Comments on: Let’s Talk Pizza!

By: busy lady

busy lady — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 13:28:19 +0000

My hub is a huge fan of homemade pizza. After many years I have figured out how to make it less labor intensive and he still gets the treat of a homemade pizza usually once a week. The dough recipe that “won” in his eyes was one on the yeast jar. Flour, oil, (I use olive) salt, yeast and water. We have figured out that if you make it first thing in the morning and then cover it and walk away for 5 hours, the proofing really makes for a good crust and it’s much easier to roll out onto the stone. I precook the burger and one pound cooked up gets divided into 3 containers. One is used right away and the other 2 land in the freezer for suture use. Same with the bulk mozzarella cheese. The bag is divided into 3 cup containers and lands back in the freezer. This is a labor of love but he does enjoy it and that makes it all worth it!

By: kay43026

kay43026 — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 21:21:54 +0000

I make several different pizza crusts…with different flours. (I’m addicted to King Arthur products!)

I like the slow rise of a fridge rise. I like a ‘quick’ rise recipe when I want pizza in 45 minutes. I like thick crust. I like thin crust. So…I pretty much like ALL pizza!! I currently make my pizza on a baking steel instead of pizza stone, with AMAZING results.

I’ve been making pizza at home WAY before it was the ‘in’ thing to do…and before the Internet! Pretty much trial/error!! By the time my daughter was in middle school, she & her dad had a pizza rivalry every Friday night, with her 2 brothers & I doing the judging! She’s now married…and still makes pizza almost every Friday night!!

Gotta love a good pizza!

By: EQ

EQ — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 12:25:10 +0000

If we want good pizza we must be very patient – time is the best cooker! I left my pizza to the fridge and after ~3h I cook. Delicious!

By: KrissyC EsMommy

KrissyC EsMommy — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 00:10:40 +0000

I am not huge on a more flat or thin crust pizza myself, but I do love a deep dish! I make mine the same way that my dad made it when I was a kid. I take a baking sheet with the 1″ sides and line it with either parchment paper or tin foil lightly grease it and press the crust in and up the sides. Then I bake it for 4-5 minutes in the oven. After its parbaked I add the toppings…generally I start with a sauce, add crumbled ground beef, pepperoni, a layer of cheese and whatver veg we want, tho generally its the same mix of olives, mushroom, green peppers and onion, then I add a little more cheese to the top and bake for 15 minutes. After its had about 5 minutes to cool I just take the the sides of the paper or foil, lift it from the pan carefully and cut into nice big squares. For our family of 3 the pizza usually is gone within 24 hours. Its thick, filling, but delic all at the same time.

By: Shawna C

Shawna C — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 17:07:20 +0000

Here’s a tip that’s super-basic, but it took me a bit to figure this out so I’ll try to save some other newbie the trial-and-error: whether you put something under or on top of the cheese matters.

If you like your meat crispy, put it on top; if you don’t want spinach to dry out and scorch, put it underneath. If you want your tomatoes moist, underneath, but if you want them roasted and dried out a bit, on top. Fragile herbs like fresh basil are often best added raw after cooking is done.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:18:06 +0000

I use Shiner Bock beer for the liquid in my crust. Gives it a great flavor.

By: Karen B

Karen B — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:01:43 +0000

I use my cast iron pan, a flour tortilla is the crust. It WORKS! It is a thin crust pizza. First I spray the pan with oil. Only for the first one. Then I heat the pan on high, once hot I lay in the tortilla, wait for it to brown a little, turn over in pan, then lower heat on pan and have the oven on about 400 deg. Now while the oven is heating I layer the pizza, sauce, cheese veggies and meat. I put in oven until brown and melted. I slide it out and have a thin crust pizza, crunchy and crisp. Start all over again, but you will not need to spray the pan.

By: Annalise

Annalise — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 12:34:23 +0000

I have a couple of major pizza pet peeves: not getting the oven hot enough and rolling out the dough instead of stretching it. Both will land you with something closer to a cracker than a pizza crust. It’s a good way to spot how much experience a recipe writer has, though, and weed out folks who don’t realllly know what they’re doing!
Personally, I love a good Neapolitan style pizza. 1-2 day cold ferment of the crust, cooked on a pizza steel under the broiler with at least an hour to get the steel searingly hot before the pizza goes on. Tossed and/ or stretched with nothing but a good dusting of flour to help it transfer so you get proper bottom char. Using my own crust recipe and ideally my own sourdough starter.
Better than most restaurants, that’s for sure!

By: Vi L

Vi L — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 12:26:26 +0000

My pizza stone broke in the high temp (I cook my pizza @ 500) so I read online (not my idea someone far smarter than I cam up with this) that you can use a cast iron pan. I put the cast iron pan in the oven to preheat when the oven is coming up to temp. Remove the pan (I like the flat sized ones, but have used fry pans with success, too) a good pot holder will be necessary! Make the pizza right on this screaming hot pan and put it back in the oven – it only takes a few minutes, so don’t go far! Amazing – to us, makes a much better pizza than the stone did!

Also, Mario Batali suggests a glug or two of wine in the dough – makes a nice crisp crust. I like to use every drop I buy and old wine works just as well. (plus it’s a nice excuse to have pizza!!)

Hope these things work for you guys and gals as well as they do for us.

By: Tori@Gringalicious.com

Tori@Gringalicious.com — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 10:09:38 +0000

I like to roll the dough out on a floured surface and then bake it on a well greased pan and it never seems to stick like that. My favorite flavors right now are pear and gorgonzla cheese with walnuts and thai peanut chicken!