Pizza at home...

Just thought i'd share my first few attempts...



Now, this pizza is a traditional neopolitan...whole milk fresh mozzarella (most of what is sold is skim, shredded, not fresh, etc.)

The sauce is just plum tomatoes blended and then sautee'd with some garlic for about 5 minutes. That's it. Pepperoni is fresh deli pepperoni...






Oven temp: 550 degrees (let heat up for an hour before hand.)
Cook time: 7.5 minutes


Deeeelicious.

It's only 10:45 in the morning and those pics have me jonesin' for some of my own homemade pizza. Like you, I make a simple sauce with San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and some fresh basil. When making a white pizza, I use pesto instead of sauce. Whole milk mozz is the only way to go; I've found the fresh buffo is too wet. I've been making my dough in the bread machine; also pretty simple using bread flour, water (sometimes flat beer, olive oil, and some basil or oregano. The yield is 1-1/2 pounds. If it's for just the 2 of us, I make a 15", somewhat round one using 3/4 pound of dough and a pizza stone. If there's a group or if we're really hungry, I use all the dough and make it on a large, heavy duty, cookie sheet placed on top of the pizza stone. I've been cooking at 500° for around 12 minutes, but the next time I make a small one I'll try the 550°.

Do you make your own dough? If so, what's your recipe? What kind of pan is shown in your pics? How large?

Since I started making my own, we seldom eat store-bought. Most that eat it think mine's just plain better. Of course, living in Florida has a lot to do with that; if I still lived in NJ, I doubt that I ever would have tried making my own.

I've also been doing my own BBQ (ribs, pulled pork, brisket, etc.) and there's no question that it's better than what can be had in any of the local chain places (Sonny's, Fat Boy's, SmokeyBones, etc.)

What time's breakfast? Those pizzas look delicious! My homemade's not authentic or gourmet but everyone seems to love it.. bacon cheeseburger pizza... luckily our local market has started making balls of homemade dough for sale to those of us who are challenged in that area...
Anyhow the loose recipe goes something like this:
On the dough instead of traditional sauce put a mixture of ketchup and mustard, then add a mixture of chopped up American and mozzarella, (or cheeses of your choice), 1/2 pound ground meat(we only use ground turkey around here), diced dill pickles, chopped up cooked bacon, diced tomatoes.
It comes out tasting just like a cheeseburger~!

quote:

Originally posted by Kodachrome

Now, this pizza is a traditional neopolitan...whole milk fresh mozzarella (most of what is sold is skim, shredded, not fresh, etc.)

The sauce is just plum tomatoes blended and then sautee'd with some garlic for about 5 minutes. That's it. Pepperoni is fresh deli pepperoni...

Oven temp: 550 degrees (let heat up for an hour before hand.)
Cook time: 7.5 minutes

Deeeelicious.

How'd you make the dough ???

quote:

Originally posted by wheregreggeats.com

quote:

Originally posted by Kodachrome

Now, this pizza is a traditional neopolitan...whole milk fresh mozzarella (most of what is sold is skim, shredded, not fresh, etc.)

The sauce is just plum tomatoes blended and then sautee'd with some garlic for about 5 minutes. That's it. Pepperoni is fresh deli pepperoni...

Oven temp: 550 degrees (let heat up for an hour before hand.)
Cook time: 7.5 minutes

Deeeelicious.

How'd you make the dough ???

try this----


I like it because it is so easy to memorize and it makes very good pizzas.

INGREDIENTS (7 to 9 pizza crusts)
5 cups of plain flour (625 grams)
14 grams (1/2 ounce or one tablespoon) active dry yeast
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp salt
2 cups tap hot water


PROCEDURE:

(1) Mix all of the dry ingredients first, then add the
water. It will appear to be too dry at first. Do not add water. Keep working the dough until it is smooth.
(This requires a little faith but it really works).

(2) Let the dough rise once (approx 1 hour). Punch it
down and knead again.

(3) At this point you may choose to freeze some of the
dough. If you do freeze it, be sure to wrap it well and freeze it quickly. With either fresh or thawed dough, let the dough rise a second time for 1 hour.
Best pizza dough is best when fresh though.

(4) After it has risen, punch it down and use it for
your pizza. The dough will rise a little while you put the rest of your pizza toppings on it. Then bake as appropriate for pizza thickness and top pings.
NOTES:

I have tried variations like whole wheat, and just about any flour combination that works for bread works for pizza dough.

If you're into making pizza, there's some good info here.
http://pizzatherapy.com/index.html

Dough recipes are mostly bunk...just find one that works for you because chances are no two people will do anything exactly the same.

www.pizzamaking.com

Idiot's guide to Neapolitan Pizzas

Dough
Combine:
1 cup warm water
1 1/4oz package of yeast

Let proof in bowl for approx. 10 minutes then mix with:

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Bread Flour
1 T. Salt (Kosher prefered)

If you don't have a mixer, mix everything together until the flour is mixed in. This dough is going to feel pretty tough, but that's what you want. Knead for approx. 30 minutes...make sure you keep the dough well floured and keep kneading so it doesn't dry out.

Once you're done kneading, let it rise for approx. 4 hours in a well oiled bowl.

After the 4 hours has passed, take the dough out and cut it into three equal parts, put each piece in individually oiled bowls and let rise overnight.

Take your dough and shape by pressing fingertips into dough, grasp the rim with your hands and work your way around the circle. Let the dough dangle and let gravity do the work.

The most important thing is that the dough is an equal thickness, don't worry about it being perfectly circular

Place the dough on a pizza peel or a pan with cornmeal on it, continue to work into an even thickness and shape. (Should be the thickness of 3 or 4 credit cards or so)

Sauce

Keep the sauce simple, grab a can of whole peeled tomatoes preferably plum or San Marzano if available.

Open the can and strain the excess water/juice from the tomatoes with a strainer. Put the whole can into a blender and blend until the consistency is familiar.

Set a pot on the stove, chop up a quarter or a half a clove of garlic and let it simmer in the pan with some olive oil. When there is a nice garlicy aroma in the room put the sauce into the pot and let simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes or so.

(If you don't like how the sauce tastes, add some sugar to counteract the acidity, but that's it...it will taste richer on the pie.)

That's it for the sauce. Keep it simple.

Cheese

"I'll just use some cheese from the fridge" you say...

NO!

For a neapolitan we want to use only fresh, WHOLE MILK, mozzarella. It normally comes in a 8oz baseball sized ball of bright white goodness in your supermarket. Classic neapolitan pizzas use buffalo milk fresh mozzarella, but that's pretty hard to find around here.

Cube the mozzarella and set aside...

What else?

Feel free to be creative with any other toppings, I usually just keep mine to a good quality pepperoni though.

Baking

If you have a pizza stone and peel..that's great.

Place the stone in the oven and turn the heat alllll the way up. 500 degrees or more is best for this type of pizza.

If you don't have a peel and stone, regular pan will work just fine. Make sure the pan is well oiled and covered in corn meal, use the same high heat.

Either way let the oven heat up for 45 minutes or more so it gets to full heat!

Spread the sauce evenly across the pie, don't go over board though...a nice coating will do just fine. Take the sauce all the way out to the edge, 1/4 or 1/2 inch of 'crust' will do fine.

Take your cube mozzarella and space your cheese evenly...a little goes a long way.

Top with anything else you want...

Pop it in the oven after it reaches full temperature...it should only take about 8 or 9 minutes to cook...your crust should come out slightly blackened and your cheese will be nice and bubbly. If you used pepperoni they will have a nice crisp to them...and you ill impress anyone with your unique and tasty pizza.

I'm dyin' to make some homemade pizzas which I have not done for a few years. I used to make dough with a bread machine but want to make my own. This is a good start for me. Thanks so much for sharing, and the excellent photos.

Deep dish pizza is also very, very good made at home. Oops, I can't find my brother's recipe for the crust. My favorite is topped with bay scallops, pepperoni, Viadalia onion, mushroom, white sauce with just a few dollops of red, mozz and parm cheese.

My brother spends Christmas with us, and last year he made a "leftover" deep dish pizza with my homemade red sauce and the pieces of Italian sausage from it, crumbled hamburger, chopped onion, bell pepper (the frozen combo from TJ's), sliced black olives, and bits of cheese we had around, including bought grated mozz and cheddar. Yes, cheddar. I gave him some, er, grief about that the first time he did it, nut no more. Everything but the onion was canned, frozen or leftover, except the crust, and my partner and I "fought" over the last piece. My brother did this without my assistance except that I had to find the cookware, reasonable considering there are over 50 pieces in the pan cubboard. That just made it taste all the better!

Yes, having the finest ingredients makes a very rewarding dining experience. Please also consider how good it will be with leftovers and kitchen stapes.

quote:

Originally posted by michaelgemmell

Deep dish pizza is also very, very good made at home. Oops, I can't find my brother's recipe for the crust. My favorite is topped with bay scallops, pepperoni, Viadalia onion, mushroom, white sauce with just a few dollops of red, mozz and parm cheese.

My brother spends Christmas with us, and last year he made a "leftover" deep dish pizza with my homemade red sauce and the pieces of Italian sausage from it, crumbled hamburger, chopped onion, bell pepper (the frozen combo from TJ's), sliced black olives, and bits of cheese we had around, including bought grated mozz and cheddar. Yes, cheddar. I gave him some, er, grief about that the first time he did it, nut no more. Everything but the onion was canned, frozen or leftover, except the crust, and my partner and I "fought" over the last piece. My brother did this without my assistance except that I had to find the cookware, reasonable considering there are over 50 pieces in the pan cubboard. That just made it taste all the better!

Yes, having the finest ingredients makes a very rewarding dining experience. Please also consider how good it will be with leftovers and kitchen stapes.

Michael---the best deep dish pizza i ever ate was homemade by an old friend---she said it was easier to do at home too---i however,have never made deep dish---your ndescriotion sound really good---(the one with the scallops)---so --if you would--would you mind passing on that crust recipe of your bros when you find it and any helpful hints to cooking--ie temp and times!!

quote:

Originally posted by Kodachrome

Just thought i'd share my first few attempts...



Now, this pizza is a traditional neopolitan...whole milk fresh mozzarella (most of what is sold is skim, shredded, not fresh, etc.)

The sauce is just plum tomatoes blended and then sautee'd with some garlic for about 5 minutes. That's it. Pepperoni is fresh deli pepperoni...






Oven temp: 550 degrees (let heat up for an hour before hand.)
Cook time: 7.5 minutes


Deeeelicious.

THAT'S MY KINDA PIZZA!!!!!!!! We have a place called "Brick Oven Pizza" that makes apizza very similar. Love that crust. It's the only pizza I'll eat in my area.

I have been making pizzas for years heres some pic's