Bill/SFNM wrote:Here is a little video I did showing the use of a butane torch to finish the top of a pizza baked in my kitchen oven

If Bill/SFNM does it, it's not cheating. Officially added to my pizza-making technique bag of tricks!

-Dan

Katie wrote:That is so cool! And I thought I didn't need a butane torch because I so rarely make crème brulée!

The torch can be used for so many other things. I don't want to divert this thread away from pizza, but I'll just mention a couple of applications:

- Toasting chiles over an open flame, there are always creases and other spots that won't char. I use the torch to make sure all of the skin is blistered.

- While browning meat before braising, I hit any spots that aren't fully brown.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39456873@N03/8547196512/

Cajun Pizza : Shrimp marinated in olive oil and cajun seasoning and then pan fried. Homemade andouille. Thin sliced red onion and green onion. Roasted red peppers on a red sauce from Peter Reinhart on a Napoletana crust from Peter Reinhart. Cooked at 550 on a caste iron pan.

I have a love / hate relationship with homemade pizza. I love to eat it. At least every other pie gets thrown into the garbage as I am unable to get it from the peel to the oven without destroying the pizza.

Tonight, I use parchment paper under the pizza on the peel and removed the parchment 1.5 minutes into the cook. This was so easy. What am I missing. Why don't more people do this?

I've used the parchment, then remove a couple of minutes into the cook, for years. Pretty much foolproof. I wouldn't do it any other way, unless it was a small lightly topped pizza. But even then, I don't see the point of not using the paper.

rickster wrote:I've used the parchment, then remove a couple of minutes into the cook, for years. Pretty much foolproof. I wouldn't do it any other way, unless it was a small lightly topped pizza. But even then, I don't see the point of not using the paper.

Depending on the style of pizza you are trying to make, the parchment can interfere with the reaction between the bottom of the crust and the stone in the first few moments of baking while the crust is setting up. That layer of insulation can make a big difference in the final result. Being able to load a pizza into the oven without parchment without using excessive bench flour takes practice, but is a skill worth developing, IMO. I've had my share of disasters accompanied with expletives.

Love the torch idea--this thread reminded me to order one today!

Bill/SFNM wrote:

rickster wrote:I've used the parchment, then remove a couple of minutes into the cook, for years. Pretty much foolproof. I wouldn't do it any other way, unless it was a small lightly topped pizza. But even then, I don't see the point of not using the paper.

Depending on the style of pizza you are trying to make, the parchment can interfere with the reaction between the bottom of the crust and the stone in the first few moments of baking while the crust is setting up. That layer of insulation can make a big difference in the final result. Being able to load a pizza into the oven without parchment without using excessive bench flour takes practice, but is a skill worth developing, IMO. I've had my share of disasters accompanied with expletives.

The parchment trick really helped me get started with pizza-making but I like the bottom of the crust much better with out it. I use a generous amount of semolina on the peel, then give the peel a little shake once the pizza is on it--if it doesn't slide on the peel a little, I lift the pizza and add more semolina to any 'bald spots'.

I've never used anything other than flour or cornmeal. The key for me is it keep checking if the dough is sticking to the peel while I build the pizza (working quickly helps a lot) once I'm ready to cook the pizza I do a few shakes/swirls of the peel over the sink and remove as much of the flour or cornmeal off the peel as I can so less will end up on the pizza stone.

A key factor in the discussion is the size of the pizza. A 6 or 8 inch pie is going to be moved much more easily to the stone using just semolina than a 14 inch pizza with a load of toppings.

Starting to get some good pizza out of my wood fired oven. I love this super open crumb.

Modernist Cuisine tackles pizza:

http://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/nea ... zza-dough/

http://modernistcuisine.com/2012/10/get ... home-oven/

http://modernistcuisine.com/2012/11/sco ... erfection/ (Links to an outside thread with information on champagne pizza dough)


You can now buy an approved pizza baking steel:

http://modernistcuisine.com/baking-steel/

made using only ingredients found within 1/2 mile of Six Corners

Dollbaby Tina hipped me to this quick pizza dough recipe. It is not as tasty as Lahey's No Knead recipe featured in Bon Appetit last year,but it is way better than practically anything I could get delivered.





Mushrooms & Hot Giardinera



And for those who can't take the heat here's another with the same crust with spinach and mozzarella.

Oh right, I followed her suggestions and swapped the AP flour for bread flour and made sure my hot water was 120F.

Finally got around to making Lahey's no knead pizza dough and using my lodge cast iron pizza pan with excellent results.
Made 3 pizzas:
Sausage, chopped san marzano tomatoes and whole milk mozzarella all from Caputo's Cheese market in Melrose park
Goat cheese, kalamata olive, chopped san marzano tomatoes all from Caputo's cheese market and baby arugula
Austrian Gruyere from Caputos cheese market, WF pecorino romano, carmelized onions and bacon.
Baked middle rack at 500 then I upped it to 550 after the first pizza and that worked better.

Dough is so easy to make and use. My 6 year old stretched the dough like a pro. I seriously doubt we will be going out for pizza any more.
LO

LO wrote:lodge cast iron pizza pan

Thanks! didn't know this existed.

http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-Pro-Logic-P ... B0000E2V3X

LO that's how I feel every time I now make pizza at home. The Lahey recipe is so amazing and easy with the only drawback being planning.

That said, when on some cold night you didn't plan & the 6 year old is screaming for pizza give the quick dough recipe a try as well. It lacks the complexity of Lahey, but it is still better than delivery!

I like the speed of that recipe, I will definitely have to try it!
I am getting pickier about types of restaurants we go to, b/c I feel like sometimes I can make the same thing at home just as well, if not better. Pretty much all of breakfast falls into that category, and now pizza.
LO

LO wrote:I like the speed of that recipe, I will definitely have to try it!
I am getting pickier about types of restaurants we go to, b/c I feel like sometimes I can make the same thing at home just as well, if not better. Pretty much all of breakfast falls into that category, and now pizza.
LO

DH, doesn't like having folks over, so we eat out a lot to entertain & socialize. Inevitably, I end up saying we could have spent the money for my portion of the meal alone & I could have made a lovely vegetarian offering for me with lobster & steak for everyone else that would have been better. I know how you feel about eating at home.

Lardo Pizza:

Just awesome Bill/SFNM! (and I would have said that if you stopped shooting video after just the lardo unveiling, but the pizza, wow!)

jvalentino wrote:Starting to get some good pizza out of my wood fired oven. I love this super open crumb.

I don't know how I missed this post - that's beautiful! Well done.

-Dan

I had a very successful shopping trip to Graziano's and Publican Quality Meats yesterday. From Graziano's, I picked up a bunch of cheeses and cured meats (and taralli--their taralli with fennel are the best!). One of the cheeses, 'Gran Giuco' a sheeps milk cheese from Sardegna, is particularly awesome and I'm kicking myself for not getting more of it (next trip). At PQM, I picked up a few more cured meats (lamb pancetta, coppa) and a nice big bunch of ramps, among other things. So, with all these great ingredients, I HAD to make pizza. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to make dough so I had to drag some out of the recesses of the freezer. The dough wasn't so hot but I was really happy with the ingredient combos for last nights pizza. The first was inspired by the most recent issue of Saveur focusing on PIZZA!

Pistachio pesto, mozzarella di bufala , thinly sliced red onions, Gran Giuco and hot sopressata


Small amount of tomato sauce, ramp green pesto mixed with ricotta, ramp bulbs, bufala, Gran Giuco


If I had it to do over again, I'd lose the red sauce. Fortunately, I do have it to do over again--have to go fold some fresh dough right now.

thaiobsessed wrote:Image

If I had it to do over again, I'd lose the red sauce. Fortunately, I do have it to do over again--have to go fold some fresh dough right now.

Ramp and pistachio 'white' pizza with better dough (66% hydration 50% 00, 50% King Arthur BF). Dough hydration was too high with the 00 flour--that stuff doesn't take up as much water but still better than the stuff in the depths of my freezer.

Sounds like a good topping combo. White pizzas are my favorite right now with a knock of the Mozza sausage and green onion at the top of the list.

Hmmm,

Reinhart's dough from BBA was difficult to work with. I used 3/4 high gluten flour & the rest was KA bread flour. The flavor was good, but very little charring and crisping.

My ode to Vito & Nick's is the only pizza that came out unfurled. And I'm confident that's because I decided to put that pie on parchment. I'm making the last 3 pizza's with that dough tonight and right now, I think it's back to Lahey's no-Knead when I've planned it and that quick pizza dough when I haven't planned it.


Dough left out for final rise after overnight rest in fridge


Mushrooms & Giardinera, Cooks's Illustrated's Tomato Sauce & Fresh mozzarella from Graziano's

Mr. Pairs4life, sliced these,quickly,so,I only got a shot of the last one.

This was Reinhart's dough with pickled red onions, mozzarella, & basil.

Mr.pair4life wants pizza tomorrow for dinner, so I've already set up Lahey's no-knead dough for tomorrow.

Today, I put the pizza stone on lowest rack and heated the stone for over an hour at 550 convection.

lunch pizza today. simple tomato, fresh mozz and a little 4 cheese blend
fresh herbs are basil and marjoram

mhill95149 wrote:
lunch pizza today. simple tomato, fresh mozz and a little 4 cheese blend
fresh herbs are basil and marjoram

Nice. Which dough recipe did you use.

Caputo's in Palatine's..... My recipe sits in the fridge for 3 days and I just defrosted this dough ball overnight in the fridge...
and this dough is still better than mine...

On a recent trip to the southern tip of Puglia, we rented a house with a wood fired oven. I headed for one of the little grocery stores in the town near we were staying and found 00 pizza flour, semolina flour, some great cheeses (cacio cavallo, mozarella di buffalo, fontina), salumi and 'lievito'(leaving agent). Unfortunately, when we got home and I started mixing the dough, I realized the 'lievito' was white powder with a slightly sweet smell (after adding it in, of course). It turned out to be vanilla-scented baking powder. So, back to the store with a request for 'lievito per pizza/pane' which got me a small cube of fresh cake yeast.
This was my first attempt at using a wood-fired oven and we were very pleased with the results (especially given that the peel handle separated from the round metal disk when we shucked in the first pizza). Maybe the unintentional ingredient (half a teaspoon of vanilla flavored baking powder) is the secret to good pizza.

Ingredients (vanilla flavored baking powder in foreground)



Oven:





Pizzas: We did several margarita pizzas, a couple with sopressata and a couple 'rosa bianca' pizzas (red onion, rosemary, pistacchio with caciocavallo cheese). I only got pics of the first couple margarita pizzas:





Note that we did not cook them on foil-the pan in the pics was the serving tray (we had a somewhat limited kitchen).

For a moment there I thought you had installed the oven locally.

What wonderful memories you have from Puglia!