Costco has buffalo mozzarella that just is delicious.

mhill95149 wrote:

dansch wrote:Looks fantastic. How are you liking the 00 flour?

Three words...

Never going back
using the Forno Bravo's Basic Vera Pizza Napoletana Dough Recipe

I made a batch using that recipe with Caputo 00 last night and just fired a couple of pies. First pie came out ok, but the heat wasn't high enough (stones were ~575, pie took ~6 minutes). I swapped the tiles to the broiler tray (this oven has the broiler underneath), let the tiles heat up for a while longer and got the surface temp to 700+. Slid the pizza on to the tiles, just a couple of inches from the broiler, and let it go for 2 minutes or so - much, much better.

Perfect spotty char on the bottom, really nice browning along the top edge. No pictures, unfortunately, as I'm without a camera.

I've got two more dough balls in the fridge which I'll fire tomorrow and see how another day of cold fermentation affects things.

-Dan

I decided to try out the tips in the most recent Cooks Illustrated. The bones of the recipe: bread flour, instant yeast, a little oil, a little sugar made in the food processor, 24 fridge proof. I made the dough and sauce exactly as written (a rarity for me) and moved my pizza stone to the top rack of the oven. The sauce is not so different from what I've been making and I liked it. The crust: well, it looked good and had nice structure. But it was lacking depth and chew. I think I'll stick to using my current recipe (basically a bastardized version of Peter Reinhart's sourdough with advice from members of this forum and others assimilated) unless I'm really pressed for time. As for the pizza stone position--the top got a little too done and the temperature on the stone surface (per my cool laser thermometer) wasn't any higher (probably b/c I generally use the convection feature to distribute heat). The bottom was perfect but the top almost had a little char. I plan on moving the stone back to the bottom (or maybe try the middle).

Basil, tomato, cheese (caciocavallo, piave, parm)

That looks fantastic.

Is this in a recent CI? I think I have it set aside, but I've got to make those french fries first.

My Echinopie:



an homage (O.K. blatant ripoff) of the great Makishimi-san

It had been a long time since I made pizzas at home in the oven but I was in the mood earlier today and decided to make a batch of the Roman Pizza dough from Reinhart's American Pie. With not many ingredients in the house (it was on a whim), I ended up riffing on Pizzeria Bianco's Rosa and threw together a pie with shallots, raw pistachios and parmigiano reggiano, which turned out pretty good . . .


7 minutes at 500 F on a pizza stone in the upper third of my oven



You can definitely see the cornmeal I used on the peel baked into the bottom of the pizza



Side view

The pizza turned out supremely crispy but fairly light and tender, too. I was happy with the the finished product, especially the unevenness of the surface. The flavors were great together but I can't take any credit for that, as I just 'borrowed' the basic combination from Bianco. I drizzled the pizza with a little Frantoia EVOO and some oregano (alas, no rosemary in the house, either) as soon as it came out of the oven, then sliced it up.

=R=

The purists will no doubt shake their heads at me but I love using dough after it's been sitting around for a couple of days. What little it loses in rise, it gains in flavor, as the yeast continues to feed slowly (while the dough sits in the refrigerator) producing lactic acid and subsequently, additional complexity and depth of flavor. That said, you do have to let it come to room temperature before using it. Earlier tonight, I worked through the rest of the Reinhart-recipe Roman dough that I made on Sunday by making 3 pizzas, each cooked for about 7 minutes at 550 F on a stone in the upper third of my oven . . .


Sopressata, chihuahua, parmigiano reggiano, Pastorelli, shallots, oregano
No mozzarella on hand but I did have plenty of chihuahua, so that's what I used. The orange color on the crown is sopressata fat that melted over the edge.



Bufala Mozzarella, shallots, Frantoia, oregano
Only enough bufala on-hand for one pizza. It was fairly milky (almost like burrata) but it turned out perfectly and definitely produced the best pizza of the night -- salty, mildly sweet and delivering a long-lasting aftertaste.



Sopressata, chihuahua, parmigiano reggiano, Pastorelli, heavy shallots, oregano
I sliced a few too many shallots so I used the remainder of them on pizza #3. I really liked this pizza and will definitely be adding larger amounts of shallots to my future pizzas.



Sopressata, chihuahua, parmigiano reggiano, Pastorelli, heavy shallots, oregano
A closer look at pizza #3.

=R=

Nice work, Ronnie! You've inspired me to take up pizza making.

Beautiful pizzas Ronnie!

ronnie_suburban wrote:The purists will no doubt shake their heads at me but I love using dough after it's been sitting around for a couple of days. What little it loses in rise, it gains in flavor, as the yeast continues to feed slowly (while the dough sits in the refrigerator) producing lactic acid and subsequently, additional complexity and depth of flavor.

I'm with you on this one--I actually find I get better rise, in addition to better flavor. I think 48-72 hours in the fridge, then two hours at room temp before handling is ideal. My pizzas come out best on the weekends when I have time to let the dough come to room temp and to get the stone really hot.

thaiobsessed wrote:
I'm with you on this one--I actually find I get better rise, in addition to better flavor.

The longest I have gone with good results is a 9-day dough. It depends a lot on how the dough is prepared and stored, but there is a point, especially with very wet doughs, where the gluten structure will begin to break down.

Here is a shot of today's lunch. I had some leftover sauce from chicken cacciatore - rich & spicy, which made a perfect match with garlicky shrimp and 4 kinds of cheese:

Tried Reinhart's Neo Neapolitan dough, which I'm not liking nearly as much as the Roman . . .


Pepperoni, shallots (still working through my stash), whole-milk mozzarella, provolone piccante

8 minutes @ 550 F, baked on a stone in the upper third of the oven. Again, not as enjoyable as the Roman but I'm glad I checked it out. I still have some of the batch left, so maybe it'll be better under the next pizza in the next couple of days.

=R=

So everyone on here inspired me to try my own hand at making homemade pizza. I have alot of work to do on my recipe. Here is my first attempt:





More pictures of my process here:
http://pchannon.blogspot.com/2011/02/ho ... pizza.html

Hey P. How about shrinking your photos down to no more thn 600 px wide like everyone else? Have some respect for us small screen viewers.

I vote for 800 pixels!

mhill95149 wrote:I vote for 800 pixels!

Yes, 800 pixels is the maximum recommended width. That's what I typically post and most screens should handle that size without issue.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

mhill95149 wrote:I vote for 800 pixels!

Yes, 800 pixels is the maximum recommended width. That's what I typically post and most screens should handle that size without issue.

=R=

I always though it was 600 px. 800 is great news. My pictures are about to get a little bigger.

stevez wrote:I always though it was 600 px. 800 is great news. My pictures are about to get a little bigger.

Mine too.

Superbowl pizzas...

Roasted sweet pepper puree, roasted corn, fresh mozzarella, basil:



Onion jam, sweet potatoes, sage, nutmeg, mascarpone, gorgonzola dolce:

Here is a Peking Duck pizza I made for the February Asian Pizza Challenge at Pizzamaking.com

Hoisin/miso/sesame sauce
Marinated duck breast SV
Fried duck skin
Green onion
Drizzled with duck fat

Bill, can we make a deal that your pizzas cannot be pictured above or below mine?

Looks and sounds fantastic.

I cheated last night and used tannur bread from Taza Bakery to make a semi-homemade pizza. This actually made a pretty darn good pizza, especially considering the very easy and convenient shortcut. Beat the hell out of Boboli, and at $2 for 4 fairly large pieces of tannur, is an excellent bargain.



Tannur pizza with peperoni, red onion, jalapeno, fresh garlic.

--Rich

RAB - Excellent!

I am a big fan of using tannur bread (whether from Eastern Breadstone, Taza, Tannourine or elsewhere) as a base for pizza. If you are in a hurry, suck at working with dough, or simply don't have the countertop space, its really your best option for a homemade pie.

RAB wrote:I cheated last night and used tannur bread from Taza Bakery to make a semi-homemade pizza.

What a terrific idea!

I'm not sure how to make these photos show up in the post. At any rate HELLO. I built this pizza oven, smoker combo last last year. The photo of the pizza was done yesterday.. first of the year. Can't wait for a summer of wood fired!!

elance wrote:[/img]

HELLO. I built this pizza oven, smoker combo last last year.

No, that is a Pizza/smoker house.

Welcome to LTHFORUM, elance. Hope to see more.

We should start a club or something. Welcome.

this pizza oven, smoker combo

Yowza!

I'm doing a home made pizza today and had a question since I recently read on Slice (via Serious Eats) about pizza stone placement. I always had my stone at the bottom rack. Does anyone put their stone in the middle or closer to the top (broiler method)?

You may want to this give this a shot:

Subject: Pizza Napoletana

Cathy2 wrote:I don't know when I will ever build a brick oven, until then this is worthwhile trying:

The Game-Changing Cookbook: Nathan Myhrvold's 2,400-page 'Modernist Cuisine' upends everything you thought you knew about cooking wrote:PROBLEM #3: You love Neopolitan-style pizza, but don't want to invest in a brick oven.

SOLUTION: Make an oven out of a steel sheet.

Get a ¼-inch-thick sheet of steel from a metal fabricator (Search online for a local one), have it cut to the size of your oven shelf and insert it in the rack closest to the broiler. Preheat the oven at its highest temperature for ½ hour, then turn on the broiler and slide your pizza onto the metal plate. It should emerge perfectly cooked in 1.5 to 2 minutes.

WHAT'S GOING ON: Pizza in a brick oven cooks at about 800 degrees—way hotter than the highest setting of most home ovens. The metal sheet is more conductive than a brick oven's stone, so it can cook just as fast at a lower temperature.

My favorite homemade pizza yet...

Pizza alla Trapanese:


Crumbled sausage from Butcher & Larder, homemade Pesto alla Trapanese (almonds, tomatoes roasted last summer, garlic, olive oil), and grated pecorino.