Look at Varasano's chart (scroll way down to the square chart), which might help explain this: LINK
Posted on 8/19/14 at 10:01 am to hungryone
Wow thanks for that link tons of great info in there on everything pizza. Not something to read on an empty stomach though holy cow. All those pizzas and list of pizza joints at the bottom is a fantastic resource.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 10:24 pm to hungryone
Varasano's site and Serious Eats have really helped my pizza. I make Peter Reinhart's recipe,but I don't usually chill my bowl or flour -I do use ice water. Have you tried it and found that pre-chilling everything is beneficial or not even necessary? I loved the crust using Caputo 00 flour, except I didn't get as good of a char with only a 550 deg oven- needed to add some honey to help it char. 3 day fermentation is much better than only one. AP flour really does a pretty good job. Tried bread flour for a higher protein content, but didn't really find it any better than AP.
I've been itching to do a fig/prosciutto piazza, but never quite have gotten it done.
I like grilled pizza, but have found it less stressful and more enjoyable to hang out around the island with my guests drinking beer or wine while I make pizza.
I've been itching to do a fig/prosciutto piazza, but never quite have gotten it done.
I like grilled pizza, but have found it less stressful and more enjoyable to hang out around the island with my guests drinking beer or wine while I make pizza.
Posted on 8/19/14 at 10:28 pm to hungryone
Great link. 
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