Romancing the [Pizza] Stone

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

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

I've been working on pizza this last year and have found things that work well for me -

pizza/baking stone - you can't make decent pizza without it, really.
riproaringly high oven temperatures - preheating your stone for an hour minimum at the highest your oven will go
letting the dough proof and rise at room temperature - warm dough is much easier to work with and to stretch out till almost translucent
semolina flour to keep dough from sticking to peel/cuttingboard/whatever you're assembling the pizza on - the course grain lets it slide, AP flour just plain doesn't work.
stretching using the tops/knuckles of your hands - I suck at tossing, and pizza first timers most certainly will too. skip tossing - flour your hands well, and put your flattened disc on to the tops of your knuckles. pull the disc apart gently with your two hands, then rotate, holding near the edges of the dough, and repeat.
less is more - agree with that wholeheartedly. use a minimum slathering of sauce, and don't put more than 2-3 ingredients + cheese on. your dough will tear/get soggy/blah blah blah

# ¿ Oct 6, 2011 04:58

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 15:01

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

just for the sake of posting, I've tried a number of pizza doughs, and my favorite is Batali's. I usually just buy premade, but if I'm making my own, his is spot on fwiw.

code:

Mario Batali�s Pizza Dough
Published: August 16, 2007
 
� cup white wine

� cup warm water

1 � ounces yeast

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 cups all-purpose flour

Method:

Combine wine, water and yeast in a large bowl and stir until dissolved. Add the honey, salt and olive oil and mix thoroughly. 
Start by adding 1 cup of flour and make a wet paste. Add remaining flour and incorporate.

Place dough on a lightly floured board and knead for 2 to 3 minutes.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 45 minutes.

the wine should be lukewarm though

# ¿ Oct 7, 2011 01:17

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

indoflaven posted:

Bread yeast?

yep

# ¿ Oct 7, 2011 03:14

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Nostrum posted:

I make pizzas using Jeff Varasano's method, as in, baking them on the self clean cycle.

just gonna throw this out there : I live literally across the street from Jeff Varasano's pizza place (aptly named Varasano's.) - the pies are just ok - sometimes soggy crusts, and I know it's not his fault but the service is horrible, prices over the top. And they've recently taken the old 'death throes' route of posting lots of happy hour posters outside, along with live music, free validated parking, etc etc.

anyways, I haven't tried the self cleaning oven part, and that can be nothing but a good thing, so I'm not discounting his internet e-recipe tactics really per se. just surprised that anyone has heard of him outside atlanta mostly, since I went to the restaurant (and was a little let down by the food) before ever reading about his amazing incredible e-journey to make the perfect authentic pizza.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2011 08:03

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Bauxite posted:

Something I wouldn't have thought of before I saw my boss do it, but rice flour is amazing to use for keeping the dough from sticking to your peel. Take a generous pinch, maybe a tablespoon or two, depending on how big it is, and spread it on the peel, then lay the dough on top of it before you put toppings on. Use more if you want to be sure. Rice flour's great for it because it's super easy to clean up, rather than using other flour, and more importantly you won't have that dry grit of flour on the bottom of the pizza to deal with.

Don't pile toppings in the center, try to put them in a ring around the center. Cheese will melt and flow into it, and remember that the center is where the highest concentration of cuts will be made. A lot of toppings in the center will just turn into a mess if you're not careful.

hey, these two are great tips, thanks. I don't know why I never thought about the highest concentration of cuts being made at the center - I mean it's completely obvious. also, cornmeal literally sucks rear end as the bottom-of-pizza coating, semolina flour (what I use now) is only moderately better - I'll have to give rice flour a go - I have a tub sitting in my pantry anyways.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2011 04:38

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

godzirraRAWR posted:

Jeff Varasano is a dick that rips off his employees, and will steal pies during rushes to give to attractive women in order to hit on them.

That being said, his process is amazing, and I even have a poolish with his starter in it that I've been babying for months now.

I used it to make some sourdough pizzadough and a couple loaves of bread the other day, and it was simply amazing.

I've been using my cast iron heavily oiled for both thick and thin crust pies. I used to have a fancyass pizza stone, but I broke that motherfucker with a QUICKNESS. I got so angry I swore never to buy one, but I think I'll break down soon. I've been making http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/breakfast-pizza/ lately, and it is AMAZING.

yeah I don't doubt he's a tremendous dick. my industry friends in town have said so, since I've asked around after this thread came up

how'd you break your pizza stone? I broke mine too but I don't even remember how it happened. I think it was something dumb like setting a cold pyrex baking pan on top of it in the oven and the stone just shattered. dumb dumb dumb. still though, had to suck it up and just shell out another 40 bucks or however much it was - far too useful not to have one, for sure.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2011 04:01

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

I want a car made out of quartz countertops =/

# ¿ Oct 14, 2011 17:04

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

to the guy having trouble with pizza sticking to the peel while assembling : use lots of semolina flour. I guess cornmeal would work too, but semolina is a bit coarser which helps it slide. also just get your mise en place done so you can crank out the pizza in ~1-2 minutes - the longer it sits on the peel, the greater the chance of it sticking.

to the guy asking about precooking vegetables - don't precook. if you are worried about the watery thing, just slice your vegetables thinner. I usually do my onions paper thin. a oven cranked to max will cook thin veggies no problem.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2012 06:38

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Wolfy posted:

I've been messing around with making pizzas lately. My friend linked me to something called Kettlepizza and I was just wondering if this was a worthwhile investment.

lol no. just use your oven on cleaning cycle if you really are that insane about heat. or just crank it if you aren't.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2012 04:39

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

I did a successful pizza tonight for the first time in a while. had issues sticking for the longest time.

this time I just said gently caress it and put about a cup and a half of semolina down on my wooden cutting board, before even attempting to work with the dough. coated the dough top and bottom. was able to toss it to diameter successfully, and put it down on my very heavily semolina'd peel for assembly.

took probably 4-5 minutes to assemble, and it thankfully didn't stick! kept its shape in the oven, and I had a pizza pretty close to perfect. this, contrasting with the past 4-5 times I've tried, didn't flour or semolina anything nearly enough, and ended up dumping a misshapen mass of poo poo all over my oven.

biggest lesson learned - it's ok to semolina both sides of the dough, and semolina to excess. I tasted it a little in the end product, and you could brush excess off the finished crust - but it was nothing that bothered me or tasted bad.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2015 03:28

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 15:01

mindphlux: Jan 8, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Oae Ui posted:

Olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and fish sauce. The last ingredient is the most important one.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2015 10:13

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