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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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PIC 1 said:
 
Hey Rairdog,
 
Here's the basic Baguette recipe that will give you 4 shorter 250g or a couple larger twin French size loafs.
 
Keep in mind I always keep a container of flour (50/50 mix of T55/T80 or in US standards AP/White Whole Wheat) handy on the counter for feeding my SD Culture. The culture I use was a biga that I've obtained many yrs bake from a local bakery, and I have a few in the fridge for and usuallybackup. The SD is maintained at 100% of that 50/50g mix plus 100g of bottled Italian spring water.. I'll feed the starter everyday and sometimes twice right before using to maintain and preventing any sourness. Half of the mix gets dumped or used depending on my needs, always maintaining around a 200g amount. If I'm too lazy to bake I'll put the container back in the fridge right after a feeding.
 
100g SD (fully active)
600g T55 Flour
400g Water
  15g Sea Salt
    7g Instant Yeast
 
I place a large cast iron skillet on the oven floor, bread stone on the middle rack. Pre-heat to 470F...proof baguettes in a dusted (brown rice flour) clothe or kitchen towel. When ovens up to temp, place slashed baguette(s) onto stone and quickly pour a cup of hot water into cast iron pan (simulating steam injection). Bread is baked for 25 min. At that point the oven is turned off, door cracked open and the bread will continue to bake until brown or internal temp is 200F.
 
There's many other variations to this procedure and other flour combo's when making this style bread. It all depends on the type of crumb (tight or loose) and the density and color of the crust desired.
 
French flour is generally lower in gluten, which is a result on the protein content. Softer pastry flour (T45) is the lowest, the hard wheat T150 has the highest protein and ash mineral content.
 
If you want the airy crumb with the larger holes anytime of the year you need to go with a higher hydration of 68 up to 75 or so percent. Also fine a means of creating steam during the first 10 minutes of the bake....that will prevent the crust from forming and tightening up.
 
I have some dough in a container and will post a bread appetizer tommorrow in the "last spicy" food thread 
 
Good luck on your baguette making.....
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Starter was fed last night and I am going to try this on sunday.  I was going to try a recipe from one of Reinharts books, but rather try yours. What is best way to mix?  Knead?  Mixer? Stretch and fold?  
 
Thanks for the info.  I looked into the flour website....currently all sold out.  I am going to use up the rest of my bread flour then hopefully they will have more in stock. 
 
I dont use Wheat since Im allergic to it and Sugar so I use Buckwheat. Lots of crap tasteless mixtures out their so in case anyone is interested, I use a simple 75/25 Buckwheat/Tapioca Flour and yeast/salt. Make sure its well hydrated so I like to leave it at least 3 hours for a quick mix but like to leave it 24 hours in the fridge then take it out to rise fully. I use it for Pizza base or Bread :)
 
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PC100688_CarawayBread-1000_zps96ae53ac.jpg
 
tctenten said:
 
Starter was fed last night and I am going to try this on sunday.  I was going to try a recipe from one of Reinharts books, but rather try yours. What is best way to mix?  Knead?  Mixer? Stretch and fold?  
 
Thanks for the info.  I looked into the flour website....currently all sold out.  I am going to use up the rest of my bread flour then hopefully they will have more in stock. 
Click to expand...
 
 
Cool !,.... but you may want to follow the book for the work flow procedure.
 
Since you're using bread flower (King Arthur or similar) which is both higher in protein and gluten you'll have to knead the dough longer. Use the stand mixer if you have one. I dump the water in then the starter mixing it with my hand. The powdered IDY gets added and left to bloom for 10 minutes.All the flour is added and I use a dough wish or wooden spoon to incorporate thr flour into the liquid before starting the mixer. Even though I have a spiral dough hook which drives the dough down to the bottom of the bowl, I don't want to loose any flour flying out of the bowl.A "J" hook can shoot that flour out of the bowl lie an out of control merry-go-round........heh
 
When ready to shape and proof you can use a dough cutter which works well with wet dough or use wet hands which keps the dough from sticking. Minimal flour is needed on the work surface.....No lumps, I scatter a scant amount on the board........like shooting dice
 
A slightly tacky dough is better when seamng or jelly rolling into a log.....any extra amount of flour will not only change the hydration rate but will also keep the dough from being able to be pinched together.
 
You'll know when the dough is proofed and fermented enough by pressing on it with your finger....an indentation which disappears is a sign of under fermented and needs a bit longer. One that bounce back slowly and almost completely is ready to go....an indentaion that collapses and doesn't bound back is a sign of over fermentation.
 
Always score the top of the dough before baking....that helps with the oven spring and forms an airier and less dense bread.
 
Have fun and snap and rap...so we can see and read the results.......
dragonsfire said:
I dont use Wheat since Im allergic to it and Sugar so I use Buckwheat. Lots of crap tasteless mixtures out their so in case anyone is interested, I use a simple 75/25 Buckwheat/Tapioca Flour and yeast/salt. Make sure its well hydrated so I like to leave it at least 3 hours for a quick mix but like to leave it 24 hours in the fridge then take it out to rise fully. I use it for Pizza base or Bread :)
 
PC100686_CarawayBread-1000_zps62004d84.jpg
PC100688_CarawayBread-1000_zps96ae53ac.jpg
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Very nice, I like the addition of the seeds and salt.....and the crumb looks light and would handle well with a spread.
 
Thanks!
I ground my own flour too using the Wonder Junior Mill, makes a hell of a differance in taste, you dont want to touch the comercial stuff afterwards lol.
 
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Greg thank you for the recipe, here are my results.
 
I used King Arthur Bread Flour and it was mixed in my Kitchenaid with a dough hook.  It was one of the lighter and wetter doughs than I worked with and I had some trouble shaping the loaf.  I baked it for 25 minutes at 470f and it was well done and the internal temp was 202f.  I did not leave it in the oven because it was up to temp.  Flavor and crust was very good and this was the loosest crumb that I have been able to achieve.
 
My main question is after you shape it, how do you keep it from flattening.?  After I shaped the loaf I put it on parchment paper sprinkled with semolina and covered with a dish towel.
 
Wow Tctenten beautiful job!!!!!! Pass the jelly someone call Guatemalan insanity pepper for his jams!!!!!
Ok here's my first real pizza attempt!! This was made with king Arthur bread flour it's what was available. This was made with a poolish and fermented for 3 days. Had tons of fun making thanks Tctenten and Pic1 for the help and suggestions on crust.
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Last was my favorite getting it figured out!! :)
 
grantmichaels said:
I'd like mine to all look like this one.
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The last one and that one were my favorites the last one looks darker still using my kindle thing has a mind of its own!! :) thanks Grant!!
tctenten said:
Nice work.  Looks like they turned out real good.
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Thanks brother!! They were very tasty crust had a nice tang and my sauce was spot on. Gonna make my own fresh mozzarella next.
 
tctenten said:
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IMG_6044.JPG
 
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IMG_6046.JPG
 
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Greg thank you for the recipe, here are my results.
 
I used King Arthur Bread Flour and it was mixed in my Kitchenaid with a dough hook.  It was one of the lighter and wetter doughs than I worked with and I had some trouble shaping the loaf.  I baked it for 25 minutes at 470f and it was well done and the internal temp was 202f.  I did not leave it in the oven because it was up to temp.  Flavor and crust was very good and this was the loosest crumb that I have been able to achieve.
 
My main question is after you shape it, how do you keep it from flattening.?  After I shaped the loaf I put it on parchment paper sprinkled with semolina and covered with a dish towel.
Click to expand...
 
 
Nice work on the bread....that's a large loaf, I like the open crumb in the last few photos, it has that "Ciabatta' appearance.
 
Loose doughs can be sticky..tricky to work with. When making a round loaf you can use a wooden banneton and simply flip the dough onto the baking stone, clothe or combo cooker which is becoming extremely popular.
 
If you're shaping a baton , baguette or French style roll you'll need a dry surface when shaping. I either use the stone counter or wooden surface which would get wiped down of any flour with a damp cloth. You want to use a bench scraper or your hands to pull or push the top of the dough tightly underneath. the prep surface will add friction...which will help in the stretching. A tightly rolled dough will not or should not collapse in the final proof.
 
 
 

 
Here's a 73 % hydrated French Roll that was sliced with a bread lame just prior to baking. You can see the air/gas pockets in the dough. Brown rice flour was used to dust the skin.....Rye flour will add to a darker crust.
 
Somebody needs to start a "Today's Bread" thread so we can leave this to the pizza spinners........ :P
oldsalty said:
Wow Tctenten beautiful job!!!!!! Pass the jelly someone call Guatemalan insanity pepper for his jams!!!!!
Ok here's my first real pizza attempt!! This was made with king Arthur bread flour it's what was available. This was made with a poolish and fermented for 3 days. Had tons of fun making thanks Tctenten and Pic1 for the help and suggestions on crust.
attachicon.gif
IMG_20150911_170541.jpg
attachicon.gif
IMG_20150913_191916.jpg
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IMG_20150913_192807.jpg
attachicon.gif
IMG_20150913_190114.jpg
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IMG_20150913_190634.jpg
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IMG_20150911_180922.jpg

Last was my favorite getting it figured out!! :)
Click to expand...
 
 
That looks like a lot of fun, and the pizza hit the zone.....nice
 
Nothing wrong with an amoeba shaped pie. There use to be a place right across from Midway airport here in the late 70's (Santucci's) that made a rustic amoeba pie for eat in only. It was thin crust and never shaped the same we..they always used the same size dough ball and stretched it by hand...deck oven baked. The resturant's owner made the bar area larger and it became a big hangout for pilots and flight attendants.....for the old Midway Airlines....... :lol:
Airport renovation was the downfall to many establishes on that street......I sure miss that joint.
 
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