Comments on: Homemade Pizza

By: Brooke

Brooke — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

The Dough was so easy to make and easy to work with! I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour to make 4 calzones with ground turkey with zucchini, red pepper and sweet onion. I mixed in the pizza sauce with the mixture and topped it with Mozzarella. We cooked them for 15 min on a stone and then let it stand for 5 min before serving. Absolutely delicious!!!

By: Michele @ FoodieView

Michele @ FoodieView — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Yummy pizza, Michael!!! Thanks so much for the tips and for letting us use your photo for this week’s Recipe Roundup!

By: Carrie

Carrie — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

luis:

Your comments have been so helpful!! I was having problems with my toppings burning before the crust was done, so I tried blind baking the crust on the bottom rack of the oven last night and it was perfect. I used the kitchenaid last night but will try the cuisinart next time. I hope you keep posting about your pizza dough experiments from Ratio – I wanted to get this recipe right before I tried a Ratio one but now I’m diving in. And I’m sure I’ll need more advice. LOL

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

hey guys, I gave the no knead pizza dough a go and it worked out nicelly.
The flavor… the flavor was from the 12 hrs rest time… it almost sponges and almost sours… and the crust is just nice. Crispy…Crunchy, chewy…dewy…..da da da…..
Actually it is.
A big help was to bake it a bit and then when it baked some I was able to slide onto the 450 degree stone and watch the toppings bubble….
But the proof is in the tasting….and it tasted migthy good….
Basically with the RATIO as a guide now I am not afraid to scale up and make pizzas.. several pizzas doughs in one session. They freeze well and it is a huge time and labor savings.
Now when it comes to great icecream… I think the way that’s going to go is mega decadent great icecream and limit 1 LITTLE SCOOP/pilgrim.
It’s all going to come down to wether I can make the cone or find a vendor that sells them retail.
ICE-CREAM…. calories? yes! what was I thinkinnnng!!!!!!!!!!

By: Elisa

Elisa — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I also use parchment paper, building my pizza right on it and putting the whole thing directly on my stone. I’ve lost my source for prepared pizza dough, so I’ve been planning to try making my own. Thanks for the recipe and tips!

By: milo

milo — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I have to agree that the grill is by FAR the best way to cook pizza. And that’s straight on the actual grill metal, no stone needed.

I also like to use our bread maker to do the pizza dough, it’s fast and reliable.

My personal fave we’ve made: caramelized onions, soft blue cheese, and peaches. Mindblowing.

By: jules

jules — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

love the idea of breakfast pizza – bacon & egg the perfect combo

I use a terracotta paving tile instead of a pizza stone – a fraction of the price of a stone from a kitchen supply shop

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I let my test 5:3 dough rest for close to a day in the fridge and then an undetermined amount of time in a covered bowl on the counter and it made exactly the type of dough I was looking for. crispy, airy, chewy.. very delicious. Dough needs to sit overnight to develop the type of flavor and volume that is right there with anybody’s pizza.
Also at the end of the baking the bottom was not browned enough and I let it slip from the tin onto the stone. I set the stone at the second position from the bottom of the oven and waited till I read 400deg on the stone.
To retrieve the pizza I used my trusty bamboo back scratcher…It makes droping the pizza back on the tin a very secure and easy task.

By: Greeting Card Printing

Greeting Card Printing — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Oh my that looks absolutely mouthwatering! Now I’m craving for some hot fresh from the oven pizza! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I’m definitely giving that one a try!

By: Jeff Young

Jeff Young — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Pizza. Food of the gods. Pizza is, by far, my favorite food. And I love to make it at home.

Ask my kids whose pizza is their favorite and they will say mine. Not me. I love the pizza at a little hole-in-the-wall down the street.

But I love to make it! And I make it often. I have learned lots just by doing it. But I am always wanting to learn more and, Ruhlman, you seem to be a great teacher.

Thanks for this post, and thank you for Ratio.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I made pizza! Delicious! It’s the first post on my new blog, http://www.beans-and-barley.blogspot.com. Thanks for the inspiration. It is nice to see other people get as excited about these things too.

By: kevin

kevin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

You are so right. Pizza is so easy to make and much better than most you can buy. Every Sunday night is pizza night in our household. I will typically make 2-3 pizzas, one pepperoni, one vegetable and one mystery (whatever is left in fridge becomes pizza). I am always looking for things to put on pizza and have not found many things that do not go well on pizza. We have 2 pizza stones in the oven and I will heat up the oven to 500 degrees, which I find works best for the crust. Cook 10-12 minutes. I have also used the grill on occasion, but you have to watch it carefully as not to burn it. The grill taste is tremendous.

I agree with your use of asparagus. The last couple of weeks I have included it on my vegtable pizza along with red bell pepper, mushroom, olive, zucchini. Cut up and mix with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and you have a great pizza.

Tip- pre-cook the dough for 3-4 minutes before adding ingredients will give you an extra crisp cust. Just make sure you poke plenty of holes (with a fork) in dough before cooking.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

RATIO is awesome… My desktop reference book from now on.
Had a chance to read through the chapter on Bread. All these questions and concerns about breadmaking including yeast are right there.
Real insight into doughs, methods and techniques right there for the cook that has run into these issues and can recognize the valuable information…in the chapter. The effect of oil on glutten..all of it is right there. My pizzas turn out pretty good as it is but I want them to be perfect. Ratio’s chapter on bread is outstanding. To make a lot of dough the Kitchen Aid is the machine. To whizz up a cup or two of flour the cuisinart seems easier.
The way to learn these ratios is to cook each and every dish a few times. Guess I won’t be buying anymore cookbooks for a while folks. Not the holy grail of cooking but certainly the birth place of any great cook.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Also I think using the high frequency Cuisinart processor produces a lighter dough than the slow turning kitchen aid.
Any thoughts there?

By: Lydia

Lydia — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

I made this pizza for dinner tonight, and I am here to say that it is wonderful. I'm usually too lazy to bother with pizza dough, but this one was a cinch. Here's the results.

By: Alexis

Alexis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

We made a breakfast pizza today–http://knotsewcrafty.typepad.com/knot_sew_crafty/2009/04/my-entry-2.html

Thanks for the idea!

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

The tip on the instant yeast was SPOT ON. That SAVES valuable time and unnecessary effort. Thank you.
The tip on letting the dough rest as you shape it and even letting the dough pie a bit of recovery time after you form it allows the yeast to relax and make more air bubbles.
The tip about using 450 worked very well once I went back to using the tin. I am reversing the ratio of my overall pizza baking to lower time blind baking if I feel I need it and longer time overall baking the pizza. I can see a small benefit to blind baking a few minutes to get the dough started crisping also I might experiment with the idea someone suggested of heating a pan and putting the pizza on it then taking it to the oven. My obsession is to bring the dough and the toppings in at the same time perfectly cooked.

By: melissa

melissa — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

i freeze my pizza dough– when there is no $$$$ left in the bank til payday, i pull it out, and put whatever is in the fridge on it. yummy. the frozen dough works fine.

By: luis

luis — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

Mellissa, I do that too.. when I roll out the heavy kitchen aid out and load it up with bread dough… man. that frozen dough keeps just fine. Finest.
I agree with someone who said the pans with holes thing… they don’t impress me much either. The thin tin works nicelly.
I was using a double stone for a while…Back to one stone and trying new things…. the heavy cast iron pan thing (finest carbon steel in my case) is something I will try sometime to brown the dough.. before loading the toppings and babying the whole thing along…. lots of different techniques to try. Basically when I find Publix Italian sausage made fresh and spicy I know I am loaded for bear and in the hunt.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 +0000

There must be some collective consciousness thing going on with everyone putting eggs on pizza lately.

I keep a stack of heavy cardstock paper in the kitchen to help push the pizza off the peel (or whatever you might be using). One warning I would give is to avoid perforated pizza pans because the dough will tend to cook down into the holes and be extremely difficult to get loose. Stones or flat (no holes) cooking pans/sheets/surfaces only.

Also honey or another sweetener in the dough deepens the color of the crust and adds a nice balance when using spicy toppings. Not too much though or else your crust will burn easily due to caramelization.