Pizza

[Turk]

Great to see this thread active again. For years, we have had pizza Sunday's with homemade dough and sauce. Last year, I splurged on the Breville Pizzaiolo Oven. Awesome little electric that gets close to 800 degrees on your kitchen counter and makes really special pies. Here's a recent pic...

Hey Ed, that's a sweet pie! Looks like a crust you can sink your teeth into What kind of dough is it?

Interesting oven, I've been trying to figure out what to do since our new house has an electric oven that barely hits 450 deg on a good day (old house had natural gas oven so we could hit 550 deg), still experimenting putting a stone on the gas grill but it gets too hot underneath and not hot enough above.

(BTW, your glass of red is getting low)

[edslawn]

Yum, I fired up the oven an hour ago to preheat the stones, the aroma is hitting me while reading this thread and my mouth is watering like crazy!

Made Neapolitan dough a few days ago and it's been enjoying the slow fermentation in the fridge. (Recipe from Peter Reinhart's "American Pie")

Tonight will be making a Neapolitan pizza and (my wife's favorite) mozarella w/ roasted red peppers, chopped green onions, sautéed mushrooms w/ garlic.

I really love the process as much as the pizza and it sounds like you do too! The Neapolitan sounds great...be sure to post pics!

[edslawn]

Hey Ed, that's a sweet pie! Looks like a crust you can sink your teeth into What kind of dough is it?

Interesting oven, I've been trying to figure out what to do since our new house has an electric oven that barely hits 450 deg on a good day (old house had natural gas oven so we could hit 550 deg), still experimenting with putting a stone on the gas grill but it gets too hot underneath and not hot enough above.

(BTW, your glass of red is getting low)

I've tried the wall oven and could get close to 550 if you place to stone in the highest position, but ended up damaging the surrounding cabinets with the high heat running for so long. The grill never worked...I had the same experience as you. I also played around with an outdoor oven and they have some good propane ones, but ended up with the Breville. Not cheap, but I can use it year-round and it is a big family gathering day for us, so worth it.

We make it all from scratch... The dough is a simple flour, yeast and water recipe that I've developed over ten years of doing it. I only let it rise for an hour, divide it into single pie size and proof for about 30 minutes. (I'm never organized enough to get the dough ready early...) Combine that with a simple homemade marinara sauce and it is heaven. Crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Filling my glass now

[Turk]

Interesting how the devil is in the details (sorta like tending to the lawn).

For years I rolled out my pizza dough using a rolling pin, then wondered why the crust was always flat with no "cornicon" (bubbly crust on the edges); then I learned how to hand roll out the dough. The Neapolitans were great (see pics posted above), but I want to do better.

I picked up "The Pizza Bible" by Tony Gemignani last week, and he's got A LOT more details on technique and cooking styles, including using 2 stones (or steels) for a single pizza in a home oven (i.e., move to the hotter, unused stone halfway to cook the crust better), and use some malt in the dough for lower temp ovens. The book even has a "master class" to practice 2 different recipes.

I'll keep you up to date on the progress.

[edslawn]

@turk definitely post updates... I always love to learn more and share ideas.

[Turk]

Pizza order up!

2 Neo-Neapoletan pizzas per Peter Reinhart (from his book "American Pie"); sticky dough when you make it, tricky to work with when rolling out the dough (had some "stones" in the dough when working out the thawed balls), but made a nice, thin, crisp crust with a light edge.



https://www.fornobravo.com/pizzaquest/c ... tan-style/

[Turk]

I'm now a convert: I picked up a copy of Tony Gemignani's "Pizza Bible", and the differences between his technique and recipes compared to Peter Reinhart's "American Pie" are incredible: Tony's technique is just what I needed for my low-temp (450 deg.) oven (high-gluten flour is key). Wonderfully-light, chewy edge:



More details here

[edslawn]

I'm now a convert: I picked up a copy of Tony Gemignani's "Pizza Bible", and the differences between his technique and recipes compared to Peter Reinhart's "American Pie" are incredible: Tony's technique is just what I needed for my low-temp (450 deg.)....

Love that book! The pizza thread lives Here are a few recent creations of mine...

[Turk]

I'm now a convert: I picked up a copy of Tony Gemignani's "Pizza Bible", and the differences between his technique and recipes compared to Peter Reinhart's "American Pie" are incredible: Tony's technique is just what I needed for my low-temp (450 deg.)....

Love that book! The pizza thread lives Here are a few recent creations of mine...

Those are some sweet pies!

I take the first one is shredded mozza base and dollops of tomato sauce on top?

Second one pesto base covered with cheese slices on top?

Making some more starter dough this afternoon for pizza this weekend!

[edslawn]

Those are some sweet pies!

I take the first one is shredded mozza base and dollops of tomato sauce on top?

Second one pesto base covered with cheese slices on top?

Making some more starter dough this afternoon for pizza this weekend!

You got it... A little Grotto (Delaware) style pizza

[PhilWynn]

looks like restaurant pizza !

[Turk]

More pizza from last week:

[edslawn]

More pizza from last week:

Looks awesome!

[Turk]

I have been able to cook some awesome pizzas on my gas grill using a pizza stone and a heavy-duty wok cover. The work cover is 15 inches diameter and comes with a riveted aluminum handle so it won't burn (like the wooden plug on my flimsy wok cover from my old wok), total $32.96 (including shipping) at Restaurantsupply.com

I made the mistake at first of putting 2 pizza stones on the grill, but the stones would get super-hot because they completely covered the grates so there would be no flow of heat in the upper part of the grill for the toppings. The solution was to use a single stone in the center of the grill and the wok cover to keep the heat close to the top of the pizza.

I fire up the grill (outer burners on high, inner burners on low), and in 20 minutes the stone can get up to 650 degrees (I carefully monitor the stone temperature using an IR thermometer and decide if I want it at 550 deg., 650 deg., etc.; temps above 650 deg can result in scorched bottoms which wife doesn't like). I then turn off the inner burners, put the pizza on the stone then the wok cover over the pizza on the stone, then cover the grill lid. I turn the pizza around at 5 minutes for even cooking, and 5 minutes later I have the perfect pizza!

I can usually put on a second pizza right afterwards, maybe will put on the inner burners on low for a few minutes.

Much better than the lame 450 degrees on my home oven, and keeps the heat outside during the summer.

This is quickly turning into a wonderful weekly pizza adventure (first picture is the pie coming off the grill, second picture is after it's dressed with fresh basil)