Pizza obsession

I love pizza, for the past 2 months I've been obsessed with making pizza at home. I make one every other night. I've managed to make what seem to be some pretty respectable pizza's. I'm quite boring with the toppings though, buffalo mozzarella, tomato, basil and olive oil, maybe a few capers if I'm feeling crazy! Shaping the base is my downfall though, in an effort not to overwork the dough and preserve the air bubbles I have to sacrifice roundness .
Anyway I'd love to hear any tips or recommended simple toppings.
Here is tonight's homemade effort (don't laugh to hard at the shape)
View attachment 69415

Pepperoni

Besides the usual, here are two favorites of my homemade pizza:

1. Light red sauce, fresh spinach cooked with garlic, mozz, parm

2. Buffalo pie: base of Ranch dressing, cubes of chicken tossed with Buffalo sauce (homemade of course), very light mozz to hold the chicken down, Maytag blue cheese crumbles, squirts of Buffalo sauce. Good with bacon too.

I like the spinach idea, however just incase I turn vegetarian I had better stick some pepperoni or bacon on next time!

do like an eggplant parm, or breakfast pizza with egg and chorizo or just herbs like rosemary thyme ect. the sky is really the limit it all come down to how odd you want to get, if you want to do a fish and chips pizza why not.

The OP (opening pie that is) is a thing of beauty.

I too would like some tips on making a good pie at home. I have a home/commercial oven (DCS) and can produce fairly high temps. I have never been able to produce a quality pizza though, either with home made or store bought dough.

Can anyone point out a reliable good step by step recipe?

Also, not meaning to completely highjack the thread, but I have found that on home made pies, certainly in the style of the one pictured, less is more and that heavy or many, or especially wet, toppings ruin a good thing. In this regard I like sauteed garlic or a few rings of sweet onion, for meat a few thin slices of prosciutto.

Some of my favorite ingredients are artichoke hearts, red onions and green olives.

I think the shape makes it look more appetizing and homespun!

I just saw a show on the Travel Channel about outdoor kitchens, and it seems that that hot trend is to have your own brick pizza oven.

Ok, I think you just convinced me to have pizza tonight!

Brodirt said:

The OP (opening pie that is) is a thing of beauty.

I too would like some tips on making a good pie at home. I have a home/commercial oven (DCS) and can produce fairly high temps. I have never been able to produce a quality pizza though, either with home made or store bought dough.

Can anyone point out a reliable good step by step recipe?

Also, not meaning to completely highjack the thread, but I have found that on home made pies, certainly in the style of the one pictured, less is more and that heavy or many, or especially wet, toppings ruin a good thing. In this regard I like sauteed garlic or a few rings of sweet onion, for meat a few thin slices of prosciutto.

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+1 on less is more, too much topping stops the base cooking properly.
The dough recipe:
500g strong white flour
300g water
1tsp dry active yeast
1tsp fine sea salt
1tsp sugar
2tbsp evoo

thoroughly mix water with 1/2 the flour, 1/2 the yeast, 1/2 the sugar, 1/2 the salt in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave out of the fridge for 12-24 hours.
Dissolve yeast, salt, sugar in a little warm water then add to the mixture along with the flour. Work in to a ball then need for 10-15 mins adding extra flour as needed (dough should feel quite tacky to the touch). Place dough back in the bowl, pour on the oil and work it in should take another 2 mins. Dough should feel very soft and supple. Split the dough into 3-4 pieces depending on the size of pizza you require and roll into balls. Put on an oiled tray and cover well with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge over night.
Remove dough from fridge to come to room temp before using.
Try not to use a rolling pin to flatten the dough, I try to push it out using my finger tips. Over working the dough can make it tough. Extra dough will keep for a few days in the fridge.

Bit of a carry on just for a pizza, but like I said I'm a little obsessed

That preferment may be a bit too long, leading to issues with extensibility later. Have you tried just the overnight cold ferment? You are starting out at a pretty high hydration, 60%, though you state you add extra flour when kneading. If you are weighing things, that shouldn't be necessary.

I would guess with that preferment, high hydration, the long cold ferment, and the oil that your dough is too extensible (doesn't spring back). Is that correct?

The pie looks good, though. You are making me hungry.

I love to throw mine on the BGE. It's fun to let my nephews build their own if I make the dough ahead of time.

Scotto said:

That preferment may be a bit too long, leading to issues with extensibility later. Have you tried just the overnight cold ferment? You are starting out at a pretty high hydration, 60%, though you state you add extra flour when kneading. If you are weighing things, that shouldn't be necessary.

I would guess with that preferment, high hydration, the long cold ferment, and the oil that your dough is too extensible (doesn't spring back). Is that correct?

The pie looks good, though. You are making me hungry.

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The dough does seem very soft. I usually make double and bake off a couple of small loaves before putting the pizza dough in the fridge, the loaves turn out pretty good.
I don't actually have scales to weigh out the flour, so I just add enough to get the right consistency. Would you suggest less water?
I thought the first fermentation would help with flavor, but I will try just the cold ferment next time.
Are you a baker by trade?

This probably won't help you w/ an exact recipe but may provide some inspiration.
A fellow B&B'r posted this site a while back.

http://www.varasanos.com/pizzaRecipe.htm#

Gravy said:

This probably won't help you w/ an exact recipe but may provide some inspiration.
A fellow B&B'r posted this site a while back.

http://www.varasanos.com/pizzaRecipe.htm#

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link, it looks pretty extensive. I have bookmarked it, should make some good bedtime reading

Gravy said:

This probably won't help you w/ an exact recipe but may provide some inspiration.
A fellow B&B'r posted this site a while back.

http://www.varasanos.com/pizzaRecipe.htm#

Click to expand...

holiday said:

Thanks for the link, it looks pretty extensive. I have bookmarked it, should make some good bedtime reading

Click to expand...

Scroll way down to the bottom of that link and you will see a pie from Johnny's in Mt. Vernon New York. This was a great pie that I had very often in my college days. I hear it isn't so good anymore.

one of the best tricks to making a nice round pizza is to start with a nice round dough ball. When you separate the main dough ball into smaller balls for individual pies make sure they are formed in nice round balls before allowing to rise. Then it's just a simple matter of working the dough out evenly.

That said there's no reason to get crazy with toppings. The type of pizza you are making here is best kept simple with just a few toppings. Pepperoni is popular but not my thing. Eggplant parm pizza is heavenly though.

If you really want to get kooky with toppings, I suggest rather then looking for toppings you look for fillings and move into the world of calzone and stuffed pizza.

A delicious calzone can be made with a base of caramelized sliced onions and fennel with red wine soaked raisins, mint, and chili flake mixed in. Sauteed mushrooms as well as some ricotta cheese are optional. Use your standard rough, work it out into an oval, don't over stuff, fold, and pinch the edges well with a little water between them.

A great stuffed pizza is minced lamb, onions, fennel bulb and seeds, mint, chili, and wine soaked raisins. Make bottom crust, add filling again not over stuffing, and put on another crust over the top pinch the edges and bake.

holiday said:

The dough does seem very soft. I usually make double and bake off a couple of small loaves before putting the pizza dough in the fridge, the loaves turn out pretty good.
I don't actually have scales to weigh out the flour, so I just add enough to get the right consistency. Would you suggest less water?
I thought the first fermentation would help with flavor, but I will try just the cold ferment next time.
Are you a baker by trade?

Click to expand...

Nope - just a nutty scientist who happens to be nutty about pizza.

Personally, I like high hydration, but if you don't have high-gluten flour (higher than bread flour), it may turn the dough way too sticky to deal with. Also, oil will also make the dough soft. Here is my recipe in baker's percents if you want to try it:

100% water
65% high-gluten flour
0.4% Instant yeast
1.7% salt
1% oil
1% sugar

In my particular case, I make 2-16" pies out of it, with each dough ball being 500g. Therefore it is 607g flour, 395g water, 0.8t yeast, 1.8t salt, 0.5T sugar and 0.5T oil. I do an overnight cold ferment. To keep things round, start with a round ball before it goes in the fridge, then press it out on the counter, then pick it up and use the back of your hands (not your fingers) to stretch it out a bit. After some practice, it will come naturally.

It is fun to play regardless. Keep up the good work!

thanks Scotto, I will try this next time. What flour has a higher gluten than bread flour?

I read Varasano's web page and have started making dough using the autolyse technique he recommends and I like the results. I use a mix of 3 parts bread flour and 1 part semolina and 60% hydration. Weighing the ingredients is really the way to go. It is simple and when I weighed several cups of flour I had measured, I found a fair amount of variation.

I try and think ahead and have a cold rise for 24 hours (using 1/4 tsp yeast), but it works okay if I just add the full packet of yeast and let it rise at room temp.

I cook mine on my Big Green Egg. This picture shows the set-up. I use 1 1/4" copper pipes to push the pizza stone farther up into the dome and get a better balance cooking the top and the bottom.

I run the BGE between 600 and 700 F and you need a fairly wet dough.

This pie was made with pesto, topped with a three cheese mix plus grilled/smoked chicken and grilled pineapple.


I have a peel, but I think it is less mess to make them on a round piece of parchment and this gives me a target when I stretch the dough.

Nice work. Looks like a pizza I ate in Napoli. Keep the ingredients simple and it comes out amazing.