The Home-made Pizza thread

[Pura Vida]

I've been making pizza at home once a week for what seems like months now. It became an addiction and now its a Sunday night tradition.

I do a 2-4 day cold ferment for the dough depending on how much time I have and then let it come to temperature and rise on the counter 3-4 hours pre-bake. They are fired in a 550f gas oven.

Piquillo Peppers, Kalamata Olives, and Speck:


Spicy Italian Sausage and Roasted Crimini & Shitake Mushrooms:


Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Speck:


Square Pie. 48 hour cold ferment, high hydration dough recipe. Fresh mozz, Spicy Italian Sausage, Roasted Mushrooms and Basil:

[supermodel159]

I've been making pizza at home once a week for what seems like months now. It became an addiction and now its a Sunday night tradition.

I do a 2-4 day cold ferment for the dough depending on how much time I have and then let it come to temperature and rise on the counter 3-4 hours pre-bake. They are fired in a 550f gas oven.

Piquillo Peppers, Kalamata Olives, and Speck:


Spicy Italian Sausage and Roasted Crimini & Shitake Mushrooms:


Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Speck:


Square Pie. 48 hour cold ferment, high hydration dough recipe. Fresh mozz, Spicy Italian Sausage, Roasted Mushrooms and Basil:

I'm coming over. I'll take that last one.

[BurnHard]

I've been making pizza at home once a week for what seems like months now. It became an addiction and now its a Sunday night tradition.

I do a 2-4 day cold ferment for the dough depending on how much time I have and then let it come to temperature and rise on the counter 3-4 hours pre-bake. They are fired in a 550f gas oven.

FKNA SON! Looks awesome.

Funny coincidence, I love making square deep'ish-dish high hydration pies just like that, it's actually what we call "Pizza al Taglio" in Italy and it's a very Fast Food form of eating pizza in Italy. I've tried up to 75% hydration on those. I pour a metric fuck-ton of olive oil in the bottom of a very heavy square/rect. pan, stretch the dough in, let it rise for 20-30mins, pour the tomato sauce on top and nothing else, bake it for ~10mins until the edges are just becoming golden, take it out, let it cool on a rack, once cooled put all the toppings on and back in the oven for ~10mins... comes out AMAZING, crispy, doughy & airy inside, perfectly done.

[Pura Vida]

@Burnhard Yep, that’s very similar to how I made that square pie. I did a 48 cold ferment in the fridge, let it come to room temp in a bowl on the counter, and the gently stretched it out on and the pan and let it rise for an hour, topped with sauce and fired for 10 minutes, removed from the oven and then put on the rest of toppings and some dollops of sauce and back in the over for ~15 minutes.

I think the square pie slices reheated the next day in the oven are almost even better than fresh out of the oven, but either way it's not my usual style but still damn good.

@supermodel159 Ha, I'm right up the road follow the smell of pizza. We live in a pizza wasteland so I had to work on getting it dialed at home. The best I've found in the greater SB area is up at Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos. Only open Fri-Sun, worth a trip. We are actually headed up there in a few hours for a winemaker's dinner they are hosting tonight, stoked!

[RootSkier]

Lookin' damn good.

What kind of flour are you using?

[Pura Vida]

@RootSkier I use King Arthur Bread Flour. I've found that much lauded "Tipo 00" flour just doesn't work all that well at home (unless you have a wood fired oven in your back yard). I've had the best results with bread flour by far.

Here's last night’s pies. The dough was a 4 day cold ferment. The sauce for the first two pies was some pulverized buffalo mozzarella, some liquid from the mozzarella container, buttermilk, cream, and caciocavallo cheese. For the last pie its Six-In-1 Tomatoes, microplaned garlic, oregano, and olive oil.

Shaved Mushroom, Carmelized Leek, Mahogany Smoked Bacon, Fresh Thyme, and Fontina Cheese:


Rapini, Olive, and Buffalo Mozzarella:


"Margherita" Buffalo Mozzarella, Basil, and Olive Oil:

[bagtagley]

I can hardly believe the effort I used to put into pizza dough. When I moved I lost my shitty oven that would happily reach into 650 degrees territory. My current oven, while much nicer, barely reaches into 550 and struggles to hold it. I gave up on the nice, wet doughs and have been making a version of Lieberman's relatively dry basic dough recipe. While not quite the same, I'm getting some good pies and doing much less work.

I am a little ashamed that I killed my starter though. It got lost in the back of the fridge and got moldy. That's something that, I think, makes the biggest difference of all. A good, fresh starter does more for the dough and the pizza than just about anything. Good, fresh sauce is a close second. The rest is just flare.

[Pegleg]

A good, fresh starter does more for the dough and the pizza than just about anything. Good, fresh sauce is a close second. The rest is just flare.

I keep telling my wife this - pizza is 85% about the dough, 10% about the sauce, and 5% everything else. She thinks the opposite - the dough is just a delivery mechanism, and the sauce lubrication, for the cheese and toppings. It got me to thinking, that's a very midwestern way to think of pizza, and it's why pizza sucks out here. (Case in point: Nick and Willy's. Shitty, shitty crust that doesn't even get cooked in a pizza oven, but people are willing to pay top-dollar and think they're great because they use all kinds of fun toppings. I call bullshit.)

[scott499]

I am just starting to experiment with homemade pizza and have a few questions for the culinary gurus…

-I am trying to make a whole wheat crust, the first one turned out crispy/hard on the bottom, undercooked in the middle and top. Any ideas what the problem is? (wheat flower, oil, honey, salt, let rise at room temp. about 3 hours, cooked on preheated stone at 550)


-Where is a good place to start with the sauce? Fresh tomatoes, canned whole, crushed, chunked, paste?

[brice618]

I like crushed tomatoes. Lots of garlic, a tablespoon or two of olive oil, cook that a bit then add in a can of crushed tomatoes. Let it cook for say 5 minutes to get nice and mixed with garlic and you're set. Crushed red pepper is nice too if you like spicy sauces.

Did you proof your dough? After the initial rise you want to shape it into balls that will later turn into pizzas and let it rest for at minimum 30 minutes, the best results will come with an overnight stay in the fridge in a sealed container. Then pull it out a few hours before you want to cook. I find it works well with doing it at home because the schedule is so easy to maintain. You never have more than 15 minutes of work at one given point so you're not slaving over it for hours. More importantly, it tastes better.

Otherwise, I think making a good whole wheat is difficult, I'd start with a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and tipo or all purpose flour. After that starts tasting good experiment with larger and larger ratios of whole wheat and see what you have to change to make it a better crust.

[bagtagley]

Like brice said, a little white flour will lighten things up. If you're set on 100% WW, you need to up the water content, increase the kneading time and allow for a longer rise.

You really need to get the yeast working to get the dough good and light. Making a sort of sponge works well. Mix together all the ingredients, but leave out the salt and half the flour. It should be the consistency of batter. Let that bubble up and rise for about an hour, then add the rest of the flour and salt and knead as normal. Don't be afraid to add water as the flour sucks it up to get it to the right consistency.

[BurnHard]

I am just starting to experiment with homemade pizza and have a few questions for the culinary gurus…

-I am trying to make a whole wheat crust, the first one turned out crispy/hard on the bottom, undercooked in the middle and top. Any ideas what the problem is? (wheat flower, oil, honey, salt, let rise at room temp. about 3 hours, cooked on preheated stone at 550)

Whole wheat is a PITB at first. I would recommend to learn with white flour first. In any case, it sounds like you might've under-hydrated your dough. What hydration percentage are you using? I'd say for an 'easy' first whole wheat dough I'd shoot for ~70% hydration, little change of messing that up. And I would also give the dough more time to develop, 3 hours isn't much for the yeast to do it's work.


-Where is a good place to start with the sauce? Fresh tomatoes, canned whole, crushed, chunked, paste?

I rarely start from fresh tomatoes, since most fresh tomatoes you get at most grocery stores are crap, IMHO. I like starting from canned whole peeled San Marzano's ... canned whole romas or crushed romas work too, no problem. Lots of olive oil in your sauce pan, fry up some garlic, throw in the tomatoes, salt & pepper, let it simmer for 1-2 hours to reduce it to optimal thickness. You can add other spices, too, but i rarely do, I like tasting the tomatoes as strong as possible, so I usually only add a dash of Oregano on top.

asdf4567

[brice618]

How do you process the whole tomatoes burnhard? Wooden spoon in the pan? Blender? Masher?

[wendigo]

best luck i have had with whole wheat is on the grill.
cook one side, flip and add toppings.
a spicy fig sauce (homemade by my m.i.l.) with caramelized onions and feta is the bomb!

[BurnHard]

Spicy fig & caramelized onions & Feta sounds DA BOMB!!

brice - if cooked long enough, no processing needed other than some light crushing with the wooden spatula. Extra bonus: the long slow simmering will reduce the sauce down to a thick'ish incredibly tasty paste.

[scott499]

When cooking on the grill, do you put the dough directly on the rack or on a preheated stone?

Also when working with a heated stone, do you flatten out the dough on the hot stone? or prepare the pizza elsewhere and transfer to the stone?

[Captain Awesome]

Also when working with a heated stone, do you flatten out the dough on the hot stone? or prepare the pizza elsewhere and transfer to the stone?

I use a peel to lay out the dough, and then slide it onto the stone. I've found that as long as I have the "proper" amount of toppings, it slides well. I've come to value a pie with just a little sauce, and no more than 3-4 toppings (a favorite is mushroom, sliced tomatoes, feta and spinach)

[Hugh Conway]

roll it out on a cutting boardw/flour + toss , place it on a peel with some corn meal. right amount of cornmeal and a careful hand you can slide it off with any amount of topping. pepper, onion, mushrooms, garlic, jalapeno, prosciutto, salame is the most recent favorite.

[RootSkier]

What is the appeal of whole wheat? It's hard to make, tastes like shit (on a pizza), and is not somehow magically healthier.

[Pura Vida]

What is the appeal of whole wheat? It's hard to make, tastes like shit (on a pizza), and is not somehow magically healthier.

Exactly. Whole wheat by nature sucks for pizza, if you insist on using it only use a small amount of it and mix with another type. For a home oven plain ole bread flour or a mix of bread and AP is the way to go. Same goes for "00" flour. It works great in a WFO where temps are super hot, but dough made with 100% "00" just doesn't work all that well in a standard home oven. Lately though I've been using a ratio of ~80% bread flour and 20% "00" with good results. Also skip the cornmeal, it alters the flavor and texture of the finished pie and its nasty when it gets burnt. As far as good pizza peel lube, Wondra flour in the blue tin of all things is the way to go. It's super fine and less of makes its way on to the dough, also its very easily absorbed so if it does make it on the pie you don't get that undesirable raw flour taste.

[Dantheman]

I'm with Root (edit: and PV) here, why bother with whole wheat pizza in the first place?

[The AD]

and is not somehow magically healthier.

No, it is healthier. Whole wheat flour has lots more fiber, vitamins and minerals than white flour.

[brice618]

My favorite pizza in the world is olive oil on the dough, ricotta, parma ham.

[RootSkier]

No, it is healthier. Whole wheat flour has lots more fiber, vitamins and minerals than white flour.

If you need extra fiber, vitamins, and minerals from your flour, then your diet is hopelessly fucked.

But let's not derail this thread.

[The AD]

If you need extra fiber, vitamins, and minerals from your flour, then your diet is hopelessly fucked. I mean really, let's not be stupid.

You said it's not healthier. I stand by my assertion that it is, ad hominem attacks notwithstanding.