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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.....
 
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Oh you are right, my bad!  Seriously, you are ultra-talented.  I am still learning and have been for years.  I really enjoy your pizza pics.  
 
I was gonna say tight crumb, saw you said it, but doesn't look dense just a tight crumb like a focaccia or kaiser roll, still looks airy.
 
What are you doing with all these pies? How many can you eat in a day? And you didn't tell me how you get that brick oven char!!!!!
 
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I was gonna say tight crumb, saw you said it, but doesn't look dense just a tight crumb like a focaccia or kaiser roll, still looks airy.
 
What are you doing with all these pies? How many can you eat in a day? And you didn't tell me how you get that brick oven char!!!!!


He's mentioned doing some in a BGE before ...
 
The Hot Pepper said:
I was gonna say tight crumb, saw you said it, but doesn't look dense just a tight crumb like a focaccia or kaiser roll, still looks airy.
 
What are you doing with all these pies? How many can you eat in a day? And you didn't tell me how you get that brick oven char!!!!!
Click to expand...
 
Those  10/12" pies were done on the BGE.....Cherry and Oak with a small pizza stone. The flames shoot up and over. Might need to replace the gasket before I start using it as a smoker again.
 
I'm eating a slice of that pan pizza right now, along with some homemade chicken soup.
 
What is NP, Neapolitan Pizza?

Also this puffy edge crust is nice!
 
IMG_8048_zps044672a7.jpg


And you KILLED this crust!
 
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But this is my fave overall. You got a really good melt on that fresh mozz, it almost looks like low-moisture mozz, that's the idea. Melty! Good sauce coverage, good crust, and fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano for the sharp salty contrast, yes!!!!
 
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I read somewhere that part skim mozza is more stringy then whole milk.  
 
Oh Gadget is gonna debut another gadget.  
 
Preemptive drink
 
JayT said:
PIC1 explain this % hydration thing to me.  Is there a chart somewhere?  
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In short and not talking in baker's terms....the hydration is the percent of water compared to the amount of flour. A typical Chicago style either thin or deep dish uses a lower percentage also with a lower protein type flour such as regular milled All Purpose (AP)....ex: 1000g AP with 420g Water (42%). That's typical along with the added commercial yeast and salt.
The dough gets an overnighter in the fridge to built up the gluten and texture.
 
"00" is a different devil....and there are various types of that flour. Some is used for pasta, others are used in a high temp wood fired oven. There's also the Metro "00" that's similar to most pizza flours standard in the US.for oven temps under 700 F.
 
The higher the hydration the more airy the dough is. Typical rate for an NP style pie is around 63 %.........ciabatta bread can go as high as 80+. ..The dough becomes difficult to work with do to the high amount of water...A bench scraper is most necessary until the dough skins with the satin finish.
 
Just a suggestion.....use a lower hydration with the indoor oven.....plus the dough is easier to handle.
grantmichaels said:
I'm sulking a little because he rocked out the peel I bought for christmas before I could (tonight's the night, too) ...
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Well I can honestly say you didn't buy yourself a gadget there. Less friction makes the pizza launch easier.
 
Yeah, I dumped a pie's worth of moz balls into the oven a week ago using the solid one ...

Danielle was less than impressed with the smoke, to say the least, LOL.

Cheers!
 
Since I didn't get to participate in the pizza throwdown because I didn't make my own dough I decided to try again(made several a few years ago)
I let it rise in fridge for about 40 hours or so.
 
I tried a new sauce too, i used a bit too much butter and oil so it was really greasy, but it was delicious..
Still cant find low moisture mozz that isn't part skim so I just used a kind I tried in the past that wasn't low moisture, and I pressed out all the extra moisture I could for about 45 minutes.
 
I forgot to get pics until after it was out of the oven..
 
 
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Hard to post after Pic1, but this is my best pie yet so I'm super happy anyway!
 
Thanks, Pic1, like I said, I am learning.  I kinda know what you mean about hydration and %, but I am not sure about the starters and such.  I did know that about the different oo flours.  I have just been following recommendations from others as far as the amount of water.  This dough I am fermenting right now is 5.5 cups of flour 3 OO 2.5 bread, 1.5 cups water and .25 cup olive oil.  It seemed a little dense to me after the first rise, but we'll see.  I only used 3/4 teaspoon of yeast.  Maybe it needs more. I don't know.
 

 
Another one with an airy crust.....Pesto,Fresh Motz, Goat Cheese, Prosciutto, Pepper Dew slices. Parm
 

 
Crust shot......

JayT said:
Thanks, Pic1, like I said, I am learning.  I kinda know what you mean about hydration and %, but I am not sure about the starters and such.  I did know that about the different oo flours.  I have just been following recommendations from others as far as the amount of water.  This dough I am fermenting right now is 5.5 cups of flour 3 OO 2.5 bread, 1.5 cups water and .25 cup olive oil.  It seemed a little dense to me after the first rise, but we'll see.  I only used 3/4 teaspoon of yeast.  Maybe it needs more. I don't know.
Click to expand...
 
 
Time is your friend when it comes to dough. I've had containers in the fridge for 5 days......The smell is great when baking. The longer the dough ferments the easier it will roll or stretch.......there is a limit....and then it will tare.
 
Your recipe seems light on the water........what might happen when you roll it the dough might want to bounce back. No problem though, at that point a room temp rest for an hour will do the trick.........covered  of course.
 
I have also been using the cold ferment. I let it sit room temp for an hour and a half oiled and covered and then put it in the garage (35Fish) last night.  This morning I brought it back in, cut it and oiled and wrapped it in plastic, then back to the garage until tomorrow night.  As I said earlier, I hope this dough turns out ok as I don't want a crap dough for the buffalo mozz and san marzanos I am using tomorrow night.
 
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