Home made pizza?

[cantdrv55]

OK, not quite homemade but definitely home cooked. Any recommendations for pre-made dough and sauce? I tried the wheat dough from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods - they suck. I prefer Boboli over those two. Have you tried any other? If you've made your own dough, can you share your recipe?

[Embraer]

dough:

1 packet dry yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing the pizza crusts
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

mix the yeast with honey and water. let it sit for a few minutes until it gets frothy. add olive oil.

add the yeast mixture to the flour/salt in a large bowl. (i use my kitchenaid mixer). combine until it doesnt stick to the sides of the bowl. knead it for 10 minutes by hand. let it proof for an hour. divide it into 2-4 equal balls, roll them into balls, and sit on a baking sheet. cover with a damp towel. let them rest for 30 minutes.

in the mean time, preheat your oven/stone to HOT. (ie, 500+ degrees.) roll your pizza dough out on a cornmeal dusted peel. put your toppings on, and bake for just a few minutes. it will be a chewy, bubbly crust.

i like pesto sauce, with fresh mozz, fontina, parme, and goat cheese, with slices of roma tomatoes. sliced grill chicken, sweet baby ray's sauce, carmelized onion, mozz and gouda makes a good pizza, too.

[LWJ]

In my experience the dough is not that big of a deal. Getting the oven hot enough is.

We use a premade dough from a local grocery store. Not high end. It is Winco if you live near here. I agree about Trader Joes. It is terrible.

Here is what got me cooking homemade pizza: my gas grill.

Heat the grill. Put some oil on the cooking surface. Roll the dough but do not top it. Place on top of the grill until the bottom is cooked. Remove. Flip dough over. Top. Cook on grill.

The flour needs to get hot enough to carbonize or something. I have a nice gas oven and crank it. It is close, but not as good as the grill. High heat = yum.

The sauce can be from a jar and still be acceptable. Certainly it can get better than the store bought stuff but I don't typically mess with it.

Toppings? Go crazy. I won't even tell you my favorites as it sounds disgusting.

Good luck. It only took my 17 years to figure this out. Prior to that, I didn't make pizza at home. It was too lousy.

Larry

[trekkor]

trader Joes pizza dough ( not the whole wheat is OK )

Fresh and Easy market is better. They have a herb dough that is really great.

I've made about 100 pizzas now on my BBQ.


KT

[EdT82SC]

I grill pizzas every week. I happen to like the trader joe's whole wheat dough. The regular (non-whole) is pretty bad. I hand press out the dough, brush with evoo, and put it on the grill.

Our most common pizza is grilled veggies (eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers) and goat cheese on the grilled crust. Then top the whole thing with a salad made of spinach, red onion, tomato, avocado, evoo, and balasmic vinegar. Yum!

[Baz]

I buy my dough from Publix already to go.....here's my last pie....I don't spend a lot of time making these obviously!

[slakjaw]

I usually just make pitabread pizza. quick and easy. Put pitabread in the toaster brown it up a bit them put all your stuff on it and broil it in the oven.

[LeeH]

I'm always shocked at how quickly my wife can whip up a pizza. Baking/bread is one of her hobbies, so she always makes the crust. Her pizzas may look like giant amoebas, but they taste great. This one was BBQ chicken:



Cheese & a veggie:

[Kemo]

oh wow!!! a pizza thread!

here is the pizza dough I worked on for almost 3yrs to get just right (for me) using online info gathered from Tom "The Dough Doctor" Lehmann, Alton Brown, Tony Gemignani, a trip to Italy, and many many batches of pizza dough. Embraer has a pretty good one which is fairly close to mine except I use a scale for measurment.

I use King Arthur Bread Flour...it comes in a Blue paper container and has a slightly higher protein content when compared to other flours. you can get it at just about any major supermarket. Here in Texas, we have the HEB (pronounced tha'-heeb). its good, cheap and available.

so here is the dough recipe:

16oz King Arthur Bread Flour
10oz Water
3 or 4 drops of honey, syrup, or agave nectar (dont use regular sugar)
1tblsp IDY Yeast
2teasp Mortons Table Salt (I could never get it right with Sea Salt for some reason)

Thats it...as far as ingredients go...here is how you prep it.

weigh out 10 oz of water, add the drops of honey, syrup or agave nectar, and stick in the microwave on high for 30 sec. This should get the water about 100-110 deg F. Measure the temp if you can...you dont want it too much hotter than 100. Add in the yeast packet, plus a teaspoon of flour, and whisk for about a minute and set aside. After extensive research, yeast feeds better on honey as its already been converted to a form the yeast can readily eat. simple sugar is more complex and takes a bit more work. (Alton Brown and Peter Reinhardt). I use just a small amount simply to wakeup the yeast. After about 5 min of sitting, you will know if the yeast is active. you will see the foam and smell the yeast. Time to mix it with the flour/salt.

put the flour and salt in the mixer, whisk the yeast/water mix one last time. Start the mixer and add in the water. I usually do this for a couple of minutes, the dough should self clean inside the bowl.

Remove and knead: I use the marble counter top to knead the dough for a good 5 to 8 minutes, it will get nice and smooth. Split the Dough into 2 equal sized portions ( i use the scale) and place in some tupperware and let it sit at least 24hrs in the fridge (2-3 days is the best).

Before cooking: Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature before using.

Cooking: LWJ has the right idea...the hotter the oven the better off the pizza. if you are cooking in your oven, put it on the highest setting and let it sit for about an hour if you can. Make sure the pizza stone is in the oven BEFORE you turn on the heat. I would guess that most ovens dont get much hotter than 550 deg F.
At this temp, 10-12 minutes will cook your pizza. Once you get the pizza in the oven, dont open the door till its done!

My favorite recipie:
a take on Tony Giamangi's traditional Magarita

spread out the dough into a 12" circle
grind up a couple of really ripe tomatoes to use for sauce (or can San Marzano, Cento is good) and spread on the dough
sprinkle on a couple pinches of salt
sprinkle on about a tablespoon of dried parmesean cheese (optional)
break apart an 8oz ball of fresh mozzarella and distribute atop the sauce
add about 8 full sized Basil leaves distributed evenly (one for each slice)
drizzle the top of the pizza with EVOO and into the oven
let pizza "settle" about 3-4 minutes before eating.

Second Favorite Pizza Recipie: Gorgonzolla, Arugula, Procuitto (sp?)
sauce
salt
parmesean
dried basil
shredded Mozzarella
sprinkle with gorgonzola
into the oven

**While the pizza is cooking, mix up the following by hand in a big bowl:
Arugula, chopped up procuitto, drizzle olive oil, 1/2 of a lemon's juice
after your pizza is done, sprikle the above mixture on there and back in the oven for about 30 seconds or so to warm it up.
remove pizza, let it settle and enjoy!

if you get a chance...check my outdoor pizza oven build here:
Kemo's South Austin Pizza Oven - Forno Bravo Forum: The Wood-Fired Oven Community

I cook at 800 Deg F... as mentioned before, HEAT makes all the difference.

Pizza and Porsches, what a complementary pair of addicitons

P.S. The next time Red-Beard makes it to town, im going to personally make that man an authentic wood-fired neopolitan style Italian pizza

[crustychief]

Originally Posted by Embraer

dough:

1 packet dry yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for brushing the pizza crusts
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

mix the yeast with honey and water. let it sit for a few minutes until it gets frothy. add olive oil.

add the yeast mixture to the flour/salt in a large bowl. (i use my kitchenaid mixer). combine until it doesnt stick to the sides of the bowl. knead it for 10 minutes by hand. let it proof for an hour. divide it into 2-4 equal balls, roll them into balls, and sit on a baking sheet. cover with a damp towel. let them rest for 30 minutes.

in the mean time, preheat your oven/stone to HOT. (ie, 500+ degrees.) roll your pizza dough out on a cornmeal dusted peel. put your toppings on, and bake for just a few minutes. it will be a chewy, bubbly crust.

i like pesto sauce, with fresh mozz, fontina, parme, and goat cheese, with slices of roma tomatoes. sliced grill chicken, sweet baby ray's sauce, carmelized onion, mozz and gouda makes a good pizza, too.

This is how I make my dough, I also add a big pinch of Italian seasonings and a table spoon of crushed garlic. I am going to the store to get some fixings now!

[gtc]

I've been using this guy's recipe (more of a method than a recipe):
Jeff Varasano's NY Pizza Recipe

His method for kneading and dough preparation makes some excellent crust.

[72doug2,2S]

Subscribed!

IMO Dough and sauce are equally important. I'm going to try these. Are these NY style dough? NY style is the closest thing to Northern Italian I've found.

[72doug2,2S]

Originally Posted by gtc

I've been using this guy's recipe (more of a method than a recipe):
Jeff Varasano's NY Pizza Recipe

His method for kneading and dough preparation makes some excellent crust.

This is what I'm talking about. Thank you and thank you Jeff Varasano!

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Kemo

P.S. The next time Red-Beard makes it to town, im going to personally make that man an authentic wood-fired neopolitan style Italian pizza

Oh, so now you're gonna be "that guy" ?

Wait until we get some rain...

[72doug2,2S]

Please Poppy, please wash your hands.

[BernieP]

I make pizza on my lump charcoal fired keg grill often. I like the slight smoke flavor and it is no problem getting it to 600-700 degrees.

Bernie

[Kemo]

ive heard about people cooking pizza at high temps in "the EGG" with good results too

[Steve Viegas]

My local pizza place will sell their dough for something like $1.00 for a pie. You may want to check into this around your neighborhood if there is a pizza place you like.

[gtc]

Watch out for the fancy "italian" canned tomatos, such as the San Marzano brand. Many of them are grown in the US.
Though I will admit that the san marzano tomato puree is convenient and a nice consistency right out of the can.

[trekkor]

making pizzas is fun.


KT