food The Last Great Pizza Thread

[The Hot Pepper]

My best advice is never too much sauce.  The less the better heh.

 
This is one of the keys to a good pie. I don't care what sauce you use, or what dough... all preference... but a lot of people put too much sauce. The sauce should be the glue between cheese and dough. When there's too much the cheese floats on the sauce, and you'll pull it off when you bite and or/sauce will squish out... when it's a very thin layer of sauce, it's the glue and it all becomes one.
 
Good advice!

 

[Booma]

Hey Booma, you've been dethroned!

Meh

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Fire up the oven B!

 

[Scovie]

I used to go through many hoops with dough.
 
I think the restaurant that imported city water from NYC for their pizza dough ? in NJ I think it was ? took it too far.
 
I have explored sour dough cultures,  high temp ovens - talked to chefs online from brick ovens to pizza stones - 
 
to additives to the dough...
 
In the end ?  
 
My recipe for success after being SO careful in the last 20 years making dough ? 
 
A single $1 aluminum mesh BBQ grill circular wire product meant for grills- it's round.
 
Parchment paper.
 
I don't even measure ingredients any more - I can just tell -  one of my Neapolitan dough manuals from Italy talks about having the touch... heh I say - DEVELOPING the touch. 
 
I start with warm water, yeast, some salt,  I've gone through phases where I build it up but now ? I just pour in the flour - no measurements- just what looks right.
 
I start moving it around a bit, not too much - just enough to mix it.  USUALLY I need a bit more flour, because I don't like to add more water.
 
I used to go for the restaurant mixers, the Hobart's - name it - I was really into the entire baking scene...
 
Now ? I rely on chemistry and biology - I have learned you don't really even need to knead the dough.  The gluten strands form on their own, it's a matter of time.
 
I fold it in a few times, JUST to make sure there are no dry flour areas.   Sometimes I go with olive oil ? sometimes I go for a dryer crisper cracker like crust - especially if I'm cooking 700 and up short term.
 
All of my travels, skills and knowledge ? has come down to a very simple process, slightly mix ? Let sit over night in the refrigerator.
 
Every single time now - perfection.   And it's not what I did - it's what I don't do anymore.
 
I get comments such as 'better than anything in town'  - now, I DO like some of the varieties of pizza in town.
 
So - my recommendation ? JUST OVER 2 to 1 ratio of flour to water. 
 
I WILL supplement with dough conditioners  SOMETIMES ? l-carnitine and ascorbic acid (tartness as well) but by no means necessary.  
 
I guess my ingredients are:
 
1 cup confidence
2 cups experience
Buncha love toppings
Heat- lotta heat
cold- cold for the dough to evolve slowly.
time.
 
REAL nice pics in this thread, real nice recipes and end products.
 
Backyard pizza oven is a fun place to evolve to.  900 degrees F can really do some magic with crusts.
 
Fun thread to find on THP.
 
Now - ha - Sauce - that's an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT STORY - I'm a YO YO with sauce- some days white - some days ? sweet - some days ? lemon black pepper...  
 
My best advice is never too much sauce.  The less the better heh.
 
Of course we all like it different... neat to see all the various ways people do like it here.
 
Surprisingly ?  I do not do super hot peppers on pizza... I do not mean to advertise for this site- but the last two sourdough cultures I bought related to pizza making were from here
 
http://www.sourdo.com/cultures/italian-cultures-includes-two/
 
You can keep them alive forever, you just have to take care with cultures.
 
They require far more care, but if using them regularly ? you can have a nice product ready in 30 minutes to an hour, but that's daily use heh.
 
Otherwise, they can take a LOT of time and planning.   
 
Unbeatable on taste though.
Now is Tommy happy there or sad ? 
 
I was JUST saying last night that I wish he would have made  a movie about Jim Jones... I think Tommy would be PERFECT for that role.   That role in Under Siege made me think of him for it.
 
Everyone is starting to get so old !  It's not fair!

Way way way way way too much words.

 

[texas blues]

 I ain't gonna' pc correct here but I'm gonna' say...
 
That sounds like a woman posting.
 
I ain't gonna' lie.
 
God in heaven for real, I love women.
 
I will xcpt' my punishment now from SL and the "correcter"

 

[Essegi]

I don't even measure ingredients any more - I can just tell -  one of my Neapolitan dough manuals from Italy talks about having the touch... heh I say - DEVELOPING the touch. 
 
Surprisingly ?  I do not do super hot peppers on pizza...

Lol, i agree with not measuring ingredients.. Really, i never use balance (only to measure pasta quantity or for when i have to post recipes if it comes out good) and use "eye measuring". 
Instead i do like superhots in pizza: the more is near inedibility for heat, the more i like it! And you still got flavours. 
 

I would so love to have an oven like that to cook my pizzas.

If you have 20000 dollars... From what i recall for a good new oven (the one in the picture isn't new afaik), maybe spinning (wich costs more, but not all likes it), this should be the price here...
 

Look at the smoke ring on that speck! I'll have to double check my local joint, I don't remember the smoke ring being that good! Of course it's imported, but still. That looks off the hook.

I don't think that was the certified speck, surely they check something with the right price and still good. It preserves well.
Really, try it with gorgonzola (from what i see from pictures blue cheese should be similar). 
 

Not fair. Essegi didn't make it, his cousin did. And it's also his cousin's business, not a back yard master like Sir Booma.

Of course this doesn't count!
 

Save me a slice or 2 of that last pizza with the olives.

I can eat it in your name!

 

[NattyIce5]

A quick creation today.
 
A small glimpse of that wire mesh I use now.
 

 

[texas blues]

Natty you're rockin' it!
 
Just look at that scheezy deliciousness!
 
Super chingon!

 

[Essegi]

A quick creation today.
 
A small glimpse of that wire mesh I use now.

Looks good and well cooked! Cheese looks very tasty!

 

[Penny]

That pizza looks soooooo good!!!

 

[Scovie]

I want to "Sicman" that pizza.

 

[PIC 1]

Ok.......I know Boom and Essegi have this pizza thread tied up with some beautifully contructed pies...
 
But since they're on different time zones ....and not logged-on now, I thought I'd sneak one in from the states.............
 
 
 
 

 
Here's a simple, yet tasty pie made up of: "00" dough, Bufala, Grana Padano and Ubria Del Piave Cheeses, San Marzano Tomatoes, Pan Roasted Portebella Mushroom and Shallots, Olive Oil and Arugala.
 

 
Here's the wheel with scattered Arugala.....I originally intended to bake this outdoors but the rain forced me to use a 550 deg oven with a pizza stone....still tasty

 

[texas blues]

I don't give a damn if you used a zippo lighter to cook that pizza.
 
That 'thang looks beautiful and as good as any 'thang posted here on this thread.
 
Is that a wedge of asiago on the left?

 

[PIC 1]

I don't give a damn if you used a zippo lighter to cook that pizza.
 
That 'thang looks beautiful and as good as any 'thang posted here on this thread.
 
Is that a wedge of asiago on the left?
 
 
 
 

 .....
 
That's a wedge of i Ubriaco Del Piave (Cow's Milk "Italian")...sharp, creamy......and also works well with Appenzellar, Gruyere, and Emmenthaler cheeses in a fondue.........that's a whole different pot......no zippo needed....

 

[texas blues]

 .....
 
That's a wedge of i Ubriaco Del Piave (Cow's Milk "Italian")...sharp, creamy......and also works well with Appenzellar, Gruyere, and Emmenthaler cheeses in a fondue.........that's a whole different pot......no zippo needed....

 
Now you're just talkin' dirty to me.
 
Cheese makes me weak in the knees and is my Achilles heel.
 
When I die I hope I go out with a big fat chunk of Cotswold in my mouf'.

 

[Essegi]

....and not logged-on now, I thought I'd sneak one in from the states............. :

Seriously Pic, that's not sneak in, this is a manifest of fine craftmanship! i like the way you make this kind of pizza!
 

 .....
 
That's a wedge of i Ubriaco Del Piave (Cow's Milk "Italian")...sharp, creamy......and also works well with Appenzellar, Gruyere, and Emmenthaler cheeses in a fondue.........that's a whole different pot......no zippo needed....

Oh, Ubriaco is a kind of cheese you find here. But i think i have tasted it only once (don't remeber if Ubriaco del Piave or another Ubriaco)... The fact is that it's expensive (if i'm not mistaken around 15€/kg that should be nearly 9,5 $/lb. That's a lot), i don't have memories of it to be particularly good (very debatable since the same cheese can be different from manufactuer and from what cows eat).
 

Is that a wedge of asiago on the left?

Oh, this is a local cheese (Mt Asiago is 1 hour from my home) and one of the main cheese of my family! Cheap (costs half than Ubriaco, depends on seasoning and where you buy), sometimes honest, other times good, others very good.
I don't konw if you know "Formaggio del Crucolo". Seems fresh Asiago but better, cost nearly as Ubriaco (so we don't buy it often)... If you like Asiago check this one.

 

[PIC 1]

I have a couple ......................well more than a few....different types of screens and pans used in pizza making.
Time to use a different one each time I stop here.
 
 
 

 
Here's another pie using one of my favorite pizza screens. Not a large one, good for an individual pizza but this one has a removable rim. Perfect when making a saucy pie, running the sauce up to the edge or what I'm using two different types of Pesto.......with Olive Oil.
Ingredients: Olives, Orange Habs, Pickled Cherry Bombs, SunDryed Tomato Pesto, Spanish Chorizo, Basil Pesto, Mahon and Manchego Cheeses, "00" Flour  Dough Ball.
 

 
A higher hydrated "00"  dough, a 3 day rest in the fridge, and a good stretch will give the dough a windowpane look, ...into a windowpane,.......while on.......  
 

 
Here's the 10" (tart style) pizza pan with the two Pesto's spread over the dough. Both cheeses grated, thin sliced Chorizo, Peppers and Olives. Placed into a 400 deg oven, upper/ middle rack.
 

 
Finished pie.......There's a nice bit of spice from the Chorizo and Peppers....the Pesto is a great base....and the Cheese.?............to die for.

 

[texas blues]

Guud lookin' pie pic as usual.
 
Nice that its not overloaded with cheese and looks really light.
 
I prefer the lighter thin crusts 'specially cracker style.

 

[Essegi]

http://i1033.photobucket.com/albums/a420/gregmoroz/FOOD%202013/IMG_3849_zpsfb485160.jpg

I like a lot this photo (not that others are bad, but this is different than the norm)!
Excellent as alwyas!

Ah, for pesto quick recipe: margherita + basil pesto (pesto alla genovese), after cooking pomodorini (little tomatoes) and stracchino (a particular very soft cheese. I suppose with Squacquerone will be even better but more expensive). Found at my fav pizzeria, super! I've tried it with pasta and it's excellent too.

 

[PIC 1]

Guud lookin' pie pic as usual.
 
Nice that its not overloaded with cheese and looks really light.
 
I prefer the lighter thin crusts 'specially cracker style.

Less ingredients workmout better, especially with a softer or whole milk cheese which I prefer.
I avoid part skim cheeses...after the melting point they seize up and become too firm...no stretchy cheezy thang.

We do drink skim milk here, though.....lol
Whole milk is for Malts and Shakes only.

I'll have to make me a cracker crust pie.
I like a crisper dough bottom. Thinner the better....crunch !

I like a lot this photo (not that others are bad, but this is different than the norm)!
Excellent as alwyas!

Ah, for pesto quick recipe: margherita + basil pesto (pesto alla genovese), after cooking pomodorini (little tomatoes) and stracchino (a particular very soft cheese. I suppose with Squacquerone will be even better but more expensive). Found at my fav pizzeria, super! I've tried it with pasta and it's excellent too.

Thanks..I like to make a dough that can stretch without tearing.

Nice pesto pie recipe...I wish my garden was alive, I had all kinds of smaller sweet tomatoes available. I might make a pizza later this week with cherry tomatoes seared in evo.