HMPS

I would take New York over Chicago style but right now my heart belongs to uk1. Style. ^

rsqrott

It's meat and cheese and crust so I have no objection to it . But it's not "pizza" to me. It's more like what my mother would call "pizza rustica". Her version was basically any odds and ends of meat (ham, salami, sopresatta) and cheese in a crust then baked like a pie. In no way to be mistaken for Chicago style deep dish nor even "pizza" but still yummy.

HMPS

uk1 Come down to Chicago will take you to a pizza joint t that has sort of carmalized chees on the edges. No NOT THE DEEP DISH CHICAGO PIZZA!

uk1

It occurred to me that others may not know about but may be interested in an industry magazine called "Pizza Today". It's full of pizza recipes - some intended more to be inventive than true to any established pizza culture - and pizza restaurant operator stories, tips and hints. Lot's of deep articles into better crust and toppings etc. and a complete recipe section.

It is a good read and the good thing is that subscriptions are completely free and there is an ipad app where you can download all past editions ... again all for free. There's also a regular short tips mailing.

PizzaToday Tips

Pizza Today Magazine

Recipe examples ... eg dough

Hope this is of interest and useful.

Mrtrash757

so yeah late to the game....



this was last night. 22 dollars to make 4 St Louis (cracker crust) style pizzas.

BBQ Chicken, extreme Meatlovers, Garbage pizza (extra ingredients) and a veggie.

One of the few pizzas that hasn't made me feel like garbage after eating it

I think i am going to use the recipe now. for when I want something not overbearing.

uk1

Those crusts look good ... and lovely to see no one feeling in the slightest embarrassed about eating pizza with a spoon ......

I am so missing my oven.

Mrtrash757

bahahaha that was me with the spoon! i was testing the chicken and such and needed it!

i wish i could have you oven

uk1

Outed!

Don't start me about that oven.

First I thought the long warm up time would be an irritation. But it has really now become part of the experience. Wander into the kitchen, set the slab to 300 (c) and the oven to 450 and open a beer. Take the dough out of the fridge and give it it's first shape and let it relax. Make the tomato topping. More beer. Give the base a further stretch and put it onto a floured peel. More beer. Another base stretch. More beer. Toppings on. More beer .... then pizza .... with a glass of red. No television ... no noise ... just growing a fresh Neapolitan pizza truly from scratch. It is quite magical. Just me and my pizza .. and sometimes the wife and her very plain marinara.

It is so leisurely and just some time to be in the kitchen late at night when it's quiet ....

It was when thinking about it before I bought it such a potentially pointless and extravagant thing to purchase, but now I consider it one of the best things I bought.

And then there's the bagels.

cubbie

Good catch on the spoon! I for one was most suspicious about what might be in that green plastic jar.

Mrtrash757

Kraft's "finest" parmesan :P

i had a block next to me too.... and i used up too much of that hot pepper

beachmouse

I do not consider the green can to be real cheese, but there are a few food items like tuna casserole where it is a necessary component to the dish.

readywhenyouare

Is it possible to over-work the pizza dough? The recipe I used stated to let the mixer run 4-5 minutes or until the dough cleared the sides of the bowl. For me the dough cleared the sides much quicker. I'd say it probably only took two minutes. But I continued to let it go for four minutes. Was that necessary?

uk1

I'll try to answer by explaining the principles and reason for mixing and what that process does - apart that is from the simple combining of the ingredients.

It is possible to over work the pizza dough and one of the outcomes of it is, is to make more of a close texture sponge sort of bread. The most important objective of mixing and later folding is the formation and development of gluten. You do need to stretch the gluten which means longer than just cleaning the bowl. 4 to 5 minutes wouldn't over stretch at a medium mixer setting. I mix now for around double that - say 10 minutes - partly because I use wet mix and longer mixing stretches the gluten further and allows me to handle it. If you stop just as the bowl is cleared the gluten would be insufficiently formed and is also a cause of stopping you from stretching the dough and also difficult for you to fold and shape. So 4 to 5 minutes at medium I'd say is a minimum. Arguably with pizza dough you can allow longer mixing because you need the extra gluten in order to stretch the dough to a thin base compared with making loaves. To over simplify, the thinner the base, the more stretched gluten you need. You cannot stretch and make a thin base with insufficient gluten.

The key thing is envelope folding after the first rise and before shaping preferably between a few rests. This further stretches gluten but also is responsible for those nicely elongated holes in the dough. Then "balling", and flattening by hand stretching and never by rolling pin or flattening of any sort as you will be killing all those lovely baby air bubbles you worked so hard to create. Never trust anyone who uses a rolling pin to make the base for they know not what they do, unless that is if you are after a sponge like base.

Hope that helps.

cubbie

This thread is a favorite of mine, and I really appreciate the advice generously given on dough preparation and oven temperatures.

I could also use some help on pizza sauce. Whatever kind I buy or make doesn't keep well --- anything with tomato paste in it seems disposed to go moldy very quickly. I've tried making sauce and freezing it in small containers, but it doesn't seem very good upon defrosting. I am wondering how more successful home pizza makers manage to have good-quality sauce on hand whenever they want it.

uk1

Hi,

If you are making a Neapolitan style pizza then I can help as the whole thing about the topping is that the starting point is that less is more. So you need a very small amount of intensely flavoured tomato rather than a lumpy wet mix which in my view also adds too much liquid.

My approach - just my own preference after lot's of playing and experimentation, you will be pleased to hear is really very very simple. No cooking down or using whole tomatoes or anything as tedious as that.

I up-end a decent good quality boxed or tinned passatta into a square lidded plastic sealable box (so I can keep it in the fridge) - and start to add.

My taste is to add a lot of sugar, some garlic powder, some celery salt, onion powder if you have some and some coarsely ground black pepper, a dot of chilli and loads of dried oregano. Just mix it all with a fork. I can't give precise amounts because it is to taste. So less first and add more or less of something next time you make a batch. Lot's of sugar and oregano though. That is it.

The important thing is that you must put less of this topping on your dough than you think is right in my case just a couple of meagre spoons - look at my earlier pictures - and dress the dough just before you put it into the oven so that the dough doesn't absorb all the wet from the sauce and become more dumpling than crisp base.

If this produces too much you can always freeze what you don't need in an icecube box and then always use a couple of cubes when you want a pizza.

The amount of tomato on this picture was for my wife's marinara one ie just that topping - so is more than I use on my own pizza. These pictures are of two different pizzas - not the same one.