Romancing the [Pizza] Stone

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Romancing the [Pizza] Stone

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Phiberoptik posted:

I want to start experimenting with making my own pizza sauce. Anyone got links to good recipes?

I'm sure this will offend pizza purists, but I make Alton's All-purpose Pantry Tomato Sauce, run it through the blender long enough to make it extra smooth, and freeze 2 cup portions in quart-sized Ziplok Bags.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2012 06:51

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 16:56

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Jmcrofts posted:

Where my beer crust bros at? My absolute favorite homemade pizzas I've made used really hoppy India Pale Ales. Sierra Nevada Torpedo is available pretty much everywhere in the USA and is great, but 3 Floyds Alpha King or Dogfish Head 60-minute IPA are pure magic if you're lucky enough to be able to find them.

I use this recipe, from this site

Only I cut out the sugar/honey, and use beer instead of water. Plus, this means I have about half a bottle left for drinking

...which (along with the sauce recipe on that page) is originally taken* from American Pie by Peter Reinhart. It's worth picking up for the stories at the beginning about the author's travels around the world searching for the perfect slice blah blah. The last 2/3 of the book is dough prep techniques, dough and sauce recipes, etc. this is nice to have as well.

I like your idea, though, and I'll have to try using beer the next time I make more dough to freeze.

* It should be noted that while I don't know how much of a difference it makes with a thin crispy crust to use one or the other, the original recipe calls for unbleached high-gluten or bread flour, not AP.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2012 00:40

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

To add to parchment chat, make sure you actually use parchment and not waxed paper.

If the waxed paper doesn't catch fire, it makes a mess and melts to the bottom of the crust. Ask me how I know :smith:

# ¿ Sep 12, 2012 23:18

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Fleetwood posted:

Is the bread yeast Batali uses different from the Fleishmann's ActiveDry yeast I can get at the grocery store? What's the difference?

I assume Mario is calling for cake yeast (i.e. yeast that comes in the form of a wet cake) as opposed to dry yeast, because to get 1.5oz of dry yeast would require 6 packets, which seems like way too much to me.

...or maybe not, v :shobon:

# ¿ Sep 13, 2012 09:47

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Mojo Jojo posted:

As a man with a pizza stone, my main issue is getting the pizza onto the stone without a horrible spillage.

Killer robot posted:

With this I've moved to making the crust on parchment

I do this too, in my case because I'm lazy. I can roll out the dough right on the parchment and slide the whole thing onto the stone without making a mess. It also makes cleanup much easier.

One trick I've found for moving the parchment onto the stone is to pull out the oven rack with the heated stone, hold the pan (or upside-down cookie sheet or whatever you use to carry the pizza to the oven) ~1/2" over the stone, and hold one corner of the parchment while gently sliding the pan out from under the pie. The whole pizza should gently settle on the stone with a minimum of fuss, and if it's not quite in the right spot you can just slide the parchment around on the stone.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2013 02:45

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

quote:

Pizza Sauce Chat

Gonna quote myself:

nmfree posted:

I'm sure this will offend pizza purists, but I make Alton's All-purpose Pantry Tomato Sauce, run it through the blender long enough to make it extra smooth, and freeze 2 cup portions in quart-sized Ziplok Bags.

The last batch I made I used half-pint Mason jars instead of bags, and it seems to have worked out pretty well.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2013 00:26

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

indoflaven posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2uGmk0kYC4

I always just have trouble getting it out of the pan.

I use an offset spatula (or the Red Green* option) to get my deep dish pies out of a cast iron pan.

*"If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing."

# ¿ Apr 4, 2014 04:59

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Ezreail posted:

Has anyone tried building their own pizza oven? If so, can you throw up a few pictures?

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3553893

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 23:32

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Letting a crust that's snapping back on you rest for even 5 minutes can really help.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2015 03:15

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

swansong posted:

More important to me: what do you pros do for sauce?

nmfree posted:

I'm sure this will offend pizza purists, but I make Alton's All-purpose Pantry Tomato Sauce, run it through the blender long enough to make it extra smooth, and freeze 2 cup portions in quart-sized Ziplok Bags.

...although for *~*reasons*~* I have a lot of mason jars now, so I freeze the sauce in those, instead.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 07:27

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Heners_UK posted:

For all my trying and patience over the years, I just can't get used to forming and shaping a pizza by hand. I always end up ripping it. Any advice or links on how to learn?

If the dough is snapping back on you instead of trying to force it into shape just put it down for 5 minutes to let it relax, then work it some more.

# ¿ May 7, 2015 06:04

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

nwin posted:

What's everyone's go to recipe for a pizza sauce?

nmfree posted:

I'm sure this will offend pizza purists, but I make Alton's All-purpose Pantry Tomato Sauce, run it through the blender long enough to make it extra smooth, and freeze 2 cup portions in quart-sized Ziplok Bags.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2015 04:12

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 16:56

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Salvor_Hardin posted:

(does the paper go onto the stone?)

I make and bake my pizzas on parchment paper, mostly because :effort:

.

Pros: easy to transfer, easy to roll the dough out with a pin
Cons: you're limited to the temperature of the parchment (typically 450�F)

I heat my stone at 500�F, then turn the temp down to 450� when I put the pizza+parchment in. That helps with (but doesn't eliminate) the problem of the crust not being very brown when the top is finished.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2018 04:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Romancing the [Pizza] Stone