Pizza topped with potato, pancetta gorgonzola, walnut seasoned with rosemary and thyme and garlic
here's the pizza a bit bigger

Mel,

Stunning montage!

So I've been thinking of taking photos directly down onto the plate. What is your setup? Tripod? Copy stand? My problem is that the plate has to be higher than dog snout level.

Yes, mhill, I particularly enjoyed this photoset as well.

After much consideration, I'm just getting into the home pizza-making thing. I tried this alternative broiler then stovetop method last night with mixed results. My dough is based on the Tartine bread dough but was overproofed and had lost some gluten strength, so I cannot really judge the first round of trials.

I expect to learn by doing for a bit and then post back with some knowledge. Thanks for the 10+ pages of inspiration thus far.

all the set up shots are made in my sink. I place a 2 qt. pitcher in the center and then the wood cutting board on top so it is about level with the top of the sink.
The little sq. plate goes on top and I hold my P&S camera over the set (camera set to cloudy white balance, ISO 125 or 400 depending... lens set at f 2.0 shutter speed (camera controled)) the light source is a south facing window (not being directly hit with sun) if subject has a lot of white then I exposure compensate on the + side and if it is a dark subject I compensate on the - side...
sometimes I bring out the big camera and use a tripod and then I'll need the step stool so I can see the screen on the back of the camera. Mostly I just shoot a few and pick the best in the edit...

thanks for the nice words!

This gallery is great, a lot of the pizzas look wonderful and I will have to try some of the dough recipes! We make pizza a fair amount and as is usual for Sunday pizza, yesterday we made the leftover/get stuff out of the fridge pizza. We ended up doing pretty well this week apparently so nothing too out there ended up on the pizza.
We use a dough that has some semolina in it, starts with a sponge and proofs for a couple hours at room temp.
After stretching the dough (a little too thin leading to a little sloppiness in the middle...), we spread the sauce and sprinkled minced garlic and basil before pouring on a wee bit of olive oil.
Topped it with rounds of fresh mozzarella (Conti di Savoia's homemade knots), Hot Capicola (JP Graziano), red onion and asparagus (previously blanched).
Cooked on a stone in a 500 degree oven (IR thermometer says 550)
Pics:




As I mentioned I stretched it a bit too much, and so I had a difficult time sliding it off the "paddle". This was the first time I made it on metal and it certainly seemed to stick more than sliding it off wood, do you oil the paddle when using metal?

Anyways, just wanted to contribute, hope you all enjoy...
BTW, I was questionable about the asparagus, so didn't use all the leftovers, but it was delicious next time I would do more!

Your cassoulet is in my pizza.

In honor of Bastille Day:

First pie using sauce from fresh tomatoes from the garden:

Bill/SFNM wrote:First pie using sauce from fresh tomatoes from the garden:

Bill/SFNM wrote:Your cassoulet is in my pizza

Both gorgeous. I'm especially jealous because it's too hot here to crank the oven for pizza.
If you have a chance, could you post a few more details on the cassoulet pizza?

thaiobsessed wrote:Both gorgeous. I'm especially jealous because it's too hot here to crank the oven for pizza.
If you have a chance, could you post a few more details on the cassoulet pizza?

Thank you, thaiobsessed. The "pizzoulet" was inspired by this month's challenge at pizzamaking.com. The theme is "French". I came up with this based on a my favorite cassoulet recipe from Stephanie Alexander's Cooking and Travelling in South-West France. Here are some details:

- Cassoulet ragout with white beans pureed to thicken it
- Confit of homemade Toulouse sausages
- Fol Epi Cheese
- Toasted Tartine bread crumbs
- Roasted walnut oil

The crust, made with the French natural starter, was amazing with the cassoulet sauce and cheese. After baking, the addition of the toasted bread crumbs and walnut oil made the entire pie swoon-worthy. However, I was very disappointed with the sausage. There was nothing wrong with it, but it just didn't belong on this pie.

Stay cool!

So I've decided to up my game in terms of visual styling. Never had an ounce of talent in this area, but I'm trying to do better.




Maybe a little better, but still not close. Once I uploaded the images to my desktop, I saw all kinds of things I'd like to change, but the pizza was long gone. Shooting tethered may be a solution, but improving my eye may be the best approach.

Bill/SFNM wrote:Once I uploaded the images to my desktop, I saw all kinds of things I'd like to change, but the pizza was long gone. Shooting tethered may be a solution, but improving my eye may be the best approach.

Make a stand in pizza before you fire the hero pie
it will give you plenty of time to get the background elements where you want them before you shoot your final.

mhill95149 wrote:
Make a stand in pizza before you fire the hero pie
it will give you plenty of time to get the background elements where you want them before you shoot your final.

Thanks, Mel. I actually did that today, but didn't upload the test shots to my desktop. I used the LCD on the back of the camera for making decisions. What I really want to do is to be able to look at the scene with just my eye and figure it out. I need to get much better at that, regardless. Little steps.

Roasted peppers, homemade hot Italian sausage, homegrown tomatoes, goat cheese, and sun dried tomato and basil pesto.

Fresh sweet corn & homemade salsa verde pizza cooked on the grill

OK, I'll bite - what's with the pot?

zoid wrote:OK, I'll bite - what's with the pot?

baked the pizza under it to see if it would cook the top quicker before the bottom burned. FWIW, did not work...

mhill95149 wrote:

zoid wrote:OK, I'll bite - what's with the pot?

baked the pizza under it to see if it would cook the top quicker before the bottom burned. FWIW, did not work...

When I saw the pic, I thought "what a great idea"...
I'm still trying to figure out a foolproof way to cook pizza on my Weber grill--it's too hot to make pizza in the house during the summer.

Gorgeous pizzas Bill, jblth and mhill

A couple of my better efforts this evening - both cooked on a Lodge cast iron pizza pan. I followed this recipe for the dough with a 48-hour stint in the fridge. The one on the right is topped with leftover linguine with clams from La Scarola and a sprinkling of Grana Padano - dee-licious.

I cheated and used Trader Joe's pizza dough, which wasn't bad at all. Home grown yellow cherry tomatoes and small red tomatoes; mozzarella & goat cheese, aleppo pepper and basil jelly.

mhill95149 wrote:Pizza topped with potato, pancetta gorgonzola, walnut seasoned with rosemary and thyme and garlic

Mhill95159...I'd been thinking about your gorgeous pizza and decided to try it out. Unfortunately, my plan to use pancetta was foiled by the folks at a local meat market giving me hot capicola rather than pancetta. Luckily, I had some guanciale hanging around. I forgot to get a picture of the pizza cooked but it turned out great. I had to take a few of the walnuts off b/c I burned them (next time I'll add them at the end). But this was a combo I will definitely make again. Thanks for posting it!

Mhill...I think I'm channel your pizza ingredient sense...

'Salsa campesina' from Harvesttime (which is quite good--they make it in house), corn, roasted red peppers, carmelized onions and goat cheese

I have finally embarked on learning to make pizza at home. I've made a few pies at home in the past, but now I really want to get the hang of things.

I made my first tonight, but I didn't let the pizza stone get hot enough. It was alright, but I wouldn't say it was particularly good.

First off - how long does it take for a stone to fully heat? My oven goes as high 550.

Secondly, does anybody have a good recipe for a no-cook tomato sauce that doesn't involve fresh tomatoes? I just want something simple I can replicate anytime of year. I think the sauce I used on my first pie was also sub-par - basically just out of a can with some dried herbs added.

But hey...we all have to start somewhere.

DClose wrote:
Secondly, does anybody have a good recipe for a no-cook tomato sauce that doesn't involve fresh tomatoes? I just want something simple I can replicate anytime of year.

I use canned whole san marzano plum tomatoes
but I mash them a bit and then hang the sauce (like yogurt cheese) in cheesecloth to
remove a lot of the moisture. once drained (drink the juice or make a bloody mary!)
I add some salt and pepper and maybe a touch of sugar. If I've got some fresh herbs then
a bit of them too. but mostly I want to taste the tomato and I don't want all the water...

For how long do you hang the tomatoes?

DClose wrote:For how long do you hang the tomatoes?

Maybe an hour? I just start by taking th dough out of the fridge and
Then I Hang the tomatoes. Get the rest of the stuff ready....
When I need the tomatoes I take them down and mash a bit more.
And spread them on the pizza. Point being, the actual time is not that critical
I'm sure that if you drain the tomatoes any way you wish you
will remove some of the water and that IMHO is a good thing for a pizza.

Well, I am pleased to say my 2nd pizza was INFINITELY better than my first attempt.

Every single characteristic of the pizza was outstanding, at least by my inexperienced pizza-palate. I'm sure there is plenty more improvement to go, but I was really happy with the pie.

I used fresh dough from Mariano's and topped it with whole canned tomatoes (cleaned) brought from Graziano's - I forget what brand, but Mrs. Graziano said they were "from the San Marzano region" but was insistent they were not San Marzanos (as if I thought she was trying to rip me off or something...haha). Regardless they were great, mashed and drained, and lightly seasoned. Thanks mhill95149 for the suggestion!

On top of that was freshly shredded scamorza cheese (also from Mariano's), fresh sliced pepperoni (from Graziano's), and a light dusting of pecorino romano.

At the behest of Mrs. Graziano, I par-baked the the un-topped crust for about 2 minutes (she would not let go of my arm until I agreed to do so - really). It really helped keep everything crisp and allow no moisture to invade the crust, even though using fresh tomatoes means there is extra liquid, no matter how long I drain it.

The scamorza was creamy with a little bite from the provolone-type flavor in contributes, and the fresh pepperoni had a terrific kick to it and added the additional salt-kick the pizza needed.

The pizza came out in about 10 minutes perfectly browned and the crust had that certain chew to it I always look for (and usually don't find) in a NY slice.

Hot damn, I look forward to seeing what happens if and when I start making my own dough.

One question: what is the recommended technique for folding over dough to make the crust? About half the crust was neat, and the other half I had trouble getting the fold to hold. I think I may have used a little too much flour on the bench, which could inhibit the dough sticking together - is that possible? Any other suggestions?

It is a small thing, and the pizza tasted great regardless, but I'd like to get it a little nicer looking for next time.


Thanks!

The Bread Bar at the (now closed) Tabla restaurant in New York used to have a terrific saag paneer 'pizza' made with a corn paratha and goat cheese (I guess that makes it not technically saag paneer). I tried to replicate this recently at home. It was pretty good (though not as good as Tabla's). I used a mixture of makai (corn flour) and atta (wheat flour) for the parathas. I used my tortilla press to make the parathas (I think that may be cheating but it worked) and pan-fried them a bit before cooking in the oven with the saag and goat cheese. I used Suvir Saran's saag paneer recipe (minus the paneer) from his Indian Home Cooking cookbook.

DClose wrote: even though using fresh tomatoes means there is extra liquid, no matter how long I drain it.

A few teaspoons of good olive oil and/or some grated hard cheese, blended with a stick blender, eg, will emulsify the tomato enough to address this without turning the sauce into something completely different.

(I would have had to leave my arm in Graziano's store. Par baking doesn't permit the range of textures (including soft center) I enjoy.)

mhill95149 wrote:

DClose wrote:For how long do you hang the tomatoes?

Maybe an hour? I just start by taking th dough out of the fridge and
Then I Hang the tomatoes. Get the rest of the stuff ready....
When I need the tomatoes I take them down and mash a bit more.
And spread them on the pizza. Point being, the actual time is not that critical
I'm sure that if you drain the tomatoes any way you wish you
will remove some of the water and that IMHO is a good thing for a pizza.

I just mash up the whole canned tomatoes with my fingers, then use a small-slotted metal spoon to sauce the pizza.

Kennyz wrote:

mhill95149 wrote:

DClose wrote:For how long do you hang the tomatoes?

Maybe an hour? I just start by taking th dough out of the fridge and
Then I Hang the tomatoes. Get the rest of the stuff ready....
When I need the tomatoes I take them down and mash a bit more.
And spread them on the pizza. Point being, the actual time is not that critical
I'm sure that if you drain the tomatoes any way you wish you
will remove some of the water and that IMHO is a good thing for a pizza.

I just mash up the whole canned tomatoes with my fingers, then use a small-slotted metal spoon to sauce the pizza.

Yea, but then you don't get to wash the cheesecloth!