making pizza at home

IMHO, my pizza has come out great, no matter what oven I’ve used.  I turn the oven up as high as it will go and let it heat up for a minimum of 30 minutes; with a Pizza Stone in there from the start, on the lowest rack.  I use a Pizza peel, assemble my pizza minus the cheese (that includes any extras like mushrooms, meats and the sort), bake it half way (it’s about 5 minutes, until the crust starts to puff), put the cheese on (real quick like) and bake it the rest of the way until GBBAD (golden brown, bubbly and delicious).  Both of our oldest nieces have requested a Pizza Party for their Sweet Sixteen as my gift to them!   

Sometimes I make Pizza in a pan, but the same way and it still comes out tasty. 

In all actuality, the most professional pizza ovens that I've worked (and owned) go @ about 500*- 550*. I kinda think those super high temps go for different types of pizzas than you are talking about. 700*+ works nice for cracker-crusts, and in coal-fired or wood-burning stoves. I sorta believe for what you are looking for, 500* is just fine. My guess that your difficulty may be in the cheese. The really good mozzarella in your better pizza places is not the stuff you just find in grocery stores. It's also not the mega-priced stuff you get in specialty stores either. Shop around, looking for the stuff that feels the creamiest and tastes the best to you. If you find something that you like, buy it without any water. You don't need to pay for water. That is of course unless you're buying it in bulk sealed containers. 

Your problem may be the crust.  You haven't told us what kind of crust you're making.  We prefer very thin crust pizzas at our house so we put all the toppings on and in 10 minutes the crust is cooked and crunchy and the toppings/cheese are perfect.  If you're looking to make a thick crust then you may have to precook your crust before adding any toppings.  Try to avoid pre-grated mozzarrella-like cheeses and go for real mozzarella.  Not the stuff that is packed wet at the specialty shop - go to the fancy cheese section at the supermarket and get the tightly packaged mozz balls.  Those are creamy enough yet dry enough to withstand grating. 

Heh, thanks C-lady! 

That pie I made was for a cocktail party we had and it was gone in seconds

in fact, my husband was just saying last night that we should do that again…

We LOVE pizza!!  I can honestly say that is the one and only thing that my husband will beg me to make!!

Anywhos,

I do agree with KK, I was going to ask you what kind of cheese you are using… 

I buy the brick form of part skim Mozz, Kraft brand, then shred on the “big” holes of my food processor. 

I seem to recall a Cook’s Illustrated article or America’s Test Kitchen program, one or the other…

on the topic of best “pizza cheese” and I’m almost certain it was Kraft as the winner. 

Something about the pre-grated stuff having something coating the cheese, an anit-clumping agent, and that inhibits the melting process.

Speaking of Mozz.. 

I saw a TV commercial the other day that Kraft has added Philly Cream Cheese to their pre-shredded Mozz

OH MAN Mr. BILL, SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!

My husband WILL NOT eat anything with cream cheese in it!

Funny, cream cheese is one of my most favorite pizza toppings. I dollop it on along with mozz. Tangy, creamy, delicious.

Majorcan ( Mallorquin ) Pizza called Coca derives its name from the Latin verb Coquere, which denotes to cook. Shaped in a long oval, and can be made with savoury ingredients, or sweet, is a popular street food in Mallorca, one of the Spanish Balearic Islands, in between Spain and Italy.

Toppings typical include: bell pepper, Swiss Chard and a variety of cheeses.

The flour is a Napoli variety.

We enjoy a homemade pizza for a week night early dinner when we can. Nice change.

Margcata.

Invest in a good pizza stone and bake in the lower third of the oven. My stone lives on the bottom most position in my oven.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaryB 

Invest in a good pizza stone and bake in the lower third of the oven. My stone lives on the bottom most position in my oven.

I've often thought about doing this.  Does this affect how the oven works otherwise?  How do you clean the stone?  What else do you cook on it?  Sorry for hijacking the thread.

A pizza stone certainly helps. A 12" cast iron skillet is a workable substitute, but a small pizza.

Tell us more about your crust, your saucing and cheese.  People often overload a pizza with toppings thinking it will be even better. But no, you need to balance the amount of sauce, cheese and toppings to the thickness and style of crust for a good pizza. Restraint rewards the result. 

Unglazed terra cotta tiles work almost as well as a dedicated pizza stone, and they're cheap!  In my experience most crud just burns off them.  A metal counter scraper does the rest.  I keep four tiles on a low rack, and they're what I bake bread on, as well as pizza and focaccia.  You can even finish a fruit tart on the tile to get the bottom extra crisp.

I prefer a thin crust for pizza, and sparing amounts of real (fresh!) mozzarella or other cheese, as Koukouvagia suggests, if I use cheese at all.    I use Kaneohegirl's method, maximum temperature and cheese on late.  Try other cheeses, like gorgonzola!  In recent years I've become really minimalist.  For example when the spring onions from the garden are at their peak, I may use very little else.  If I have two or three different tasty fresh things, I'll do different successive pizzas featuring each rather than jamming them all together.  

I'd be interested to hear more re dough.  My usual is a plain bread dough (water flour yeast salt) with a little olive oil added for extra crispness.  

I run my stone through the ovens self clean cycle. I bought a stone from bakingstone.com - FibraMent Baking Stone Available For Home Use! very heavy duty and holds heat well. As mentioned bread is great on the stone, especially rustic style breads.

You may want to consider a build your own party.  Have a bunch of dough balls sized for 1 - 2 person pizzas, all sorts of toppings prepped and ready to go.  Have the young ladies form their own crusts [ A definite insight into their personality ] choose their toppings and keep an eye on their creation as it cooks and the final sampling of the creations.

I don't have a pizza stone, but do often use my big cast iron skillet on an upper rack in the oven, which has preheated for longer than you normally would, the pizza just a few inches below the skillet on the rack above.

mjb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaryB 

I run my stone through the ovens self clean cycle. I bought a stone from bakingstone.com - FibraMent Baking Stone Available For Home Use! very heavy duty and holds heat well. As mentioned bread is great on the stone, especially rustic style breads.

Thanks, I definitely want to get a stone for my oven.

Please use good ingredients! Processed cheese has no flavor, it's like cement. Fruity olive oil, fresh mozzarella, unsweetened tomatoes are a must. Good quality unbleached flour and the smallest quantity of yeast are also the secret to a good dough. Cheap flour will not raise properly and will taste like cardboard once it's cooked. Please also use little topping and cook it fast so the crust stay crunchy and light. A Neapolitan pizza cooks in 90 sec. in a professional oven!

Here is my relatively quick version

http://madonnadelpiatto.com/2009/09/21/pizza-fatta-in-casa/

and here is my slow version

http://madonnadelpiatto.com/2010/09/16/slow-dough-focaccia/

They do cook in 10 min, but the results are generally satisfactory because of the choice of few good ingredients in modest amounts. Less is more.

I like thin crusts I precook the crust for about 8 min at 450 then add the stuff and cook at 500.  I precook any meats and saute the onions ahead, my wife can't eat onions unless they are fully cooked, they taste better anyway. Pre cooking the pepperoni or sausage make the pizza way less greasy and gives you crunchy pizza and perfect cheese.  I usually use cheap mozzarella, home made ricotta, provolone and pecorino reggiano.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davehriver 

I like thin crusts I precook the crust for about 8 min at 450 then add the stuff and cook at 500.  I precook any meats and saute the onions ahead, my wife can't eat onions unless they are fully cooked, they taste better anyway. Pre cooking the pepperoni or sausage make the pizza way less greasy and gives you crunchy pizza and perfect cheese.  I usually use cheap mozzarella, home made ricotta, provolone and pecorino reggiano.

While I don't discount your method, one of the things I love most about pizza is how easy it is to prepare.  Sauteing items separately beforehand is a lot of work and very fussy.  Of course sausage must be precooked but ham? not really.  I think you're right, I'm just too lazy to do it this way.

I like my vegies precooked, especially mushrooms and onions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by phatch 

I like my vegies precooked, especially mushrooms and onions.

I think it's a matter of preference then.  I like a little bit of bite to mushrooms on pizza.  I buy baby bellas, slice them rather thickly and then toss them with olive oil and oregano.  This is key, in order for them to cook nicely on the pizza.  If I toss them on without the olive oil they shrivel and don't have a good texture - the olive oil plumps them up and marinates them.  No salt though!  If you put salt on them then they release all their liquid as they cook and you'll have a soggy mess of a pizza.  I have experimented extensively with this because mushrooms are my favorite topping and have found this method to work well.  I put onion in my sauce, but not on the pizza itself. 

Wow, KK, I never thought about that before, but makes a lot of sense.  We have just mushrooms on our pizza now, but I just sliced and toss. 

Next time, I will use your method.

As for pizza stones…

I have just a cheap-o from where I can’t recall, but it just lives on the most bottom rack in my oven and I occasionally take it out and use my plastic bench scrapper to get the big chunks off.  Mostly though, they just burn off as I bake something else.  I have put it in the sink for a quick wash with hot soapy water, but often.  Can ya’ tell?

That Mushroom trick is Killer.  When I said I precooked all the meats I was really thinking of pepperoni.  Of course sausage and hamburger have to be precooked.  I wouldn't precook ham.  The primary reason too precook the pepperoni is that it renders out the fat and makes it really crispy.  We precook pepperoni in the microwave on a bacon cooker.

My crusts are tasty but ugly.  Does anyone know any good video that teach pizza tossing?

It doesn't matter what it looks like, right?

I just pull, push, roll and throw that baby in the hot box and you hot dinner!

WOW. Being from/in Chicagoland, I don't ever remember pre-cooking meats. The only times I've seen it done is when using pre-made crusts, on pizzas made/cooked in 5-7 minutes. Interesting. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaneohegirlinaz 

Wow, KK, I never thought about that before, but makes a lot of sense.  We have just mushrooms on our pizza now, but I just sliced and toss. 

Next time, I will use your method.

As for pizza stones…

I have just a cheap-o from where I can’t recall, but it just lives on the most bottom rack in my oven and I occasionally take it out and use my plastic bench scrapper to get the big chunks off.  Mostly though, they just burn off as I bake something else.  I have put it in the sink for a quick wash with hot soapy water, but often.  Can ya’ tell?

 

This is what my pizza stone will undoubtedly look like after a few days in my oven.  Thanks for sharing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davehriver 

My crusts are tasty but ugly. 

So?  What's the problem?  Eat it with your eyes closed ;-)

Practice helps.

And yes, mushrooms have a high water content and can really make a pie soggy if cooked too long.  High heat and shorter cooking times help.

mjb.

Making home made pizza can be complicated however, with the right flour made especially for pizza 00 and cheeses, you can overcome the mishaps.

What type of pizza flour are you using ?  What type of cheeses are you utilising ?

Have a nice wkend.

Margaux.

I made pizza today with common bread flour and it worked out great. I've made good pizza with all purpose flour too. Certainly good flour can contribute to a good product, but even common flour can produce a good pizza.

I've tried all kinds of flour.  Bread flour makes bready pizza, I don't like it.  I've finally settled for a combination of 3 parts King Arthur all-purpose and 1 part 00 semolina flour.  Occasionally I'll sub out 1 part all purpose for 1 part whole wheat if I have it on hand. 

I add olive oil to my dough and sometimes throw in some za'tar.  Sometimes instead of sugar I'll use honey and I've even put in red wine at the suggestion of Mr. Batali.  It was nice.  I know pizza dough is a science but for me it does turn out well if I measure too much.  Just throw some stuff in a bowl and mix.