Seeing the last post for pizza I wanted to share my own creations. I've also included my dough recipe for anyone that wants to have a go at it. For a few years now I have made pizza following this...
Seeing the last post for pizza I wanted to share my own creations. I've also included my dough recipe for anyone that wants to have a go at it.
For a few years now I have made pizza following this recipe and it's never failed me. I have baked the pizzas in a regular oven and in an Ooni. While the Ooni produces better looking pizzas, both are very tasty.
In the image link I have added my latest pizzas and below I will include a recipe and some topping combinations.
Recipe - 2-3 pizzas depending on size
300g tipo 00 flour
200g water
8g salt
2-4g active dry yeast
4g EV olive oil
Mix flours and salt in a large bowl
In a smaller bowl, mix 200g lukewarm water, yeast, and olive oil. Stir it together.
Mix the liquid contents into the flour mixture. Knead it for roughly 3 mins until combined. Let it rest for 15 minutes.
Knead dough again for 3 min and cut into 2-3 pieces. Shape the pieces into balls so they are tight and springy.
Put them in pre-floured containers and cover with plastic wrap or lids. They need space to grow, keep that in mind.
Let them rise in the fridge for 24 hours. Take out 1h before you need to handle the dough.
For the baking process it depends on the oven you have. In a conventional oven the basic logic is as-hot-as-it-goes. Some modern ovens can go to different temperatures depending on settings. Mine goes to 300c on a specific grill setting, but not with any other setting.
A pizza stone is nice to have, if you don't have one then you can preheat an oven tray as well. Pizza steel is not something that I have an experience with so I cannot comment on that. What I do know is that the stone and steel need some time between bakes to properly regain heat.
Random other tips
Remove moisture. This goes for the tomato sauce but also the mozzarella. I open up my mozzarella ahead of time and put them in a bowl to release some of their liquid. I find this especially important if you bake your pizzas in a normal oven as the mozzarella seems to have time to release more water.
Consider the fat content of your toppings. Salsiccia and some salami will release a lot of fat that turns to liquid when in the oven.
Higher protein flour is better to build up the gluten.
Have a grate or something to put the pizzas on. The dough will release some steam and leaving it to rest on something so the bottom has access to air helps prevent soggy bottoms.
Toppings to try
Artichoke cream base topped with mozzarella, sauteed spinach, browned butter, and bresaola crisps (make these ahead of time)
"Margherita" with a base of oven roasted tomatoes and topped with burrata.
Tomato sauce topped with mozzarella, 'nduja, blue cheese, and honey
Not a combination per se, but try to make some de-hydrated parmegiano to sprinkle on for a crisp texture
Other ways to make pizza
I have used this same dough to make pizza fritta. I wouldn't recommend that you make only pizza fritta, but having one to share as a starter can be a lot of fun as a variety. Especially if you make some trapizzino! There's a picture of one in the album as well.
Thank you. This was an easy bookmark. Do you think this dough is best kneaded by hand, or would a stand mixer be suitable? There's a short list of things that have always been stop and read this...
Thank you. This was an easy bookmark. Do you think this dough is best kneaded by hand, or would a stand mixer be suitable?
There's a short list of things that have always been stop and read this right now events in my online consumption:
Fan conspiracy theories about why Firefly is being looked at for a second season.
Anything involving another massive EVE Online war or intricately planned heist.
Stand mixers are the way to go, actually, food processor (add 4 grams of whatever sugar you love) and seal and throw in the fridge for 48 hours is the true way, but I digress . . . I use a stand...
Stand mixers are the way to go, actually, food processor (add 4 grams of whatever sugar you love) and seal and throw in the fridge for 48 hours is the true way, but I digress . . . I use a stand mixer for 1 reason only, consistency. I have a standard pizza dough recipe that is entirely by weight, my scale is accurate to .1 grams, so my best practice is that I actually measure everything in separate containers, then by order add water (at 104 degrees F), yeast, 50 grams of flour . . . stir and wait 10 minutes, then add flour and salt, then low until combined, at this point add your olive oil and turn your machine up to 4 (mine is a kitchen aid, medium-high is where you are shooting for) and leave it there for 5 minutes. Now put it somewhere protected and warm for a few hours (I like the microwave, not on, just in the microwave).
The trick to pizza dough is consistency, minimize any and every variable you can (it's why the cold rise is so good once you get it dialed in, your fridge has a much more stable temp, light, and humidity than most kitchens). His dough is wetter than my dough, I run 55% hydration because that's where I found I liked it, but because I have everything else dialed in, you can play with the hydration to figure out where you want it.
edit, one of my other tricks from before I got a pizza oven, put a thin layer of olive oil on your crust, sauce it, and then par bake it for a few minutes, then add toppings and cheese if your oven can't get up around 600 degrees F, gets you that crispy crust.
I use a stone - but it's a cheap, relatively thin ceramic, and even with ~1h preheating time I wasn't getting a nice crispy bottom in the oven by the point I had to remove the pizza so the top...
I use a stone - but it's a cheap, relatively thin ceramic, and even with ~1h preheating time I wasn't getting a nice crispy bottom in the oven by the point I had to remove the pizza so the top didn't get burned. It works amazingly on a grill, though!
A steel is on my list, but it's an expense I can't justify just right now. Top of the list, though!
Edit: I should say that the pizza got cooked amazingly on the stone, the entire crust was tasty, no raw or undercooked bits... just missing those slightly darker burned bits on the bottom
I make all my pizzas as a no knead dough. Basically you can convert any dough recipe to no kneed. It just needs more time. So less yeast/sourdough, colder. When in a hurry, kneed/mix. Bonus is...
I make all my pizzas as a no knead dough. Basically you can convert any dough recipe to no kneed. It just needs more time. So less yeast/sourdough, colder. When in a hurry, kneed/mix. Bonus is cold and long fermentation gives way nicer flavor.
Nice, thanks for sharing. You're definitely right about the high gluten dough. In a pinch you can improve lower gluten dough with...well adding gluten. Baking shops should have it, and it's also...
Nice, thanks for sharing. You're definitely right about the high gluten dough. In a pinch you can improve lower gluten dough with...well adding gluten. Baking shops should have it, and it's also the main ingredient for making Seitan. There are online calculators to get it just right, I usually go for 10g+290g for regular super market flour. Also helps a lot to give harder flours more strength (whole wheat, spelt etc)
Just a little add-on tip for people. Baking is fun :)
I've had very good success with Kenji's no-knead pizza recipe as well: Written Recipe and Video. The dough itself looks very similar to your recipe (65-70% hydration) It's a very forgiving recipe...
I've had very good success with Kenji's no-knead pizza recipe as well: Written Recipe and Video.
The dough itself looks very similar to your recipe (65-70% hydration)
It's a very forgiving recipe and comes out very well in a regular oven. It does produce a thicker pizza more akin to a Detroit-style pizza. Only thing you need is a cast iron pan.
A cast iron pan also work really well as a temperature stabilizer and retains heat in the oven (if you don't have a pizza stone or baking steel)
I really enjoy making this once or twice a month as a cheat meal. The active prep time is very minimal (just need to plan a day ahead).
Thank you. Will try when the opportunity arises. It amazes me how much making food "properly" relies on moisture control / speed / heat. How do you remove the moisture from the mozzarella and...
Thank you. Will try when the opportunity arises.
It amazes me how much making food "properly" relies on moisture control / speed / heat.
How do you remove the moisture from the mozzarella and tomato sauce?
For the tomato sauce you just boil it away. I make my own so it's part of the process. For mozzarella I take them out of the packaging and the water they come in, open them up and put them in a...
For the tomato sauce you just boil it away. I make my own so it's part of the process. For mozzarella I take them out of the packaging and the water they come in, open them up and put them in a bowl that I cover and leave in the fridge. They'll naturally release water. I do this up to a day ahead
Ooh bookmarking this to try this week! I bought a pizza steel at the start of COVID when my pizza stone cracked in half in the oven, and it has been so great. Highly recommend.
Ooh bookmarking this to try this week! I bought a pizza steel at the start of COVID when my pizza stone cracked in half in the oven, and it has been so great. Highly recommend.
That part is harder to explain and I feel like you need a visual medium to properly convey it. The way I do it is similar to this Youtube video which probably helps explain it better than me...
That part is harder to explain and I feel like you need a visual medium to properly convey it. The way I do it is similar to this Youtube video which probably helps explain it better than me really.
But I try to flatten the dough out a bit while keeping the edges puffed, so I pad a circle near the edge (while leaving dough at the edge to puff up), then stretch it with my hands until it's very thin.
Using a rolling pin will most likely remove all, or most, of the air and gasses inside the dough and you will not have a good rise in the oven.
Good Video! A few additional suggestions, if your dough springs back too much as you're trying to stretch it, stretch it, let it rest a few minutes to relax and try stretching again. Another...
Good Video!
A few additional suggestions, if your dough springs back too much as you're trying to stretch it, stretch it, let it rest a few minutes to relax and try stretching again.
Another beginner mistake is to use too much flour on the surface, because you're afraid of the dough sticking. Try to incorporate as little flour as possible.
Don't try too hard to get the dough to be a circle the first few times, an oddly shaped pizza tastes just as good! Work with the dough and get a feeling for how it stretches and behaves in your hands. Practice is key, the more you do this, the more you'll get a feel to work with the dough. This goes for most types of bread-making, try making a baguette or bread rolls a few times a week, it's a lot more cheaper and a lot more tasty :)
Also, don't try tossing the dough till you're comfortable with judging how easily your dough is going to tear! Tossing the dough definitely makes you look cool, but not really a necessity in my opinion.
An additional trick to get nice puffy, chewy and crusty edges is to use steam for additional oven spring. Try adding some ice cubes in a pan to the oven as you pop your pizza in and remember to take it out after 50% of the total cook time (otherwise the edges won't get crispy/crusty)
Seeing the last post for pizza I wanted to share my own creations. I've also included my dough recipe for anyone that wants to have a go at it.
For a few years now I have made pizza following this recipe and it's never failed me. I have baked the pizzas in a regular oven and in an Ooni. While the Ooni produces better looking pizzas, both are very tasty.
In the image link I have added my latest pizzas and below I will include a recipe and some topping combinations.
Recipe - 2-3 pizzas depending on size
For the baking process it depends on the oven you have. In a conventional oven the basic logic is as-hot-as-it-goes. Some modern ovens can go to different temperatures depending on settings. Mine goes to 300c on a specific grill setting, but not with any other setting.
A pizza stone is nice to have, if you don't have one then you can preheat an oven tray as well. Pizza steel is not something that I have an experience with so I cannot comment on that. What I do know is that the stone and steel need some time between bakes to properly regain heat.
Random other tips
Toppings to try
Other ways to make pizza
I have used this same dough to make pizza fritta. I wouldn't recommend that you make only pizza fritta, but having one to share as a starter can be a lot of fun as a variety. Especially if you make some trapizzino! There's a picture of one in the album as well.
Thank you. This was an easy bookmark. Do you think this dough is best kneaded by hand, or would a stand mixer be suitable?
There's a short list of things that have always been stop and read this right now events in my online consumption:
Stand mixers are the way to go, actually, food processor (add 4 grams of whatever sugar you love) and seal and throw in the fridge for 48 hours is the true way, but I digress . . . I use a stand mixer for 1 reason only, consistency. I have a standard pizza dough recipe that is entirely by weight, my scale is accurate to .1 grams, so my best practice is that I actually measure everything in separate containers, then by order add water (at 104 degrees F), yeast, 50 grams of flour . . . stir and wait 10 minutes, then add flour and salt, then low until combined, at this point add your olive oil and turn your machine up to 4 (mine is a kitchen aid, medium-high is where you are shooting for) and leave it there for 5 minutes. Now put it somewhere protected and warm for a few hours (I like the microwave, not on, just in the microwave).
The trick to pizza dough is consistency, minimize any and every variable you can (it's why the cold rise is so good once you get it dialed in, your fridge has a much more stable temp, light, and humidity than most kitchens). His dough is wetter than my dough, I run 55% hydration because that's where I found I liked it, but because I have everything else dialed in, you can play with the hydration to figure out where you want it.
edit, one of my other tricks from before I got a pizza oven, put a thin layer of olive oil on your crust, sauce it, and then par bake it for a few minutes, then add toppings and cheese if your oven can't get up around 600 degrees F, gets you that crispy crust.
Ok the partial bake I need to try, struggled to get a good crispy bottom
A pizza steel really helps with those things, let it come up to head in your oven for like half an hour before you put a pizza on it.
I use a stone - but it's a cheap, relatively thin ceramic, and even with ~1h preheating time I wasn't getting a nice crispy bottom in the oven by the point I had to remove the pizza so the top didn't get burned. It works amazingly on a grill, though!
A steel is on my list, but it's an expense I can't justify just right now. Top of the list, though!
Edit: I should say that the pizza got cooked amazingly on the stone, the entire crust was tasty, no raw or undercooked bits... just missing those slightly darker burned bits on the bottom
I use a hand mixer initially to get a rough consistency, but knead it by hand a bit more after. I can judge the dough better if I work it that way.
I make all my pizzas as a no knead dough. Basically you can convert any dough recipe to no kneed. It just needs more time. So less yeast/sourdough, colder. When in a hurry, kneed/mix. Bonus is cold and long fermentation gives way nicer flavor.
Nice, thanks for sharing. You're definitely right about the high gluten dough. In a pinch you can improve lower gluten dough with...well adding gluten. Baking shops should have it, and it's also the main ingredient for making Seitan. There are online calculators to get it just right, I usually go for 10g+290g for regular super market flour. Also helps a lot to give harder flours more strength (whole wheat, spelt etc)
Just a little add-on tip for people. Baking is fun :)
I've had very good success with Kenji's no-knead pizza recipe as well: Written Recipe and Video.
The dough itself looks very similar to your recipe (65-70% hydration)
It's a very forgiving recipe and comes out very well in a regular oven. It does produce a thicker pizza more akin to a Detroit-style pizza. Only thing you need is a cast iron pan.
A cast iron pan also work really well as a temperature stabilizer and retains heat in the oven (if you don't have a pizza stone or baking steel)
I really enjoy making this once or twice a month as a cheat meal. The active prep time is very minimal (just need to plan a day ahead).
It amazes me how flour, water, and yeast can produce such varied results.
Thank you. Will try when the opportunity arises.
It amazes me how much making food "properly" relies on moisture control / speed / heat.
How do you remove the moisture from the mozzarella and tomato sauce?
For the tomato sauce you just boil it away. I make my own so it's part of the process. For mozzarella I take them out of the packaging and the water they come in, open them up and put them in a bowl that I cover and leave in the fridge. They'll naturally release water. I do this up to a day ahead
Ooh bookmarking this to try this week! I bought a pizza steel at the start of COVID when my pizza stone cracked in half in the oven, and it has been so great. Highly recommend.
That part is harder to explain and I feel like you need a visual medium to properly convey it. The way I do it is similar to this Youtube video which probably helps explain it better than me really.
But I try to flatten the dough out a bit while keeping the edges puffed, so I pad a circle near the edge (while leaving dough at the edge to puff up), then stretch it with my hands until it's very thin.
Using a rolling pin will most likely remove all, or most, of the air and gasses inside the dough and you will not have a good rise in the oven.
Good Video!
A few additional suggestions, if your dough springs back too much as you're trying to stretch it, stretch it, let it rest a few minutes to relax and try stretching again.
Another beginner mistake is to use too much flour on the surface, because you're afraid of the dough sticking. Try to incorporate as little flour as possible.
Don't try too hard to get the dough to be a circle the first few times, an oddly shaped pizza tastes just as good! Work with the dough and get a feeling for how it stretches and behaves in your hands. Practice is key, the more you do this, the more you'll get a feel to work with the dough. This goes for most types of bread-making, try making a baguette or bread rolls a few times a week, it's a lot more cheaper and a lot more tasty :)
Also, don't try tossing the dough till you're comfortable with judging how easily your dough is going to tear! Tossing the dough definitely makes you look cool, but not really a necessity in my opinion.
An additional trick to get nice puffy, chewy and crusty edges is to use steam for additional oven spring. Try adding some ice cubes in a pan to the oven as you pop your pizza in and remember to take it out after 50% of the total cook time (otherwise the edges won't get crispy/crusty)