[bakezoid]

I'm really excited about this pizza cook-off; at least I will be once Passover is finished. Right now I can only plan. I did testing for American Pie and enjoyed trying lots of different crusts. Peter's theory is that we love the pizza we had as children and i think he's got something there.

My favorite to make at home is pizza on the grill using a crust recipe from an old issue of Cooking Light. That'a during the summer. SO I will read this thread until Sunday and then get started.

And Rachel, I love genoa salami or sopressata slivered and scattered lightly on. Another wonderful combination, grilled, is nectarines, baby arugula and gogonzola. Maybe some prosciutto or salami.

Hurry up sunday1

[deltadoc]

snowangel, on Apr 27 2005, 07:13 AM, said:

Rachel, are you putting the toppings on before or after you put the crust on the peel?  I have the same trouble as you do with at least a little bit sticking, and I've tried it both ways.

After putting the pizza dough on the peel, I shake it to make sure it moves freely.

Then I paint the oliveoil on, and shake it again to make sure it is mobile.

Sauce on, shake again to keep it mobile.

Meat on, shake.

Cheese on, shake.

Mozz on, shake.

Then it always slides right off onto the stone.

No problemas.

doc

[Busboy]

MarketStEl, on Apr 26 2005, 08:15 PM, said:

Oh--the dough!  I forgot one more thing about the dough.

So far, I have been unable to stretch out the dough completely by hand.  Invariably I'll open up a hole in the dough.  I've resorted to using a rolling pin on the last two attempts.

Anyone else have this problem?

Three things that work for me:

1: Don't over-knead. I used to use a recipe straight out of the Joy of Cooking and it called for kneading the dough for ten minutes. By the time I finished pounding that stuff into shape, the gluten was so high-strung that the dough was almost impossible to work.

2: Another trick is to make sure that the dough is realtively warm. Think how hot it is in the kitchen of a pizza joint -- at that temperature the dough is pretty malleable. I usually let the bowl sit on a slightly warm oven to finish rising (especially if it's store-bought or had been chilled.

3: Make sure it rises long enough. That first handful of dough off a well-risen ball is the easiest to work. Again, think about a good pizza place: they probably aren't making dough every couple of hours through the night -- letting the dough set won't hurt it and, in fact, gives it a nice yeasty taste.

PS: We're probably making 'za this weekend so we'll post something Monday.

[BettyK]

bakezoid, on Apr 27 2005, 07:18 AM, said:

I'm really excited about this pizza cook-off; at least I will be once Passover is finished. Right now I can only plan. I did testing for American Pie and enjoyed trying lots of different crusts. Peter's theory is that we love the pizza we had as children and i think he's got something there.

I have American Pie and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make pizza from scratch. So far I've tried two different crusts and they've both worked really well.

[sadistick]

I will share one of my families favourite pizzas...We have made so many pizzas over the years, this one seems to be the general favourite (without spending tons of money for a truffle pizza )

Smoked Potatoe Pizza

Buy pizza dough
Cube yukon gold potatoes, fried ala hash browns.
Roasted Garlic
Caramalized onions
little chili
home made tomatoe sauce
smoked mozerella

Assemble with Sauce - garlic - onions - potatoes - cheese

Enjoy!

[RebeccaT]

lexy, on Apr 27 2005, 06:51 AM, said:

has anyone tried barbequeing pizza? I seem to remember reading somewhere (probably on eG) about someone rigging a barbeque to sort of approximate the effect of a wood oven.

I can't compare it to a woodburning oven, but I have made grilled pizza many times. I am not a total purist, in that I have a gas grill (I think getting the temp right w/ charcoal would be really difficult, though I am sure others have managed). It is not difficult at all to do as long as you have fast reflexes!

Basic method is this (can be done with any crust recipe in my experience):
- Preheat grill on high
- Get all pizza components ready to go... sauce, toppings, crust (all rolled/tossed/spread as you like it)... but not assembled. Crust should be on a peel or rimless baking sheet w/ plenty of cornmeal beneath, same as for oven.
- Get a nice long-handled spatula ready to go
- Brush hot grill rack with plenty of olive oil
- Slide crust onto grill rack, and close grill. Don't go far.
- After about 2-4 minutes, use spatula to remove crust back to peel, grilled side up. Step away from the grill, and quickly sauce and top your crust as desired.
- Carefully slide topped pie back onto grill, close. Again, stay close.
- 2-4 minutes later, check to make sure cheeses are melted, and bottom is nicely baked w/ grill marks. Remove to peel using spatula, and dig in ASAP!!!

We love using this method with a BBQ chicken pizza. Made with local Texas BBQ sauce, leftover rotisserie chicken, red onions, and smoked gouda or mozzerella. Yum!

Best crust recipe overall, IMO, is Wolfgang Puck's: http://www.wolfgangp...Alias=RE_WP0096

I also have a good, easy whole wheat crust if anyone is interested.

[Chris Amirault]

Can we talk about specific ingredients? For example, what exact brands of flour do you get? Where do y'all get it?

Oh, and those of you who have steady and consistent recipes of your own are encouraged to post same at RecipeGullet!

edited to add RG ref -- ca

[vengroff]

Has anyone tried pain a l'ancienne pizza? I've had good luck with baguettes, so I'll probably give it a try.

[Rachel Perlow]

snowangel, on Apr 27 2005, 10:13 AM, said:

Rachel, are you putting the toppings on before or after you put the crust on the peel?  I have the same trouble as you do with at least a little bit sticking, and I've tried it both ways.

I put the dough on the peel before topping it. And I do try to shake it as it is assembled, but somehow, some always sticks, and then some topping ends up on the oven tiles. Oh well. Still tastes good, even if not a perfect circle.

[Chris Amirault]

Excellent thread on dough sticking, with a particularly useful post, here.

[Chufi]

Oh, I love this cook-off!
When we went to New York last fall we had pizza at Grimaldi's. It was the best pizza I ever had and after that, I became obsessed with pizza baking. I was very much a pizza-novice at the time and I still am: no pizza stone, no baker's peel.
Still through trial and error and weeks of pizzabaking I learned a lot. Guess I should go and look up the notes I made and see if i can recreate the Final Version that I came up with!

[Rachel Perlow]

Chufi, on Apr 27 2005, 05:04 PM, said:

I was very much a pizza-novice at the time and I still am: no pizza stone, no baker's peel.

Instead of a stone, you can get tiles cheaper, and the peel is totally worth it. They're not expensive, got mine in a restaurant supply store, I think we paid around $20 for a medium-large one. Smaller ones can be had for less. You look at it and go, "where am I going to store that???" But it was easy to drill a hole in the end of the handle to hang it on the wall of the garage, if you have a pantry with some available wall space, you could hang it there, or even in back of a clothes closet (if you clean it off first).

[torakris]

you guys are mean, mean, mean!!

I want pizza too!

The doctor said because of the place I broke my foot I am unable to use a walking cast and will be off my feet for the rest of the month...

I can pm my address to anyone who wants to send pizza my way.....

[rooftop1000]

these are my last 2 pizzas actually a few months ago. The first one is a rip on California Pizza Kitchen with toasted garlic, sauteed onions, butterflied shrimp and mixed cheeses well dressed with olive oil.....
The second one was "sicilian" because I just couldnt be bothered turning out multiple thin crust pies and damn was this one even better than usual. It was one of the snowstorm weekends and I only had a teaspoon of yeast so I started early in teh morning with a sponge and then in the afternoon cut that in half and made the dough for the pizza nice and soft let it rise once then punched it down into a roasting pan. After a second rise I dimpled it and baked for 15 min...pulled it out and dressed it then finished baking the toppings. Next day the rest of the sponge became a killer sesame boule.

tracey

[NulloModo]

The best pizza I think I have ever had is from a local brewery/restaurant called 'Iron Hill Brewery' (they also make incredible beer, which goes well with the pizza). It was basically shrimp lejon (a dish that should show up on far more menus) in pizza form, I might try my hand at creating something like that.

[Malawry]

This is the dough recipe I use:

Click here


I made this at work a few weeks ago. Topped with pesto, red peppers, black olives and sundried tomatoes for a pissaladiere-type effect. (I didn't think the girls would go for anchovies, so I didn't bother adding them.) The dough is chewy-crisp if baked on a stone, a little less successful baked on half-sheet pans.

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks, Rochelle! I think we're going to try this recipe out.

Malawry, on Apr 27 2005, 08:44 PM, said:

The dough is chewy-crisp if baked on a stone....

Chewy-crisp: The Holy Grail.

[chef koo]

albiston, on Apr 27 2005, 02:49 AM, said:

chef koo, on Apr 27 2005, 08:53 AM, said:

here are a few pizza axiums my teacher gave me at school. he was a born and raised neopolitan so i trust him

As a Neapolitan myself I would really like to have a few words with your teacher , quite a lot there I don't agree upon.

Quote

1. the crust must be foccacia

Definitely not. Neapolitan pizza crust is just flour, water, salt and yeast (eventually sourdough). All the pizzerias I personally know in Naples use such a dough with slight changes in water percentages and rising times, which are usually quite long. No oil, milk, soy flour or stuff like that. And since there's no oil in there it is not a focaccia dough.

Quote

2. the sauce must never be cooked

Absolutely agree on this one. Especially when baking in a home oven that takes longer than the traditional wood fired brick oven. It's important to spread the sauce really thin though.

Quote

3. the sauce must have anchovies

This is the first time I hear such a thing. In Naples you don't even use a sauce per se, just chopped canned tomatoes. I personally find it makes little sense: if I'm topping my pizza with grilled vegetables or meats I wouldn't really like to taste anchovies there.

Quote

4. pizza must never have seafood of any kind in it
5. pizza must never have raw white onions as a topping
6. vegetarian pizza must never be eaten in his sight

I'll leave those, toppings are really a matter of choice. I agree on the raw onion thing though.

Quote

7. when in doubt go for the olive oil

Yes and no. A nice drizzle of olive oil before the pizza goes into the oven is a must, but too much makes the pizza heavy.

Quote

8. if it doesn't taste like momma's then it's not pizza

I have to admit that this is one of those sentences I've learned to dread. Unless his mom was a "pizzaiola" (pizza baker) then I'm pretty sure there's plenty of better pizzas around. The "like mom didi it" concept is something many Italians believe in, at times with a reason. But remaining stuck with that is IMO a great limit in extending your gastronomic horizons.

Definitely count me in on this one, I just bought a special pizza flour last week and was waiting for a good chance to use it. I'll be making the dough tonight so that I can bake on Friday.

hmmm. i don't know who to believe now. although i'm not italian myself but i'm pretty confident about the anchovie thing. i've seen and have been told by so many people. i don't mean that the anchovie should be a main ingredient but it should be used as a seasoning. this is the way i've been taught. i even looked it up in my larousse. but then aain larousse is a french reference and i know how the french and italians get along when it comes to food.

[jackal10]

From my blog last year (do these count?)

Dan Lepard and Pizza


Tarte Flambe (Pizza crust, onions, bacon, creme fraiche) cooking


Plum and Apple pizzas

Very good: Pizza base, fruit, butter, sugar

[chef koo]

beautiful pictures. where is that? i would love to have a brick oven like that in my backyard

[albiston]

chef koo, on Apr 28 2005, 09:35 AM, said:

hmmm. i don't know who to believe now. although i'm not italian myself but i'm pretty confident about the anchovie thing. i've seen and have been told by so many people. i don't mean that the anchovie should be a main ingredient but it should be used as a seasoning. this is the way i've been taught. i even looked it up in my larousse. but then aain larousse is a french reference and i know how the french and italians get along when it comes to food.

Chef koo,

as much as I consider Larousse Gastronomique a great reference for French cuisine, I cannot help feel the urge to rip the book apart whenever I look up anything Italian in it. Most of the entries are superficial and sometimes downright wrong. There's better references for Italian cuisine out there, starting with Marcella Hazan's books.

My comment on the anchovies in the sauce is only limited to the classical Neapolitan recipe, not to pizza in general, since this is a dish that has changed as it moved.

If you want to read a thorough article on pizza Napoletana, with a few recipes, have a look at this one from Wine News magazine. There's a lot of info and both classical recipes (look at the Pizza Margherita Extra DOC one, ) and newer ones.

[jmolinari]

Having grown up in italy, i can say i ate my share of pizza, and i've never, ever seen or heard of anchovies added to the sauce. The sauce consists of crushed San Marzano tomatoes..thats about it...while additions to it may make it tasty and all, the real neopolitan pizza sauce is just creshed tomatoes.
Of course everyone makes it how they wish, i add basil, olive oil and salt to mine..but anchovies seems kind of bizarre, and to say it belongs there is entirely incorrect.

jason

[Msk]

vengroff, on Apr 27 2005, 12:45 PM, said:

Has anyone tried pain a l'ancienne pizza?  I've had good luck with baguettes, so I'll probably give it a try.

I have used it for both pizza and focaccia with great success. What I really like about it is that you basically throw all the ingredients together, mix and set it in the fridge. Its low maintentance but takes a fair amount of time.

Typically I'll do this on a wednesday and let it rise slowlu in the fridge until the weekend.

Msk

[raisab]

Rachel and Jason,
I have broken so many pizza stones, I am going to buy tiles now. Do you use regular unglazed terracotta tiles? Lemme know quick!

[Rachel Perlow]

We got the plain unglazed tiles at Home Depot. They're pretty much the cheapest tiles they have. I don't think they're terra cotta and if you call them that, the sales person (if you can find one) will probably steer you to something more decorative. I can't recall if they were actually labeled quarrey tiles or not, I think not. Measure your oven so you know how many square inches you want to cover (so you know how many to buy). Buy extra as some will inevitably break. They're cheap enough that you could buy twice as many as you need, the idea is not to waste time by having to ever go back for more.

Oh, and people talk about not cleaning their pizza stones. I hadn't in a while, but they were starting to feel gross. The tiles are much easier to fit into the dishwasher for a run vs. a pizza stone.

Quick enough?

[Tepee]

Made 3 pizzas using 3 C unbleached plain flour and 1 C wholemeal pastry flour.

Expectation: Thin, crispy crust
Result: Slightly crispy on the outside, chewy inside. While the tops look burnt, the bottoms were, sniff, sniff, pale.
Conclusion: Must go get them tiles!

HAWAIIAN PIZZA: Green bell peppers, pineapple slices, tomatoes, homemade tomato sauce, shredded roast garlic chicken.



SATAY PIZZA: Satay sauce, shredded roast garlic chicken, red bell peppers, lotsa mozarella



DESSERT PIZZA (inspired by Jackal10): base smeared with lemon marmalade, topped with apples and flaked almonds, dotted with butter and drizzled with brown sugar - Yum!



Pls excuse the horrible pics...not used to new computer/photo-editing program.

This post has been edited by Tepee: 28 April 2005 - 07:43 AM

[jmolinari]

I use the same tiles from home depot, they work great. I believe they are called "pavers". When i asked for unglazed quarry tiles the guy had no clue what i was talking about.
jason

[Tepee]

Can someone post pix of the tiles, please???

[Rachel Perlow]

Don't tell them you're planning on cooking on them. They'll look at you like you're insane. And, evenntually, they'll get the idea of what we're doing and start charging more for them!

[raisab]

So they are basically flagstone?