The Last Great Pizza Thread

'Bout time we had a thread for all those that make their own dough and sauce. Too many good cooks on THP to let something as magnificent as that king of foods, pizza go unnoticed on this forum. This thread however comes with some rules to post...

1) Make your own dough and post the recipe. Thin crust. Whole wheat. Foccacia. NY or Chicago style. Naan....your choice!

2) Make your own sauce and post the recipe. Red. White. Olive oil w/ garlic. Whatever gets your mojo workin'!

3) Mandatory that it brings teh heat. Habs. Serrano's. Bhut's. T-Scorps. Fatalli. Hot sauce's and puree's will qualify. Using wimp sauce's such as Tabasco Brand or Franks will
be ridiculed with extreme prejudice and boooooed heavily!

4) Toppings can be anything. Pepperoni. Avocado. Greek olives. Pulled pork. If it came out of the ground or walked, swam or crawled, its all cool and the gang!

5) Bake them in the oven on a sheet pan. In cast iron. A pizza stone. On the grill. Got a wood fired pizza oven? Have mercy!

6) Pics are mandatory! Anyone can talk smack about it but put up or shut up. No pics? It never happened and ridiculing and boooooing will follow. Capiche?

Alright ya'll, lets get it on.....

 

[Essegi]

Thanks siccy!

Your pizza is strange with egg and potato crust! I dig spinachs + sausage and melt, killer combo! 

 

[texas blues]

Dang but I been slackin' in this thread.
 
Essi you senor are a treasure.
 
I just love all your thin crusts.

 

[Swartmamba]

Just discovered you can make a good pizza using store bought naan (Indian bread) for the crust. I like to make my own dough, but the naan is pretty good.

thats how we make pizzas at home, far better than any store bought crust or mix.

 

[Essegi]

Thanks TB! I guessed you like that! Next time when i'll make thin pizza i'll try another recipe with more water, salt, yeast and less oil.  See here pics: http://www.profumidalforno.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2097 (not that i expect that results)
And less dough, i can easily flatten more.

 

[cypresshill1973]

Mozzarella, onions from my garden, oregano and Fatalii powder
 

 

[VirgilCane]

I have never had Naan bread, but now I'm going to have to see about finding it and consuming it! I do love the process of making dough from scratch, though. Actually, I just love the whole process of cooking something up that is both aesthetically pleasing and totally delicious.

 

[Essegi]

Massive pizza CH!
 
TB, watch here! That is probably my best thin crust pizza. On another league of the previous one. Better dough, thinner and better cooking = crunchier (as that kind of pizza should be) and by no means hard.
 
Standard margherita:

 

Low crust, a trick is to flatten more edges. I don't need bubbles (bubbles != airy).
 

Pepperoni, wurstel, artichokes, anchovies.
 

Pepperoni, olives, choco bhut, tomato
 

Just tomato
 

Wurstel, pepperoni, olives, choco bhut after cooking
 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

HOLY CRAP!
 
This page of pies and the last are the best yet!
 
Essegi, your last two posts NAIL what pizza is supposed to be. Looks like the real deal joints around here.
Sic, that brekkie pizza is pure comfort!
Cypress... it's like a pan pizza without the pan!
 

 

[frydad4]

LOL!!! 
 
When you put "Wurstel" on pizza, we think it looks delicious and exotic!
 
If I put "Vienna Sausages" on a pizza, people will laugh at me!!!
 
That being said, your pizza looks so damn good, and you should move to Miami and open a restaurant!!!
 
Nice job again, Ess!! I've said it before, THP is a better site since you started cooking for it!!!

 

[Essegi]

Thanks guys!
I just forgot that wurstel is vienna sausage for you! Not the thing i like most but here is used by many as pizza topping.

 

[geeme]

Ok. Fine. To the kitchen I go. Thanks, essi. You inspired me to start some dough. Let's see if it's worth posting at some point, as I'm sure I can't come up with a pizza to compete with yours…. 

 

[cypresshill1973]

Essi: Their pizzas are an orgasm, I can not say anything else. I have to learn to knead to copy

 

[Ashen]

beautiful pizza essegi...   I am fooling around with high hydration dough as well.. this is one I started a couple days ago about 65%    I did an autolyse to start to really kickstart the gluten then 10 mins with dough hook in the stand mixer. slow rise in a   zip bag in the fridge  with a bit of extra virgin olive oil to keep it from sticking . 
 
 

 
 

 
 
the angle of view doesn't show the blister bubble in the center very well.    I can't help topping a little more heavily though.  tomato,  fresh herbs, salami, onion, mushroom, sliced garlic and  anaheim chile slices and fine minced thai chiles    edit.. almost forgot the anchovy   I like it on afterwards instead of cooking with the pizza
 

 
 
 
A bianco   made with whatever was left of prepped toppings.  
 

 

[geeme]

Poifect, Ashen! 
 
I use the "Kneadlessly Simple" dough method - no kneading used at all. The dough's in the fridge now; it can sit there until I get up in the morning. Then the hard part - moving it to the basement for a handful of hours.   Yes, that's it - take it out of the fridge and place it in a cool part of the basement. I was never a yeast bread maker before this method was discovered, but now it's ridiculous not to - way less effort and mess.

 

[Essegi]

Never tried no knead method, sooner or later i'll check it.
(seeing that results!!!
http://laconfraternitadellapizza.forumfree.it/?t=65898596 )

Essi: Their pizzas are an orgasm, I can not say anything else. I have to learn to knead to copy

Thanks!
Sry for italian language, here is a good video for kneading (in theory for Neapolitan style pizza, i used that also for my last ones)

Ok. Fine. To the kitchen I go. Thanks, essi. You inspired me to start some dough. Let's see if it's worth posting at some point, as I'm sure I can't come up with a pizza to compete with yours…. 

No doubt you'll do good, at least seeing other stuff you posted!
 

beautiful pizza essegi...   I am fooling around with high hydration dough as well.. this is one I started a couple days ago about 65%    I did an autolyse to start to really kickstart the gluten then 10 mins with dough hook in the stand mixer. slow rise in a   zip bag in the fridge  with a bit of extra virgin olive oil to keep it from sticking .

Beautiful! I like pizza at 65% idro!

Next i want to try Bonci method (80% idro) since a relative asked a thick pizza.
Method here:
https://www.finedininglovers.com/recipes/brunch/homemade-pizza-dough-recipe/
Some more photos:
http://wildgreensandsardines.blogspot.it/2014/03/bonci-pizza-roman-style.html

People says that it's very good.

 

[Ashen]

what I like about the high hydration dough is that it is very versatile   you can use it for thick or thin or a combo like the one above.. thin through centre but I like it a bit thicker around the rim of the pizza. 
 
Essegi,  do you use any dough conditioners? I have tried a few, even some modified starches but except for  ascorbic acid , I didn't really notice any great difference.. I always put a pinch of vitamin C ( ascorbic acid ) in now . It seems to strengthen the dough to help it stretch thin , I also think there is a flavour difference, but that could just be my imagination. 
 
 
 
this is the same dough , different technique stretching and baking.  I made this awhile back, mushroom sauce, onion, chicken mozz and asparagus. 
 
 

 
 
 
this is not the greatest picture but it gives a good idea of how thick the crust was in the centre
 
 
 

 

[frydad4]

Hey ash, Great looking pie! what's in that mushroom sauce? Can you share the recipe? 

 

[Essegi]

Yeah, that mushroom sauce looks interesting.
Good pizza!

Essegi,  do you use any dough conditioners?

Nope. Just yeast, flour (the correct one, not that i can tell real differences but i follow recipes), water and salt. Oil and wheat sometimes.
Also time and temps, that seems a critical stuff (i've yet to really undestand that, again i'm just following what other says).

 

[Ashen]

Hey ash, Great looking pie! what's in that mushroom sauce? Can you share the recipe? 

 
 
sure thing.. very simple actually, just  leftover  butter garlic mushrooms that I blitzed up in  Food processor with a bit of EVOO.
 
sorry I have  no set recipe  amounts for the mushrooms , just by eye, taste. 
 
I buy the sliced baby bellas at Costco, but any will work , brown /white, cremini, portabello etc, 
spread them out evenly on a baking sheet , bake in oven until they have shrunk to about a third of their original size.  A little bit of colour on them is nice too.  
 
Then I put them into a pot(make sure to add any juice in the bottom of the sheet pan too)  or crock pot with butter, white wine , garlic and a mushroom stock cube(s) Cook them down  and adjust seasoning with S&P .  
 
My family usually requests a large pot of these for most of our family gatherings. 

 

[geeme]

Ok, y'all, prepare to be amazed. As TB likes to say, mañana.
 
The dough's been patiently awaiting the geeme touch of creativity. (a.k.a. "experimenting") Just got back from the stoh' so assemblage et cuisson demain.