Homemade Pizza - Suggestions and Experiences

[bouche]

We're going to the market to get some fresh ingredients to make a pizza. There is no doubt that we'll be using fresh mozzarella. The purebred italian from Luciano's told me to only use fresh mozzarella for the ultimate pizza. He said to put a weight on it and lay it out on paper towels to drain the moisture or else you will get a soggy pizza. he was SO right. the last attempt was killer and there is no turning back.

so my question is, what are your favourite toppings, methods, oven temps, pizza stone or directly on rack, sauces and most importantly, CRUST?

I might even get the charcoal bbq really hot and bake it off that way tonight.

[Ol'Hickster]

Deffinatly cant go wrong with a pizza stone and some corn meal to make nice crust

[bouche]

I think we'll use the stone tonight. We went with easy and grabbed a big ball of dough from the italian grocery. Also grabbed a hot italian sausage, about 220g of bocconcini, some basic sauce, mushrooms, and we have a green pepper. That should make for a nice pizza.

[Ol'Hickster]

Yummy im jelous! I want some home made pizza now

[headymamamyrna]

I just made some homemade jam cookies and a raisin cake!

[bouche]

I'm a reborn fan of pizza. This was fucking incredible.

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Salad dressing made with Avocado Oil.

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This crust is about the same consistency as Ace Bakery baguettes. It is fuckin' incredible for Pizza.

[Sarahbelle]

omg that looks soooo very delicious!!!

I made whole wheat dough once for pizza, The crust was nice and thick!! I also really like Pesto as the base sauce. When I worked at Ray's Place here in Hamilton, they made a white pizza with Olive Oil and Garlic as the base, then Onions and tomatos and lots of cheese... sooo good!

[phishtaper]

have been using a pizza stone for years now, would never go back to a pan. we used to make our own dough all the time and found that the most whole wheat flour you can use is about half. more than that and it just doesn't perform well.

i LOVE making an evening out of pizza. have a bunch of friends over and everyone gets to help in the prep, choices and/or assembly. pesto with onions and shrooms is one of my fav's too.

yummy. pizza. especially in late summer when you can make it with veggies and herbs from your own garden!

[AdamH]

Great looking pizza mike - where was the dough from?

I'm a freak about homemade pizza but I haven't made much of it lately because it's been so warm out. I do use a pizza stone and the dough recipe I use comes from this book:

It's a more complicated recipe than the usual. In short, you make a "sponge" with flour, water and yeast, and cover it to rest for about 12 hours. When you pull the plastic off it will be very shiny and bubbly and batter-like, you then "feed the bitch" as they say by adding a few more cups of flour and letting that rest for 12 more hours.

This type of dough is dense, chewy and perfect for thin crust. It's the most flavourful dough recipe I've tried if that's the style you like...and it's so strong you can roll it thin enough to see your hand through it and it still holds up on the pizza stone.

I can try and post this one if anyone wants to try it.

[Ms.Huxtable]

We bought frozen dough from La Bottega in the market. We used a whole pack for one pizza.

I can confirm it's yumminess.

[bouche]

I can try and post this one if anyone wants to try it.

please do. it sounds like the kind of dough that I would love. It's got to be good with a full day of planning ahead for pizza.

[AdamH]

Of course now I can't find a copy of it online.

This is very close though. I'll check my book at home and seeif it differs:

* Sponge: 7g or 2 1/2 tsps instant dry yeast, 3 cups lukewarm water, 4 Tbps olive oil, 4 1/2 cups unbleached/bread flour (Must be King Arthur brand if in America)

* 4 cups unbleached/bread flour (not more than 4 1/2 cups), 5 tsps salt

Direction:

1. In a large mixing bowl, well combine everything from Sponge's section with a mixing spoon. Cover, and let it ferment until more than double in volume.

2. Combine the sponge with the flour and salt ... if your dough needs water more likely because you didn't let the sponge ferment enough, anyway, add water. Knead until the dough smooth and elastic. Let it rise in 85F room until it double in volume. Divide it into six (or seven) portions. Use your hand (no rolling pin!) to stretch the dough to your desire thickness, add topping(s), and bake in 475F oven (preheat for half an hour at least with a baking stone in) until it turns golden brown.

3. The dough can be frozen... from step 2, after finishing the kneading, wrap well, freeze. When you want to use it, thaw (covered) and let it rise according to the spec.

[AdamH]

This is pretty good too (includes vids):

http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2007/02/homemade-pizza-in-3-acts.html