Homemade Pizza (1 Viewer)

[Jason Pancake]

Just got done making some homemade pizza with the wife. I'll go ahead and share our recipe. What makes your homemade pizza special? Ours is New York style, thin and floppy.

Heat oven with a baking stone if you have one to 500 degrees.

Dough:
Mix 1 cup tepid water (105 - 120 degrees) + heaping 1/2 tbs. yeast + 1/2 tbs. sugar in small bowl or cup. Let sit for 5 minutes so that there is plenty of foam on the surface.

Meaure 2.5 cups of flour into bowl. Create a "valley" in the center of the flower and pour in the yeast mixture. Gradually pull in the flour around the bowl with a fork until the dough pulls in all of the flour. Take the ball of dough to a floured surface and knead for 10-12 minutes. Sprinkle with flour as necessary. Roll dough into a ball and let rest in a lightly oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise again in the fridge (overnight is best but not necessary).

Take out the dough and separate into two parts with a knife or pastry knife for 2 12-14" pizzas. Push the dough out with your hands and toss if you are bold to the desired size. When you are close to the desired size transfer the crust onto a pizza peel with plenty of cornmeal to keep it from sticking. Top with regular tomato sauce. Shake on garlic powder, dried oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Top with cheese and desired toppings and slide onto baking stone in 500 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

We are always looking for a good pizza recipe. What is your favorite? Any exotic toppings?

Jason

 

[Tim Morton]

I will try your dough recipe next time we do homemade pizza...that seems to be the weak point of my pizza...I always have better luck with the frozen loaves left out overnight. Any recipe i make from scratch tends to be tough...might be the mixer I use instead of kneading by hand. My thing the past few times has been adding "fresh" basil leaves to the sauce and for toppings I have been adding fresh tomato slice's over homeade( not in my home..but in deli next door to my work...Al Ducci's for those in Vermont) sausage and fresh mushrooms...but its the basil leaves from my garden that gets me jones'en for fresh pizza.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Do you do anything more for the sauce other than using straight tomato sauce? Curious. This is an important topic.

What many people don't realize is that even if you use ready-made ingredients instead of working from scratch, you can still come up with a better pizza than almost any chain-store delivery pizza. For example — and this may seem heretical — some Bobili bread, topped by Ragu pizza sauce, Kraft mozzerella, and home-cooked sausage that is then baked properly will yield far more satisfying results than the junk delivered by Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, et al.

Who needs corporate pizza? Either go with a mom-and-pop store or make from scratch as did Jason (and, sir, I too prefer the New York style) or even with off-the-shelf components from your nearest supermarket.

More power to the people's pizza!

 

[Nathan*W]

I use this box dough, called "Duff's Hot Roll Mix". Put it in my bread maker and set it to "Pizza Dough" which is a mix and rise (no bake) setting. The Duff's doesn't say anything on the package about being breadmaker compatible, but it works great.

Spread it out on a room temp pizza stone and bake crust (by itself) at 400 for 8 minutes. Pull it back out and add my own sauce, cheese and desired toppings and back in for another 15.

My sauce is tomato sauce with various herbs and spices mixed in.

 

[BrianShort]

Try this for toppings...

Greek Pizza
For 2 12" pizzas

Put about a 1/4 cup of olive oil in a blender with 3-4 cloves of garlic, and blend. Brush the garlic/oil sauce on to the spread out crust. Top with mozarella and feta cheese, then sliced mushrooms and red onion, pepperocini, and kalamata olives. Cook for 7-8 minutes at 500 on a stone.

Yummy!

 

[Jason Pancake]

Jack,
Nothing else to the sauce except shaking on the spices. I took it straight out of the can and put it on the pizza.

I found a message on Google Groups with the sauce "recipe". That's where I first found it. The poster used to spend a lot of time simmering his sauce with a bunch of spices. However one day the poster was in a hurry and made the sauce above and it turned out, in his opinion, to have tasted like he purchased it at the South Ferry subway station in NY. It's what he has used ever since.

Jason

 

[Richard Travale]

How important is the pizza stone?

 

[SteveGon]

What Jack said.

I use Boboli pizza crust and sauce, lowfat mozzarella cheese, and turkey pepperoni. Add other toppings as you please. Good and relatively low in fat.

 

[Dan D.]

Anybody ever use your grill for pizza? It's fantastic. Form the dough and brush one side with olive oil, then slap the oiled side face down on the grill. Baste the top side with olive oil and let it cook until the underside starts to brown. When that happens, flip the dough, put all of your topping on, then close the grill and let it finish cooking.

 

[Jason Pancake]

Richard,
For me, the pizza stone adds a bit of a rustic texture to the pizza. Also, it makes it easy to slide a pizza on and off with a pizza peel (covered in cornmeal of course). I preheat mine in the over to 500 degrees for 20 minutes before I slide on that first pizza. It's definitely not necessary. I'm sure an aluminum round pizza pan would work just fine. I'd still put some cornmeal on it to keep the crust from sticking.

Dan D.
You have me convinced. We will definitely have to try that soon. Thanks for the tip.

-Jason

 

[Bill Buklis]

I'll have to check at home for the exact recipe I use, but it's simpler than the one mentioned. No need for punching down the dough. I use quick rise yeast (maybe that's why?).

I throw some spices into the dough mixture to flavor the dough (pepper, rosemary, oregano, and a touch of salt). I knead it by hand and then stick it onto the pizza pan (non-stick round - 14" I believe) with cornmeal and covered in plastic wrap. Wait 15 minutes.

By hand, spread out the dough into the pizza shape on the round pan while making a "lip" around the edge.

Pour on a can of tomato sauce. Coat with oregano, red and black pepper and whatever other spices I want. Coat with toppings and cheese as desired.

Bake at 350 (I believe) for approx 15 minutes. The exact temperature and time I don't remember off hand, but this is pretty close.

So far this is probably the best pizza I've had.

I've never tried a pizza stone. That could be interesting. Why 500 degrees? How does the increased temperature help?

 

[Greg_R]

The pizza stone helps spread the heat more efficiently (thus no burnt spots). You don't need a fancy stone... unglazed tile from Home Depot will work fine.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Your method of the stone and high heat is a reasonable simulation of a commercial pizza oven.

Try this for a tomato sauce:

Chop 2–3 cloves of garlic and sauté (moderate heat—medium sauce pan) in ¼ cup olive oil until the garlic just turns pale gold.

If you are not going to include anchovies as one of your toppings, chop 2 anchovy fillets very fine and add to the garlic/olive oil mixture off the heat. Mash the anchovies into the olive oil. Return to heat and stir briefly. I’ve never had anchovy haters not love this approach.

Do the same with some chopped parsley—add off the heat and stir over the heat very briefly. You can do the same with some chopped, fresh basil and/or oregano.

Open a small can of crushed or whole tomatoes (get the Roma or Italian tomatoes)—try to get an Italian brand if possible—otherwise I’ve had good luck with Progresso crushed tomatoes. Add the entire contents of the can to the pan, stir and adjust the heat to a gentle simmer. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Simmer uncovered stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes, tasting and adding more salt if necessary.

Use this all-purpose tomato sauce for the base of a pizza and you will be impressed.


Some topping ideas: this sauce with some whole, buffalo mild mozzarella (if you can find it)---but not too much, some whole basil leaves, and a handful of whole black olives, or

No mozzarella; but freshly ground parmesan and some slivers of garlic. Now this is really good on that thin crust you have made.

Some mozzarella, capers, anchovies and olives (use some green ones here), plus some flaked red pepper. The real deal if you like a bit of spice.

 

[Richard Travale]

Some topping ideas: this sauce with some whole, buffalo mild mozzarella (if you can find it)---but not too much, some whole basil leaves, and a handful of whole black olives

My mouth is watering

 

[Jack Briggs]

Lew, interesting recipe. How would it taste without the chopped anchoves, though?

 

[CharlesD]

Sounds great Lew! I've saved that & am going to try it out.
Anyone else here grow their own herbs (the cooking kind )? I grow basil, thyme, sage, rosemary & mint.. its great to have fresh herbs on hand for cooking.

The best pizza I ever had was tomato sauce, olive oil, fresh basil and some mozzarella baked in a wood chip oven (in Naples). Yum!

 

[Kevin-M]

Damn, this all sounds so good!

One thing I'll toss into the ring is that if your stuck for time or at the grocery store and want to buy a premade pizza, "McCain's Deluxe Pizza" is THE best pizza I've purchased at a supermaket, and is way better than almost any pizza-chain's product.

I can usually find them for $5.99(canadian) for the 12" size. Try it out, you might be surprised.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Lew, interesting recipe. How would it taste without the chopped anchoves, though?

Even without the anchovies, it is still great. I still recommend giving them a try—after you chop them up, mash them in the olive oil and cook with the tomatoes for 20 minutes they are not distinguishable—they just add a bit of richness to the sauce.

The sauce will taste a bit ‘fresher’ without the anchovy—but it is a matter of degree—nothing startling.

 

[DonRoeber]

This thread inspired me to make a pizza at home last night. It wasn't anything special; a Boboli crust with their sauce, some mozerealla cheese, and some sliced mushrooms and cooked sausage, but damn was it good. I'll have to make it more often, and play around with crusts, sauces, and other toppings.

 

[Jason Pancake]

Okay. Lately, I've been inspired to improve our homemade pizza recipe. Our sauce is our lone weak point. To remedy the situation I ordered six cans of imported La Valle San Marzano tomatoes grown in San Marzano, Italy to make an authentic sauce. The sauce recipe I have is from Enrico Perilli of Porto Alba Pizzaria in Naples, Italy. I'll be making the sauce tonight to use on some homemade pizza for the Auburn v. UGA game tomorrow which will be in HD of course The recipe is as follows:

2 ounces salt pork or fat back
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 ounces crushed plum tomatoes
4 ounces tomato puree
8 ounces beef stock
1 bay leaf
Pinch thyme
1/2-ounce salt

To make the sauce, place the salt pork in a large sauce pot and render the fat. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the garlic and saute until the aroma is apparent. Add the crushed tomatoes, puree, and stock to the pot and bring to a simmer. Add the bay leaf, thyme, and salt and allow to simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the bay leaf, puree the sauce and adjust the seasonings.

I'll let you know how it turns out!