Pizza

[Andy Capp]

This is the recipe i use for making pizzas in my wood fired oven.
Firstly the dough base

mix in a bowl
3 teaspoons dried yeast
1 tablespoon brown sugar
650ml warm/tepid water
leave that for about 20 mins then put in 4 tablespoons olive oil.

pour into bowl containing the following.
1kg plain flour sifted
3 teaspoons sea salt
mix it all up then kneed and leave to rest for hour or so. It should about double depending on room temp.

I make 5 or 6 pizzas depending on guests or who is hungry.
for the topping its important to use a good amount of tomato paste first then any seasoning on top of that.
i found the flavour is better that way but better to experiment for yourself.
for the toppings i use ham,bacon,olives,mushrooms,jalapenos and capsicum topped with pizza cheese from the supermarket.
best not to over-do the toppings or it won't cook properly in the middle. rule of thumb is less is better.
also try to get the dough as dry as possible. using extra flour while kneeding it helps.
the salt content can be increased if you prefer but i find with the seasoning i use it comes out nice.

[pistachio_nut]

I make Chicago style deep dish pizza in a cast iron pan. My old lady got a recipe for bread out of a magazine called Cooks Illustrated or something like that. It's got a cover price of $7.50 an issue, but they don't take any advertisers and operate an independent test kitchen. It's a simple and easy recipe, I bet just about any kind of bread recipe would work.

First grease the pan liberally with butter. I use homemade ghee from Kerrygold butter. Ghee has a 400 degree+ smoke point where butter is closer to 225, so I blow an hour or two once a month making ghee.

Flour on the kitchen table, roll it out to between a quarter and an eighth inch and line the pan with it. The key is to try to make the rolled dough lay flat on the bottom first, then lay it up the sides, and let it drape over the edge and don't worry about it. Don't lay it flat over the rim of the pan and push it down, you'll end up with uneven crust.

Line the crust with sliced mozzarella on the bottom and up the sides of the dough. I use a sauce that's a low moisture mix of tomato paste that comes in the little tiny cans and pesto. Mix to your taste.Coat the mozzarella with sauce thinly.

Layer your meat on the sauce. I like the combo packs of Italian prosciutto cuts that have a couple different kinds of meat in them. Prosciutto, carbonsomething, and a salami looking thinly sliced sausage. You use what you like. Anything from spinach/garlic/broccoli to grilled tri tip diced with garlic to shrimp/calamari/scallops, whatever floats your boat. Keep in mind that moisture will ruin your pizza, so it only makes sense to make sure whatever you put in is either dry or greasy. Recently the local Trader Joes had big clamshells of fresh sweet basil leaves, I made the hell out of some pizza with a huge layer of basil.

No hot dogs, no ketchup.

Then a layer of stinky cheese. Romano, Parmesan, some mozzarella to make it stretchy, some Asagio, whatever you can find. Make sure it stinks to high heaven and layer it in deep. Push it down in with the meat layer. Another layer of sauce on top to completely cover the cheese. Your end result should be close to the rim of the cast iron pan, as close as possible. Then take the spine of your knife and grind an edge around the top of the pan so the drape of the dough falls off at the top. Push the dough down a little so it's just a hair above the sauce. The ingredients will cook down to expose more crust, which will then balloon out over your pizza. You want as little of that as possible.

Bake at 350 until internal temp reaches 165, remove from oven, cover with foil and let rest ten minutes while you dig in to your antipasto salad, drink some red wine (or white dog, present company noted), and prepare to eat one slice before food coma knocks your ass back into your Barcalounger for the duration.

[MDH]

I make pizza dough frequently. I use a fine mesh, high gluten flour. I leave a dough on the wetter side. Spread it thinner. Add fine garlic clove to the dough and let it rest overnight. The yeast performance can be enhanced, of course, by maintaining a temperature of the dough overnight, and adding a small amount of tomato paste and lemon juice (Doesn't this sound familiar?). I have had dough rise to quadrouple in size over two hours. It needs to be punched down frequently once you learn how to do it well.

As for cheese?

50% Mozza (42% Moisture), 20% Sharp Cheddar, 10% Goat Feta, 10% Fresh Parmesan, 10% Mascarpone.

Cherry-tomato based sauce with a bit of basil and truffle oil (This can be found for much more cheaply than truffles).

A little bit of fresh chopped basil, rosemary, oregano. Absolutely nothing else.

All of this makes good pizza. Toppings are silly...

[junkyard dawg]

I have played around recently with fermenting my dough for about three days. There is a guy in austin that does this and makes an amazing crust. I haven't quite got it nailed down, but I'm getting closer...

[Stillfarmin]

I make pizza, and other baked items very frequently, so i thought I would throw In my recipe. The dough recipe is something that I've been tweaking for a year or so, and I have it where I like it.
This recipe makes two pizzas that cover my 14 inch stone.

3 cups white flour (I use one called ultimate performer, it's high in protein)
3 cups whole wheat flour (I get mine milled day of from a farm down the street from me)
2 tsp honey
2 tbl extra virgin olive oil
3 cups water
2 tsp kosher salt
As for the yeast, there a couple ways to do it. I have a starter that I tend to, and will make my leaven earlier in the day, using about 200 grams of starter. OR you could use 4 tsp dry yeast.

In mixing bowl, add everything but 1.5 cups of water. I use a electric mixer, so use the flat beater. Mix till comes together. Replace flat beater with dough hook and mix on low, adding the rest of the water for about 5 minutes. Knead on lightly floured surface until it is smooth and elastic. Put in large bowl that is oiled. This is when I let it rise for at least 2 hours. I fold it lightly in the bowl every half hour. Turn onto floured surface, divide in two and shape. Rest 15 minutes. Then I Roll it out, toss it around, and shape it on my peel. Add ingredients, then put it on hot baking stone.

My favorite pizza topping is olive, mushroom, and sausage. Mince up some garlic, rosemary and oregano for toppings. Light tomato sauce on the bottom. I bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then brush the crust with olive oil that had herbs steeped in it. Return to oven for 5 to 10 minutes.

It does take some time, but it will yield a heavenly, light, flavorful crust.