Making Pizza

[android]

Believe me, most commercial pizza is made with the cheapest flour available. The secret to the pizza flavor is in the amount of yeast and salt you use.

from what i understand from pizzamaking.com, most 'NY style' joints that make pretty good pizza (you may be talking dominoes, pizza hut, etc.) use high gluten flour, (e.g. General Mills 'All Trumps' or King Arthur 'Sir Lancelot'). most of the commercial joints (dominoes, pizza hut) use some sort of enrichment in their doughs (lots of oil, shortening, butter, etc.) so they can get away with using cheap flour, but if you want the best pizza, get the highest gluten flour you can find (unless you are going for neopolitan), the KA bread flour produces the best, most consistent pizza for me. i've tried all the others, but always end up back with KA bread flour. if i could find all trumps or sir lancelot, i would get them, but you usually have to get those at restaurant depot or something like that.

 

[passedpawn]

Got a good thin crust dough recipe? I'm very new to pizza making.

I copied this from somewhere on www.pizzamaking.com. I think it was a recipe by member Steve there, but I didn't save the link. If you make it just like this, it will come out fairly dry, won't rise much at all, and will allow a very thin crust.

Thin and Crackery
I made the most awesome thin "cracker" crust pizza tonight using DKM's recipe!

Thank you, thank you, thank you DKM!!!

Here's the recipe:

1 pound bread flour (Sam's Club "Bakers and Chefs bread flour")
2/3 cup warm water
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar

Using a KitchenAid stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add water to the mixing bowl and add yeast. Run mixer for several minutes to dissolve yeast. Meanwhile, in another mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar and salt. After yeast is dissolved, add flour mixture to water and set mixer to speed "2". Run mixer for about 10 minutes using a rubber spatula to scrape any dry flour from side of mixing bowl into the path of the dough hook. After 10 minutes, add vegetable oil and mix for 2 additional minutes using spatula to keep everything in the path of the dough hook. When finished, the dough will appear very scrappy and rough. Pick up the dough scraps and press them into a ball by squeezing them together with your hands. Place dough into a plastic bucket, seal, and and allow to rise at room temperature for 24 hours.

When ready to make pizza, turn dough out onto floured work surface. Using a large rolling pin, roll dough out very thin. Drape dough over an oiled cutter pan, press into place, and trim off excess with the rolling pin. Dock the dough, add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Bake at 500 degrees F. on the lowest rack in the oven (the cutter pan should only be inches from the heating element). I open the oven door frequently to allow the heat to escape... this causes the thermostat to kick on which keeps the bottom heating element on. This superheats the pan making the crust cook and become crispy. When the bottom is golden brown and crisp, remove from oven. Slide pizza out of pan onto a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool 5 to 10 minutes before placing in a serving tray and slicing.

Note: Use low-moisture part-skim mozzerella cheese. I use Stella brand which is available from Sam's Club. For the sauce, use my thin-crust sauce found on the main website (http://www.pizzamaking.com).
​

 

[McMalty]

if i could find all trumps or sir lancelot, i would get them, but you usually have to get those at restaurant depot or something like that.

u can order king arthur products online from their website. Boom, here's your flour, it's $7, enjoy your pie <http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-sir-lancelot-hi-gluten-flour-3-lb>

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-sir-lancelot-hi-gluten-flour-3-lb

 

[two_hearted]

i make a mean dough with AP flour. i also do one with hi gluten bread flour. they each give different qualities.

 

[Inodoro_Pereyra]

lol....she must have been away from the calabria region for too long..........potato pizza doesn't sound very italian

It's not, believe me. I was 7 years old at the time, and even I noticed the look my mom got. That's when I learned you don't mess with Italian food (at least not in front of an Italian guy).

By the way, I've been making my own pizza for the last almost 30 years. Never used anything else than the cheapest flour available, yeast, running water and salt. And my pizzas have always been pretty damn tasty.

 

[android]

u can order king arthur products online from their website. Boom, here's your flour, it's $7, enjoy your pie <http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-sir-lancelot-hi-gluten-flour-3-lb>

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/king-arthur-sir-lancelot-hi-gluten-flour-3-lb

exactly why i use stuff i can buy locally.

 

[McMalty]

It's not, believe me. I was 7 years old at the time, and even I noticed the look my mom got. That's when I learned you don't mess with Italian food (at least not in front of an Italian guy).

By the way, I've been making my own pizza for the last almost 30 years. Never used anything else than the cheapest flour available, yeast, running water and salt. And my pizzas have always been pretty damn tasty.

But she's Italian too. Did she not read this section of the Italian rule book? Cite page 268, "Pizza non viene mai fatta con le patate."

 

[Inodoro_Pereyra]

But she's Italian too. Did she not read this section of the Italian rule book? Cite page 268, "Pizza non viene mai fatta con le patate."

Nope. Looks like she missed that page...

 

[onthekeg]

You can add vital wheat gluten to any cheap flour and end up with similar results after extensive testing. It IS possible. But there are easier ways to an end.

 

[Bokonon]

You can add vital wheat gluten to any cheap flour and end up with similar results after extensive testing. It IS possible. But there are easier ways to an end.

This is what I do. Buy cheap flour and add vital wheat gluten. Beats buying/storing multiple flour types all the time

 

[McMalty]

This is what I do. Buy cheap flour and add vital wheat gluten. Beats buying/storing multiple flour types all the time

why don't you just buy one flour type - high gluten

 

[blizzard]

This is what I do. Buy cheap flour and add vital wheat gluten. Beats buying/storing multiple flour types all the time

How much do you add?

 

[Bokonon]

why don't you just buy one flour type - high gluten

Because that would make some pretty nasty cakes, cookies, and soft rolls as well as cost a fortune for how much flour I go through.

How much do you add?

I think it really depends on your main flour and what your going for. For my normal pizza dough I weigh out my flour by weight, but before adding the flour I add 1Tbsp + 1 Tsp of vital wheat gluten. I think it is usually about .3 oz or so. I consider that part of my flour weight. For high "adjunct" bread (spent grain, multigrain, lots of wheat) I'll add about double that amount

That gets me the texture I like on a pizza dough, which I'm sure is different than other people.

 

[Chuginator]

Thanks to this thread, I went off and made a no-knead bread last Thursday/Friday (yum), and tonight I'm making pizzas with a no-knead recipe from Chef John (I find the guy to be a crackup). I'm even going to try the "pan on the bottom" trick because I'm not a stone-owning pizza snob (YET! ): http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2010/09/no-knead-pizza-dough-remix.html

Homemade bread with a homebrew. Does life get finer?

 

[Evets]

Wow! How did I miss an 18 page thread about pizza? I practically gave up brewing when I stated making pizza. At least I finally got back to brewing.
FWIW, I AM one of those lucky enough to have a wood fired oven in my back yard!

 

[sketerbuck]

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.

Maybe you should try measuring your ingredients.

 

[passedpawn]

Wow! How did I miss an 18 page thread about pizza? I practically gave up brewing when I stated making pizza. At least I finally got back to brewing.
FWIW, I AM one of those lucky enough to have a wood fired oven in my back yard!

Cmon Steve how about some pics!

 

[runningweird]

instead of buying a stone, buy unglazed clay tiles at home depot. super cheap. I did that for years, then i wanted something more durable so instead of a breakable pizza stone I bought one of these: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000E2V3X/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I use it to make bread, crispy pizza dough, and I use it to cook kebabs in the winter. crank up the oven to 500 and let it ride.

this thing works amazingly well, and second to my grill, is the best pizza maker I have.

 

[Chuginator]

I made pizzas last night with no-knead dough and they turned out AWESOME!!! I used a cookie sheet with a bit of cornmeal, 550F oven, threw it on the bottom rack for 4 minutes, it smoked and complained, I moved it to the middle rack for 6 minutes and it was ... perfection. I know, I know, "pictures or it didn't happen," but ... next time. I'm ecstatic!!

 

[passedpawn]

instead of buying a stone, buy unglazed clay tiles at home depot. super cheap. I did that for years, then i wanted something more durable so instead of a breakable pizza stone

Pizza stones do break. Especially if you put them over coals and heat them to 700F+

That doesn't mean that a broken stone can't still be used to make good pizza...

 

[McMalty]

Pizza stones do break. Especially if you put them over coals and heat them to 700F+

That doesn't mean that a broken stone can't still be used to make good pizza...

at 700F, why even use a stone? good to know tho, thanks for posting the pic

 

[Evets]

Cmon Steve how about some pics!

Sure, but first, let me also say how great http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php is. I've made pizza for many years, but it didn't really get good 'til I found this place.
Here are a few pies I made a week or so ago in my kitchen oven.

 

[Chuginator]

You guys are making me hungry again!! Wonder if it's too late to whip up a pizza for breakfast...

 

[Evets]

Last summer, I built my wood fired oven. If I ever scrape up enough dough(pun intended), I'll add a nice finish to it. The beauty of this kind of oven is it's versatility. It's much more than just a pizza oven. I even cooked my entire Easter dinner in it last week including a 22 lb turkey.

 

[Evets]

And then of coarse there's pizza.

 

[Evets]

And then there's the little semi-wood fired oven I built for festivals and camping and such.

 

[tbel]

And then there's the little semi-wood fired oven I built for festivals and camping and such.
View attachment 25105

View attachment 25106

View attachment 25107

View attachment 25108

View attachment 25109

You won't get any points for aesthetics, but it looks like it works well.:rockin:

 

[Jaysus]

And then of coarse there's pizza.
View attachment 25100

Yeah, so I am going to be in Lancaster tomorrow... what time should I stop by? Or do you just want to bring a couple pies to the TapRoom?

 

[Hugh_Jass]

Last summer, I built my wood fired oven. If I ever scrape up enough dough(pun intended), I'll add a nice finish to it. The beauty of this kind of oven is it's versatility. It's much more than just a pizza oven. I even cooked my entire Easter dinner in it last week including a 22 lb turkey.

Winner. That is full of awsomeness.:rockin:

 

[Chuginator]

Ditto- dang Evets, that's just sick (in a good way)!

 

[Evets]

You won't get any points for aesthetics, but it looks like it works well.:rockin:

Yeah, I could snaz it up some, but it wouldn't cook any better. It really does work great!

 

[JonK331]

Made more pizza last night. Upped the salt (TBSP) and the yeast (12g instead of 7g) to get a more flavorful crust as someone on here suggested. It worked! Made the sauce also. Just did cheese so we could really taste the difference in the crust.

Just moved so I haven't been able to brew yet with all the unpacking. The pizza making is a really nice way to at least keep working with yeast. Awesome thread!

 

[Chuginator]

Pizza porn!

 

[android]

Pizza porn!

let me correct that for you.

Pizza pRon!

 

[McMalty]

Sure, but first, let me also say how great http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php is. I've made pizza for many years, but it didn't really get good 'til I found this place.
Here are a few pies I made a week or so ago in my kitchen oven.

Ok, that's it, those pies look amazing, could you post your crust recipe? i want to be like you.

 

[Evets]

Jonk331,
Looks downright tasty!

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

I decided to give the cracker crust recipe from pizzamaking.com a try, its fermenting now, should be ready for dinner time tomorrow.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizzainnstyle.php

thanks for tipping us off to that site, looks like a ton of great stuff...i have lots to learn.

 

[Evets]

Ok, that's it, those pies look amazing, could you post your crust recipe? i want to be like you.

Those pictures represent at least four different formulas. Which one(s) are you interested in?

And BTW, You will NEVER be like me! And furthermore, be careful what you wish for!

 

[passedpawn]

I decided to give the cracker crust recipe from pizzamaking.com a try, its fermenting now, should be ready for dinner time tomorrow.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizzainnstyle.php

thanks for tipping us off to that site, looks like a ton of great stuff...i have lots to learn.

I've made that exact recipe a couple of times. Works out great. Don't overdo the cheese... won't support it.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

you guys have any favorite interesting cheese combos?

I think my favorites are 50% mozz, 50% even blend of provolone, swiss & cheddar; and also half mozz half smoked gouda.