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.....

 

[grantmichaels]

Ooh, just noticed CH dropped some basics ... cooking in the smoker, still, awesome!

 

[paulky_2000]

Yeah.....
 
I thought I made great homemade pizzas.
 
I was wrong........or at least sadly under-informed.
 
You all have out-classed me......and I am so very impressed!!

 

[grantmichaels]

Of all the gadgets, tricks, hacks, etc I've tried, the ONE thing that makes a HUGE difference is the baking steel ... or not baking steel, that's a brand, but steel for baking ... in my case, i bought a dough joe emperor, but i would buy the 1/4" in do over (unnecessarily heavy, oven preheating extended w/ it left in there, and over retains heat long time after, and rack bows a bit under weight ...

But, a little diastatic malt in the dough (cheap) and steel instead of stone, and your in there ... the heat transfer from the metal is so effective that i turnt down from 550 to 475F, and i'm going to try 450 next time ...

So, in my opinion, it costs $75 to nail oven pizza at home. The kettlepizza will likely be sold down the river in short order ... but not until i try reversing the levels, baking steel as oven floor, and stone as oven ceiling ... i think they have things upside down ...

 

[cypresshill1973]

Thoroughly cook with firewood within, but next time, I make a briks and clay oven

Of all the gadgets, tricks, hacks, etc I've tried, the ONE thing that makes a HUGE difference is the baking steel ... or not baking steel, that's a brand, but steel for baking ... in my case, i bought a dough joe emperor, but i would buy the 1/4" in do over (unnecessarily heavy, oven preheating extended w/ it left in there, and over retains heat long time after, and rack bows a bit under weight ...

But, a little diastatic malt in the dough (cheap) and steel instead of stone, and your in there ... the heat transfer from the metal is so effective that i turnt down from 550 to 475F, and i'm going to try 450 next time ...

So, in my opinion, it costs $75 to nail oven pizza at home. The kettlepizza will likely be sold down the river in short order ... but not until i try reversing the levels, baking steel as oven floor, and stone as oven ceiling ... i think they have things upside down ...

 
I think we should build a brick oven.
A very good option is the Ferrari electric oven, I read the very good references. Essegi has shown his recently

 

[grantmichaels]

When I buy a house, the outdoor kitchen will be epic ... and the indoor kitchen will have a PITA pitched floor with a drain or two, like a pool deck, or, like a shower ...
The Blackstone is pretty well-regarded for $300-400 too, I think ...

 

[Essegi]

And LOL. Prosciutto vulvas! BRILLIANT!!!

Omg...
 

Yeah.....
 
I thought I made great homemade pizzas.
 
I was wrong........or at least sadly under-informed.
 
You all have out-classed me......and I am so very impressed!!

Thanks, if mine are included the method i used it's not difficult, just a bit time consuming. And trust me, i'm quite angry because i'm the one that isn't having decent cavities (really, in thread i linked i see all people, maybe but one, have much better than mine...).
Next time i try to let the dough ripe in cellar to have slightly more temp than fridge.

 

[sicman]

  indoor kitchen will have a PITA pitched floor with a drain or two, like a pool deck, or, like a shower ...
 

Makes body clean up/desposal very easy.

 

[grantmichaels]

Today I took out some burrata to investigate ...
 
I've been apprehensive to halve one on top of a pizza, so I thought I'd give it a poke it in the bowl and just let the curds run ...
 
And then I ate it ... both balls ... the second of which I halved over some pepperoni ...
 
Danielle wasn't interested in any of that buttery goodness, but our four-legged friends were happy to pick up my spare ...

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Never had it! Sounds interesting. But if it's anything like fresh mozz you probably should have eaten it when you got it. You waited like a week right? How was it?

 

[grantmichaels]

i ate it. i could tell it was beginning to have a touch of bitter, too.

i think i could imagine gently warming the ball in a double boiler and then quartering it and laying down some of that thinly sliced jamon serrano and getting after it ...

i'll def try again ...

 

[JayT]

I decided to try to improve on my meatsa cheesa pizza from the throwdown.  Same meats (bacon, pepperoni, Italian sausage), but a little different dough and fermenting time.  Less cheese (only eight ounces of mozzarella and maybe three ounces of parmesan), and onions and sliced jalapenos.  The dough I like better.  This sausage sure was greasy!  Not too healthy, but definitely tasty.
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

[tctenten]

Man that looks good Jay.   

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Lookin good as always Jay!!!
 
Pepperoni tastes best when it lays flat on the cheese. It becomes "one" and the cheese and pep share oils. Your lifted ones don't get that benefit. Not a critique, but try it next time. Put them right after cheese.

 

[grantmichaels]

I hate to admit that I agree, but I do ...

 

[Booma]

Very nice jay

 

[JayT]

Lookin good as always Jay!!!
 
Pepperoni tastes best when it lays flat on the cheese. It becomes "one" and the cheese and pep share oils. Your lifted ones don't get that benefit. Not a critique, but try it next time. Put them right after cheese.

 
Have to admit, I forgot the pepperoni until the end.  Did the same thing on the throwdown pie!  I usually do put them on first.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Good! No more floaters Jay!
 

 

[JayT]

Ooooh the floating hab!  That has to be HOT!!!

 

[grantmichaels]

I went to the store and setup to do some pizzas over the holidays ...

I bought more new-to-me things, some on purpose, some by accident, some just to challenge myself ...

I accidentally ended up w/ a 3 lb standing rib roast somehow, which didn't stand out to me until I was home. I called and they said the person who ordered them had already brought back my item, a short while earlier. The package was about the right size, shape, and price, so I opted to keep it, just for the experience ...

I bought some baby octopus in herbed oil that I plan to do something with, just to stretch my boundaries a little ...

I picked up another mozzarella burrata, it's destined to be had w/ brisket, go figure ...

Some thinly sliced lomo ham, and a couple buf moz (1 ea of 2 brands), and a can of crushed san marzanos round out the extra stuff I added today ...

I've been dying to have a little time where I could make quite a few consecutive pizzas, and I think Danielle might want to take food to homeless folks downtown, so we'll see how things play out ... I know I want to do some cooking on the kettlepizza and/or baking steel (as griddle) while I'm off ...

Now, what to do w/ some little baby octopus?

 

[Essegi]

Mhh... Improvemente from last pizzas... I like the method and the margherita could be my best teglia till now... But i'm no way satisfied of cavities, nope, zero, i want them much better!
 

 

 

 
Mozz was epic at least. And standard bought, no buffalo, just cooked right and fat type.
 
Next:

Smoked bacon, mushrooms, ham, pepperoni.

 

 
Last one:

5 big cloves of garlic mashed, moruga powder, pepperoni, smoked bacon.
 

Is that a joke?