Pizza Stone

[claire797]

claire, "Place pizza on a cutting board; let stand 5 minutes." why?

Oraklet, a lot of pizza recipes say to let the pizza stand for a few minutes before cutting. Apparently, letting the pizza stand makes it easier to slice. That is, it

slices "neater".

Elyes, Alton Brown did recommend quarry tile. Unfortunately, my Home Depot stopped selling the unglazed kind. I got my pizza stone at Bed, Bath and Beyond for $7.99. It came with a rack and a cutter.

Edited February 7, 2003 by claire797 (log)

[elyse]

claire, "Place pizza on a cutting board; let stand 5 minutes." why?

>>Oraklet, a lot of pizza recipes say to let the pizza stand for a few minutes before cutting. Apparently, letting the pizza stand makes it easier to slice. That is, it slices "neater".

I believe the cheese etc. will slump off the slices if cut too soon. Just what I've noticed.

>>Elyes, Alton Brown did recommend quarry tile. Unfortunately, my Home Depot stopped selling the unglazed kind

Suckie deal.

NO idea how to do the multiple replying to multiple quotes thing.

[tommy]

i've been having better and better luck with my pizza stone. i think i'm finally hitting my stride, and i'm realizing exactly what i'm shooting for.

the current favorite, and the benchmark for me, is a thin crust, with pomi brand strained tomatoes, fresh muzz, fresh basil, s/p/oregano, and olive oil. it has been a big hit with guests.

[fresco]

Do you keep your stone in the oven even when you're not baking pizza?

[tommy]

Do you keep your stone in the oven even when you're not baking pizza?

but of course. two obvious reasons:

1) it *should* help regulate heat

2) there's no doubt that it's easier to leave it in than take it out and find a home for it.

[fresco]

Nice looking pizza, by the way. Did it take you a while to get the knack of sliding it off the peel and into the oven more or less intact? (I'm still working on that one.)

[hjshorter]

Nice pizza.

Our stone resides in the bottom oven unless there's some compelling reason to remove it. Getting the pizza off the stone and onto the peel takes practice (like flipping stuff in a saute pan) and a well floured peel. Still, nine times out of ten the pizza slides off the back end of the stone and has to be rescued.

[tommy]

Nice looking pizza,  by the way. Did it take you a while to get the knack of sliding it off the peel and into the oven more or less intact? (I'm still working on that one.)

the sliding thing hasn't been a problem. i use a bit of cornmeal on the peel, and don't have any problems. although occasionally it all wants to slide to the back as i'm removing it (edit: just like hjshorter's ), as it only takes about 3 minutes to cook, and the toppings don't really set. i've taken to just using a fork at the front of the pizza to pull it onto the peel. hence the broken off bit in the above pic.

additonally, i've taken to moving it to a low rack when i use it, as it makes it easier to negotiate. the angle was just too extreme with it on the bottom of the oven.

one of the revelations that i had was that you don't need to put a bunch of stuff on the pizza. i was so enthusiastic at first that i was throwing 3 or 4 toppings on the thing. clearly you want to build from the bottom up, getting the foundation of a good pie with clean flavors, and then adding on if necessary. however, i'm not adding on too much, but rather substituting or removing ingredients. another popular pie is just evoo/s/p and garlic. and i'm still perfecting a mushroom and blue cheese pizza. the balance on that one is all out of whack.

Edited November 25, 2003 by tommy (log)

[fresco]

Less is definitely more with pizza toppings. But try telling that to a a 21-year-old who has just come back from the gym and smoked a joint.

[AndrewM]

So let's say you recklessly disregarded the less is more philosophy and got a little too enthusiastic with toppings, and Italian sausage meat, fat and juice escaped from your pizza and onto your pizza stone. Any good way of cleaning this? Any reason to worry about nasty old meat juices in the sort-of-porous stone? Hypothetically speaking...

[guajolote]

So let's say you recklessly disregarded the less is more philosophy and got a little too enthusiastic with toppings, and Italian sausage meat, fat and juice escaped from your pizza and onto your pizza stone. Any good way of cleaning this? Any reason to worry about nasty old meat juices in the sort-of-porous stone? Hypothetically speaking...

ask MatthewB about pizza cleanup

[tommy]

to clean, put your oven on self-clean. it'll come out brand new.

[AndrewM]

to clean, put your oven on self-clean. it'll come out brand new.

Ah, brilliant. And the oven's due for a self-clean.

[tommy]

to clean, put your oven on self-clean.  it'll come out brand new.

Ah, brilliant. And the oven's due for a self-clean.

in fact, i only clean my oven when i have to clean the stone. and that's been only twice in 2 years.

[winebill]

This is my "two cents" for making Pizza dough

In the Bread Machine

1 cup water

4 teaspoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 cup AP Flour

1/2 cup Pasta flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast or bread machine yeast

Add all of the ingredients to a 1-1/2- or 2-pound bread machine according to the manufacturer's directions. Select the dough cycle. When the cycle is complete, remove dough from machine. Punch down. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

And for a real easy sauce, that still tastes great:

Easy Pizza Sauce

(6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced or garlic powder

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1/2 tablespoon dried oregano

1/2 tablespoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

Directions

1 Mix together the tomato paste, water, and olive oil. Mix well. Add

garlic, salt and pepper to taste, oregano, basil, and rosemary. Mix well and

let stand several hours to let flavors blend. No cooking necessary.

I usually just put in a jar,and shake the hell out of it

[tommy]

as my approach continues to morph, i've done away with the cornmeal-on-the-peel, replacing with a dusting of flour. also gone, for now, is the fresh muzz. i'm on Miller's low-moisture muzz now, and getting what i feel are better results.

i'm getting the dough much thinner as well.

the flavors are clean, bright, and distinct. i don't know if i've got anywhere else to go with this version of pizza

a far cry from my first attempt over two years ago, which was more like a teenager having sex: i just wanted to throw everything at it at once:

[hjshorter]

Nice looking pizza!

a far cry from my first attempt over two years ago, which was more like a teenager having sex:  i just wanted to throw everything at it at once

Great description.

[tommy]

a far cry from my first attempt over two years ago, which was more like a teenager having sex:  i just wanted to throw everything at it at once

Great description.

a play off of a comment from chris rock. his was much funnier.

[Simple]

I had problems with oil, cheese, etc. melting into my stone and the resulting fumes.

Started sliding the pizza off the peel onto a sheet of tin foil, which was then lifted onto the hot stone.

I'm sure I'll get some objections to this - but I've really not noticed any difference in the quality of the crust since adopting this method.

[tommy]

I had problems with oil, cheese, etc. melting into my stone and the resulting fumes.

i did a bit until i started putting the stone on a rack (so the angle of attack was less), and being a bit more careful. your solution, if it works, seems reasonable as well.

[scott123]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned, but you'll get better results by grating your low moisture mozz. Fresh mozz melts on a dime. The low moisture stuff needs a little help in the form of grating.

[Toasted]

as my approach continues to morph, i've done away with the cornmeal-on-the-peel, replacing with a dusting of flour.

Tommy- why did you switch from cornmeal to flour and does it work just as well for you?

[tommy]

Tommy- why did you switch from cornmeal to flour and does it work just as well for you?

while i sometimes like the cornmeal flavor and texture, i have been going for a more neapolitan style of pizza, which, to me, would not have cornmeal.

as far as the cheese, i haven't found the need to grate the low-moisture muzz. although i sometimes do half-and-half sliced and grated. i don't mind the extra time it might take to melt as it gives the crust time to get nice and done.

[Mirrorball]

I've been trying to make a good pizza for months but the result is always a hard crisp bottom and an undercooked top. Does anyone know why the top of my pizzas doesn't get brown? (I'm using a stone and a very hot gas oven.)

[scott123]

I've been trying to make a good pizza for months but the result is always a hard crisp bottom and an undercooked top. Does anyone know why the top of my pizzas doesn't get brown? (I'm using a stone and a very hot gas oven.)

When you open the oven door to put the pizza in, quite a lot of heat escapes. Because of the thermal mass of the stone, it retains the heat better than the rest of the oven. Commercial pizza ovens recover very quickly from opened doors because they have a thick stone hearth, ceiling and walls.

Although there are many in this forum that subscribe to the broiling theory (used in combination with a preheated stone hearth) I'm a big proponent of emulating (to an extent) commercial ovens by using two stones, one for the hearth and one for the ceiling. Preferably these stones should be as thick as possible but not too thick as to put too much stress on your oven shelves.

If you want to save some money and not buy a second stone, you might want to try putting your stone on the one of the uppper shelves in your oven. The top of the oven will recover sooner from temperature drops than the bottom. Also, when you put the pizza in the top third, you'll better utilize any radiant heat emanating from the pre-heated oven ceiling.

Edited August 21, 2004 by scott123 (log)