Wow. Impressive tips in this thread. It is indeed inspiring.

Now, while I know this is heresy by some definitions - I have to ask.

Trader Joes pre-made pizza dough (plain, herbed and whole wheat) - Thoughts?

Similar question for Whole Foods pre-made regular pizza dough.

Worth it or sad results?

But at it's simplest .... anyone can buy a pack of bread flour and some dried yeast ........................

For quick-and-easy pizza, this is a very doable solution. I've only *seen* it used by others, but the results, which I tasted (and tasted, and tasted again, this is pizza after all ) were just fine.

But as uk1 said, flour and yeast are easy to come by...

Having been in retail venue where I let my stomach get the better part of my brain for yet another moment, I bought a Pizza-making for dummies kit. Haven't used it once. And I haven't had the stomach to have anyone use it on my behalf yet. But you contributors here have inspired me to give it a go, from dough onward.

Or a real lady As of now, I have a traditional gas oven that we used this weekend. I did the wet dough trick, with polenta as a base. Set the oven to the highest setting and it seemed to get a bit crispier than normal. I didn't have the dough/bread quality that has broken me in the past, and I suspect it was a combo of more water + new flour. I'm going to try grilling this week - will report back on how that does.

I've been making homemade for years but can never get the crust to be consistent. This weekend I was playing around some more and had a bag of King Arthur's Pizza Perfect Blend and it worked out well. The real test was that the crust was still crisp when I snacked on it for breakfast Sunday morning. Basically I followed their recipe, but added some sourdough starter that I have and balanced out the liquid. I proofed it for a couple of hours at 85F. The other thing that has helped me greatly is a silicone rolling pin with the rubber band spacers. I use the thinnest spacers, took my time and then used a fork to prick the crust so that it wouldn't bubble. Next time I may use slightly less King Arthur and add in all-purpose flour to soften it a bit.

Great. It's contra-intuitive so that's why people are reticent to try and to use more water to get crispness - but as you've discovered it works as long as you have the temperature. This will f=give both crisp outer and soft inner exactly as you would want. With a slower cooker ie a domestic cooker it'll still crisp but the whole mix will become a solid crust rather than soft inside.

I know this "extra water" trick from two grand masters! Some time ago some people made a pilgrimage to the Caputo flour mill and the head was constantly receiving calls from people and all he seemed to bellow into the phone was "more water, more water" and they reported back to a pizza nerd forum about their visit. And seperately I heard the same story from a sour-dough master.

Great result.

The downside of using a rolling pin is that you will lose the elongated air bubbles and many feel that the taste and character of sourdough is in the bubbles .......

If you are a little more patient and use my stretch and rest on polenta approach, this will have several advantages. Firstly you'll get the elongated bubbles. Secondly the sour dough will continue to develop whilst your patiently working it. Finally it will eventually be thin but a natural thin rather than a compressed thin. Finally the edges will develop that chewiness that some of us like.

If you can source Caputo then a nice combination is "very hard Canadian" flour mixed with Caputo. This is nice and gets you closer to the soft crispness I certainly seek.

Thank you for the advice, especially regarding the rolling pin. While my last attempt looked really good and was very crisp, in reality it seemed like a commercially made crust in texture. I will definitely search out Caputo in the Chicago area and add to my inventory.

Earlier this year my toaster oven burned out a filament. Shopping around I found a good deal on a Cuisinart convection oven. The box said big enough for a 12 inch pizza, so the wheels start turning...

The dough recipe in the book that came with it seemed to imply that the only way to get good results was to use a Cuisinart machine to knead it. So I went looking on the interwebs and this is the one I've been using the past couple of times. I like the addition of whole wheat flour for a kind rustic flavor. One time I took a third of the batch and added some garlic powder for breadsticks. Turned out well, so I also tried it with a pie. Mmm, garlic.

My next step is to go beyond the canned sauce I'm using. It's "gourmet", but there's nothing like fresh tomatoes from a farmer's market. This recipe sounds good, but it calls for romas. Probably for the lower amount of seeds? I don't think I've seen those for sale outside of a grocery store, so regular tomatoes will have to do.

Yes, I probably put too many topping on. Red onion, green/red/yellow peppers, olives, mushrooms, jalapeno slices or hot peppers (from a jar I blot these with a paper towel to remove excess moisture), anchovies or sausage. I've not really had an issue with it getting soggy, probably from using convection heat. The last time I was able to get the edges of the peppers and onions just slightly charred without making the crust edges to crispy.





I just bought a bag of Pillsbury bread flour, but I'm going to order some Caputo when I use it up. Question though, I really don't bake much, so pizza dough is the only thing I use flour for. One time I found mites in the flour, so I started keeping the flour in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Is this a good way to store it?

Storing Caputo flour. Suggest you get a suitable size icecream box or sealed box and line it with cling film alllowing enough to cover. Put the flour in and cover the top with the film and press out as much air as possible. Put the lid on and store it somewhere cool and dark like a garage. A fridge will be too damp.

Cuisinart ovens. If it's the same type - I've had a couple of work-top convection Cuisinart convection ovens and although I loved them - they didn't last long and I picked up a couple of identical ones by Gordon Ramsay on ebay.

I should have also mentioned ..............

If you are in the market for a new microwave / all purpose oven then I cannot recomend the Whirlpool Jet Chef 31 Litre 1000 watt Microwave Oven with Grill and Crisp Function, Satina Mist for pizza. It has a feature called a "crisper" and it is taylor made for pizza. I have one and it's great.

Thanks for tips on storing flour!

Here's the oven. Costco had a very good instant rebate on it a few months ago, and they also have an unbeatable return policy.

I buy a pizza shell at an Italian Import store in Santa Monica
www.guidimarcello.com
The pizza has a very light tomato sauce. While at Guidi Marcello, I buy Tomino Cheese, which is absolutely delicious and so great on pizza.It is a "melting" cheese and it also great on vegetables.
To Guidi's pizza, I add some Tomino Cheese (unfortunately, very difficult to find), fresh tomatoes (this is the time for heirlooms), a few strips of Speck and whatever else captures my fancy. When I remove the pizza from the 450 degree oven, I add a little fresh basil and a light layer of olive oil. The Tomino Cheese is the key. Try to find it. So worth it.

It looks like the sort of oven I'd buy (although perhaps not for pizza) - I'm a great fan of several small ovens that do specific things. Unluckilly our main range is no longer made so I have a twitch because I couldn't cope without it.

Hope you find some Caputo and also that you find it was worthwhile.

Interesting. I'll need to look for a store carrying in in Northern California. What else do you use it on?