Homemade Pizza
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Discussion

Matt..

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

217 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
quotequote all
I know a lot of you are really good at this! However, whenever i try i don't have as much success as i hope frown The bases are never as good as they should be.

What recipe do you use? and how do you make your pizzas?!


Thanks smile

grumbledoak

32,526 posts

261 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
quotequote all
I just use a fairly standard bread recipe, let it rise, roll it out, let it rise back a little. But, then I'm not generally a fan of the rather fat and greasy American style pizzas from e.g. "The Hut".

Timberwolf

5,374 posts

246 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
quotequote all
Do you use a baking stone? That made the biggest improvement to my pizzas, far more than any recipe change.

The other trick is getting hold of the Tipo '00' flour (try an Italian delicatessen) - it seems to work that much better for making pizza dough.

Dibble

13,275 posts

268 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
quotequote all
Dibble and Mrs Dibble had home made pizzas for tea tonight (pictures to follow). Mrs D's top tip was to use fine milled polenta to roll the dough out on, rather than flour (only at the end, not to mix).

Super hot oven helps too. We used a dough recipe, which was almost identical to the one on the other pizza thread. "Drier" ingerdients help give a cripser base too, so a very thin smear (at most) of tomato sauce, then the other bits.

If you pile the toppings too thick, the base jsut "steams", rather than cooks.

CatherineJ

9,586 posts

271 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
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I make mine with a cheese scone base.

grumbledoak

32,526 posts

261 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
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If you don't want a soggy base, part-cook it. 5 mins at 200°C should do it. And you can freeze the bases at this point, top them and cook from frozen.

Soft Top

1,490 posts

246 months

Sunday 14th February 2010
quotequote all
Flour, fresh yeast, (activated with warm water and sugar), olive oil, salt

Mix all with warm water added slowly until it forms a ball

Pizzas are in oven at present. Pics will follow

Mmmm, it's ready:





Edited by Soft Top on Sunday 14th February 20:30

Matt..

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

217 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
Tonight is pizza night... maybe this time i'll be able to make a decent base!

Plotloss

67,280 posts

298 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
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The trick is, assuming you don't have a wood burning pizza oven, to let the dough rise three times.

Then you can just cook it in a normal oven turned up to 11.

Matt..

Original Poster:

4,011 posts

217 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
Does anyone have any tips for making the tomato sauce?

bint

4,664 posts

252 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
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My New Year's resolution was to cook pizza from scratch instead of buying it, I started with this;

http://www.procook.co.uk/search.html?searchstr=piz...

A basic dough recipe, and a selection of toppings and I'm getting there. I'm going to try the polenta on the base trick next time as I have been having issues with it sticking.

mrazrockit

26 posts

213 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
Matt.. said:
Does anyone have any tips for making the tomato sauce?
Cut some tomatos in half season, bit of olive oil and roast in the oven at gas 6 for about half an hour till they are a little charred. Let them cool and give them a quick pulse in a food processor with a little olive oil, minced garlic and basil. If you dont have a food processor pass it through a seive.

Dibble

13,275 posts

268 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
Pictures as promised (already posted in the POYD thread):

Dough:


Rolled out (by hand) in polenta:


Loading:


Cooked (nom nom nom!):

RizzoTheRat

28,651 posts

220 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
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Heston Bluminthals recipy from his "In search of Perfection" series is quite honestly the best pizza I've ever had. Bit of hassle to make though as he makes a preferment, leaves it overnight, then makes the dough up from it, and it needs 50 cherry tomatoes, half for the sauce and the other half you bake with garlic to make a topping. Cooking method is interesting though, put a frying pan on the hob at a high heat, once it's hot turn it upside down, stick the pizza on it, and shove it under the grill for about a minute and a half.

Dough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uOng2plzZA
Sauce http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJQn_dzDutg&eur...
Topping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E0GP1rkFRM

tim-b

1,279 posts

238 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
Matt.. said:
Does anyone have any tips for making the tomato sauce?
A good quick one from Jamie Oliver (yes he's annoying but some of his recipes are great!);

Fry thinly sliced garlic (1-2 cloves) in olive oil until it starts to colour, then add 1 tin of (good quality) chopped tomatoes and a small bunch of fresh basil. Bring to the boil then immediately sieve. Squeeze as much of the juice out, scrape the bottom of the sieve to get more, then discard the contents. Put the 'juice' back in the pan, season with s&p, then gently simmer 5-10 mins until you get it to the perfect consistency.

Makes enough for 1 large-ish pizza.

Another favourite of mine is an onion based topping, I think it's called a 'Bianca' pizza. Gently fry 1 1/2 finely chopped onions in butter and olive oil, for at least 30 mins. Add dried rosemary and thyme, s&p and some chopped garlic for the last few minutes. It won't be quite like a sauce consistency, but if you cook it long enough it will spread quite well. I top mine with cherry tomatoes, chopped bacon and chunks of cheddar and I love it!cloud9

HTH

Nigel H

2,232 posts

238 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
Tomato sauce

Fry a bit of olive oil with a clove of garlic in a sauce pan. Once the garlic has taken on some color add one can of chopped tomatoes, one small can of tomato puree and a couple of teaspoons of sugar. Salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer for 30 to 40 mins. Done.

We freeze the rest and use when required. Makes enough for about 5 large (14") pizzas.

Pizza - made in a breadmaker
440g Strong White flour
250ml tepid water
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
Put in breadmaker on dough setting. 90 mins later remove, and place on a tray either with polenta or flour to stop sticking underneath. Push out with floured hands - don't use a rolling pin until about 3 to 4 mm thick. Allow to prove in a warm spot for 20 to 30 mins put on toppings and then put in a pre-heated oven (240 deg C) for 12 to 15 mins. Eat.

After trying lots of mozarellas we found Jody Scheketer's smile to be the best
http://www.laverstokepark.co.uk/buffalo-mozzarella...

Edited by Nigel H on Sunday 21st February 20:13


Edited by Nigel H on Sunday 21st February 20:13


Edited by Nigel H on Sunday 21st February 20:15

Kudos

2,674 posts

202 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
The key is "less is more". Resist the temptation to overload. Keep it lite - tomato sauce, some slices of cheese strategically placed, couple of bits of meat and finished with some basil leaves.

+1 on Jamie Oliver sauce recipe

Mobile Chicane

21,959 posts

240 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
I use Jamie Oliver's pizza base recipe, rolled onto a non-stick John Lewis pizza pan. Never fails:

Ingredients (makes 3 pizza bases for two):

500g strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour
1/2 level tablespoon fine sea salt
1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
1/2 tablespoon golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
325ml lukewarm water

Method:

Sieve the flour and salt on to a clean work surface and make a well in the middle. In a jug, mix the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the water and leave for a few minutes, then pour into the well. Using a fork, bring the flour in gradually from the sides and swirl it into the liquid. Keep mixing, drawing larger amounts of flour in, and when it all starts to come together, work the rest of the flour in with your clean, flour-dusted hands. Knead until you have a smooth, springy dough, adding a dusting more of flour if the dough is too sticky.

Place the ball of dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place in a warm room for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size. Then, remove the dough to a flour-dusted surface and knead it around a bit to push the air out with your hands – this is called knocking back the dough. You can either use it immediately, or keep it, wrapped in clingfilm, in the fridge (or freezer) until required.

If using straight away, roll out the dough with a flour-dusted rolling pin. Then, add toppings: some of my favourites are mushrooms, goat's cheese, salami and red onions. Top this off with grated mozzarella and parmesan, and sling the whole thing into a hot oven for 10 minutes. Eat. Enjoy.

shirt

25,320 posts

229 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
^^^ good dough recipe that, though my personal preference is to add more olive oil. the base should be as thin as humanly possible so its 2 to 3mm after cooking. i use an 800x300mm marble skillet (tenner from sainsbury) at max oven temp for 1hr.

for sauce, oven roast a med. red onion, a dozen baby plum tomatos and a lge red pepper with olive oil & rosemary. chop & blitz in a food processor with a handful of black olives.

in a pan, fry a large crushed clove of garlic for 1-2 mins then add the above mix. reduce on a low heat until almost a puree, then add a good glug of passata and aged balsamic.

as others suggest, less is more for the topping, esp. with a strongly flavoured sauce like this. i love finely sliced roast red onion, mature goats cheddar, lomo and rocket with grated parmesan, a quick grind of salt/pepper and a drizzle of balsamic.

oven door discipline is key to avoid heatloss. you need a quick dusting of flour on the stone to avoid sticking, and a paddle helps enormously (or a dusted plate) if you are going for ultra thin crust. 2 x 30cm pizzas should take 5-6 mins to cook with a hot oven if you haven't overloaded it.

ps - a pizza pan is ok, but try a stone, its well worth it. garlic bread cooked on a stone is superb.



pps - posting recipes from a phone is going to be a one off i feel!

Mobile Chicane

21,959 posts

240 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
quotequote all
shirt said:
^^^ good dough recipe that, though my personal preference is to add more olive oil. the base should be as thin as humanly possible so its 2 to 3mm after cooking. i use an 800x300mm marble skillet (tenner from sainsbury) at max oven temp for 1hr.

for sauce, oven roast a med. red onion, a dozen baby plum tomatos and a lge red pepper with olive oil & rosemary. chop & blitz in a food processor with a handful of black olives.

in a pan, fry a large crushed clove of garlic for 1-2 mins then add the above mix. reduce on a low heat until almost a puree, then add a good glug of passata and aged balsamic.

as others suggest, less is more for the topping, esp. with a strongly flavoured sauce like this. i love finely sliced roast red onion, mature goats cheddar, lomo and rocket with grated parmesan, a quick grind of salt/pepper and a drizzle of balsamic.

oven door discipline is key to avoid heatloss. you need a quick dusting of flour on the stone to avoid sticking, and a paddle helps enormously (or a dusted plate) if you are going for ultra thin crust. 2 x 30cm pizzas should take 5-6 mins to cook with a hot oven if you haven't overloaded it.

ps - a pizza pan is ok, but try a stone, its well worth it. garlic bread cooked on a stone is superb.

pps - posting recipes from a phone is going to be a one off i feel!
Potting shed. 5 minutes. ;-)