Kickass pizza from scratch (well...mostly)

[Improvisor]

Mmmmm… Delicious homemade pizza…

I’ve been on this quest myself for a while now since I moved to Seattle. I grew up in Chicago, the land of pizza, and in Seattle there isn’t a decent pizza place anywhere. (OK, there are a few, but nowhere near my house.)

Anyway, here is how I make my cracker crust pizza. I usually only do this on weekends, because it takes a while to do everything properly.

Pizza Dough:
I make this in a bread machine on the dough setting.
2-3/4 cup bread flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup warm water
2 tablespoon olive oil

Combine the sugar, yeast and warm water and let the yeast froth up (about 15 minutes). Then put in everything else and put it in the bread machine. One of my tricks is that you want pizza dough to be very glutinous (which you get from kneading the dough). So, I run the bead machine through just the kneading portion of the dough cycle, stop the machine and then start the dough cycle again. This gives you 2 kneading sections, and one rising section. Then let it rise for an hour, punch it down, and let it rise again. The more you let it rise the better. Because the more rise time it has the more yeast flavor will be imparted to the dough, which is a good thing.

Pizza Sauce:
This is very much a “to-taste” kind of recipe, so I don’t have exact measurements, but here is what I put in mine:

3 or 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 clove chopped garlic
2 cans (15 oz.) of diced tomatoes
1/2 can of the small tomato paste
3 or 4 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar (for sweet and sour taste)
couple of tablespoons dried Basil
couple of tablespoons dried Oregano
Onion Powder
couple of tablespoons Caraway seeds (for a slight licorice flavor)
Ground Red Pepper (just a pinch or so)
salt
pepper
some sugar depending on how tart the sauce is

So, start the sauce by lightly cooking the garlic in the olive oil. Then throw everything else in. Let this simmer on low for at least an hour. Mash it up with a potato mashed to break down any remaining large chunks of tomato. Taste the sauce and adjust any of the flavorings to your liking. Usually, you need to adjust either the salt, vinegar, or sugar at this point depending on the tomatoes. Then let it simmer on low for at least another 3 hours or so. You should cook off most of the “loose” water and the sauce should look decidedly more brown.
After all this, your hard work is done. Use a pizza stone as previously suggested and get your oven up as hot as it can go. (Commercial pizza ovens cook in the range of 700 to 800 degrees Fahrenheit.) Roll the dough out thin, and then dock it all over with a fork (make a bunch of small holes in the dough with the tines of the fork (this will stop the big air bubbles from forming in the dough)). As for toppings, I always use the fresh ball mozzarella, and anything else that happens to be in the fridge that day: spinach, black olives, salami, whatever.

[JoeSki]

Whoah, this thread has really taken off. Thanks for the responses everybody .

My last two attempts at making dough have been a disaster. The first time the pizza was edible, but the crust had the texture of morning biscuits. The second time it didn’t even rise properly and I had to throw it away. The recipe called for letting the dough rest in a warm spot for fifty minutes, and I figured my brothers oven set at a low temperature would be adequate. It was not. Also, I really don’t know what the outside texture of the dough was supposed to feel like. When I tried making it it was so sticky most of it stuck to my hands and fingers, or anything else it touched. And how do I mix the dough and water? Do I drop water into the flour little by little, or dump all of flour into the water? I used self rising flour rather than flour and yeast. Does that make a difference?

I don’t have a mixer, or a bread machine, so all of this is done by hand. I’m usually operating on a shoestring budget, so while I will give making my own dough another try, it probably won’t be for a week or two. I’ll try and update when I do though. Herbed dough sounds good.

Also, I’m seeing a lot of posts about preheating the oven…do I do this with the pizza stone in the oven?

Stan Doubt, that white sauce recipe looks truly kickass. I’m going to try and stick by that as much as the money in my wallet will allow. Thank you.

@Trunk

To sweeten your sauce. . .first of all, I use “crushed tomatoes in puree” or just “crushed tomatoes”. I’ve actually put “corn syrup” (Karo) in it. You could use honey, or sugar. If you add sugar or honey to your crust, you might not want it in your sauce.

After that, toppings are up to you. . .keep in mind that raw veggies and raw meat usually can’t cook through in the time it takes for the dough to cook so you want to brown your meat first or saute your veggies a little. If you like raw onions and raw peppers, you don’t need to do that.

Making bread not a pain in the ass? Sure it is, if it means watching the precious little money you have go down the drain. I’m a poor college student over here! And this is not to mention you have a sinking suspition that you’re doing something wrong because most of the recipes you come across list the ingredients but lack details in the overall process. My mom made many things for me growing up, but bread wasn’t one of them.

With having said that, I hadn’t thought about adding honey or syrup. Sounds a bit odd, but I’ll give it a go the next time I make pizza with a red sauce. And I was fixing to ask about whether veges should be cooked a little before I add them to the pie. Thanks.

@Farmwoman

You’ll need a pizza stone.
And not a wafer-thin little Pampered Chef stone, get a good, thick stone.

Now stop playing with it and put in in a warm place while you heat up the stone.

Thankfully for me, my roomate has a very nice pizza stone. And I agree, it’s great. I used to wrap a pan in aluminum foil and then have to spent time trying to peel the foil off the bottom of the crust while the pizza cooled. With the pizza stone I just peel the pizza off the stone with a knife in the few spots where it’s sticky in about ten seconds, and then cut, and eat. And the mess! Almost none to speak of. I’m buying my own some day.

Also, what constitutes as a warm place? Room temperature?

@Bren_Cameron

This is abomination.

If adding honey or syrup to the sauce is what the pizzaria chain in my last city did to sweeten the sauce, then it certaintly isn’t an abomination. Not by any stretch of the word.

And for the last question for my post, and I’m hijacking my own thread a bit here, does anyone know how to make garlic knots?

[pulykamell]

@JoeSki

It was not. Also, I really don’t know what the outside texture of the dough was supposed to feel like. When I tried making it it was so sticky most of it stuck to my hands and fingers, or anything else it touched.

It’ll start out sticky, but should end up not sticking your hands and fingers after working it for a bit. It it’s still sticking, you don’t have enough flour in your dough. Keep adding dough and mixing and kneading until you have a smooth, pliable dough. It will not be sticky.

I agree that anything more than a dash of sugar in the sauce is an abomination.

And that, as a lifelong Chicagoan, I don’t think we make a very good pie–at least compared with the East Coast Pizza belt. Skin me alive, if you will, fellow Chicagoans.

[Improvisor]

JoeSki, here are some answers to your last questions:

• Put the pizza stone in the oven when you turn the oven on (to avoid thermal shock and cracking). Then let the stone and the oven preheat for at least about 45 minutes. The purpose of this is to let the stone fully (and slowly) heat up to the temperature of the oven. If you do this right and your stone is hot enough, there should not be any sticking of the pizza to the stone. The bottom of the pizza dough should cook (maybe “seal up” is a more acurate description) almost instantly when it hits a 500 degree stone, thereby causing no sticking.

• Self-Rising flour is flour with Baking Powder added, not yeast. That is probably why your crust came out like biscuits, becuase that is essentially what you were making. Pick up some those little yeast packets in the cooking section of your grocery store. Also get some Bread Flour if you can. Bread Flour has more protein in it which leads to a crispier crust, but regular flour will do just fine as well.

• What constitutes a warm place? - Commercial proofing ovens (where bread rises) are usually around 105 degrees Fahrenheit and 70% humidity. A really easy way to replicate this is to boil up a couple of cups of water on your stove and then pour it into a baking dish. Put the baking dish and the bowl with your dough in it in your oven (which is off of course). The steaming water and the insullation in your oven should come pretty close to matching those conditions.

[SusanStoHelit]

@JoeSki

Whoah, this thread has really taken off. Thanks for the responses everybody .

My last two attempts at making dough have been a disaster. The first time the pizza was edible, but the crust had the texture of morning biscuits. The second time it didn’t even rise properly and I had to throw it away. The recipe called for letting the dough rest in a warm spot for fifty minutes, and I figured my brothers oven set at a low temperature would be adequate. It was not. Also, I really don’t know what the outside texture of the dough was supposed to feel like. When I tried making it it was so sticky most of it stuck to my hands and fingers, or anything else it touched. And how do I mix the dough and water? Do I drop water into the flour little by little, or dump all of flour into the water? I used self rising flour rather than flour and yeast. Does that make a difference?

Procedure for bread and pizza dough:

Mix 1/3C of the hottest water you can get from the tap with 1T honey or sugar and 1T yeast

In a separate bowl mix the 3-4C flour (only use bread flour- it makes a huge difference!) and 1 tsp salt.

In a separate bowl mix 1C lukewarm water, 1 egg, and a little more than 3T oil.

Mix the water and yeast. Add slowly to flour, stirring constantly.

You can add more four if it is too sticky. Keep adding flour until dough sticks to itself in a ball, rather than the sides of the mixing bowl. You can turn it out and knead in more flour if you can’t stir it with a spoon any more.

Knead until the dough is springy and smooth and just-barely not sticky any more.

An oven on low is too hot: For temp, think an oven with the light bulb on, or a window sill in the sun. If the dough rises too fast, it will have a coarse texture. If you let it get bigger than 2x the original size, it will have a coarse texture.

For pizza dough, I let it rise once before shaping. For bread dough, I let it rise 2x before shaping and letting it rise again.

Good luck.

[SusanStoHelit]

@JoeSki

Thankfully for me, my roomate has a very nice pizza stone. And I agree, it’s great. I used to wrap a pan in aluminum foil and then have to spent time trying to peel the foil off the bottom of the crust while the pizza cooled. With the pizza stone I just peel the pizza off the stone with a knife in the few spots where it’s sticky in about ten seconds, and then cut, and eat. And the mess! Almost none to speak of. I’m buying my own some day.

If you spread olive oil and cornmeal on the pan or stone, you won’t need to peel anything off of anything else, and it gives it a good, authentic taste.

[DoctorJ]

In the course of a pizza party once, I did a side-by-side comparison of Wolfgang Puck’s crust recipe from the excellent Pizza, Pasta, and More! (which takes two hours) and Alton Brown’s overnight-in-the-fridge method. Puck’s is wonderful, if you only have two hours, but Alton is right–a long, slow rise makes a far tastier crust.

Always cook pizza at the hottest temperature your oven will get to, and let it preheat for no less than thirty minutes. At the same party, I had two racks covered with quarry tile, and I found I liked the pizzas cooked on the lower tiles better; my theory is that the area between the two layers of tile was extra-hot.

I like Wolfgang Puck’s chili-garlic oil on and in my crust: take two cups of extra-virgin olive oil and heat it to medium-low; add a whole peeled head of garlic and cook until the garlic is just barely brown. Take it off the heat, add a couple spoonfuls of red chili flakes, and let it cool down for a couple of hours. Strain. I use this as the oil in my crust and I’ll usually brush it with a little before I add toppings. (Sometimes I won’t even add sauce.)

[pulykamell]

@SusanStoHelit

Procedure for bread and pizza dough:

Mix 1/3C of the hottest water you can get from the tap with 1T honey or sugar and 1T yeast

I’d be careful. The ideal temperature for baking yeast is 110-115F. Anything above 120, and your little yeasties start dying. 140 or above, and they’re toast.
Some people have much hotter taps than others, so be forewarned.

[DoctorJ]

With the pizza stone I just peel the pizza off the stone with a knife in the few spots where it’s sticky in about ten seconds, and then cut, and eat. And the mess! Almost none to speak of. I’m buying my own some day.

A piece of parchment makes this foolproof.

[pulykamell]

@SusanStoHelit

Procedure for bread and pizza dough:

Mix 1/3C of the hottest water you can get from the tap with 1T honey or sugar and 1T yeast

I’d be careful. The ideal temperature for baking yeast is 110-115F. Anything above 120, and your little yeasties start dying. 140 or above, and they’re toast.
Some people have much hotter taps than others, so be forewarned. The correct temperature is water that is warm, but not hot to the touch.

[Eva_Luna]

@pulykamell

as a lifelong Chicagoan, I don’t think we make a very good pie–at least compared with the East Coast Pizza belt. Skin me alive, if you will, fellow Chicagoans.

Because I’m feeling charitable (and perhaps because of my East Coast Pizza Belt parentage), I will not skin you alive.

But you are making the mistake of considering Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and New York-style thin-crust pizza to be facets of the same gem. They are really two entirely different food groups, and it’s entirely possible to love them both for what they are (at least I do, and as often as possible).

My NJ-born, NY-resident dad, though, swears that if you can’t fold a slice in half lengthwise so the grease runs down the middle, it’s not really pizza.

[pulykamell]

@Eva Luna

But you are making the mistake of considering Chicago-style deep-dish pizza and New York-style thin-crust pizza to be facets of the same gem. They are really two entirely different food groups, and it’s entirely possible to love them both for what they are (at least I do, and as often as possible).

I consider deep-dish a different beast as well. I’m talking about thin-crust pizza in Chicago. I cannot find a single one that satisfies me the way the pizzas in New York have. I mean, every freakin’ pizza in New York is great it seems. Perhaps the only take-out pizza I have a hankering for from time to time in Chicago is Pat’s.

And I really miss Italian-style pizza. Apparently, Pizza D.O.C. comes closest in Chicago, but I haven’t been there, and the Italians I know aren’t completely sold on it.

Plus us Chicagoans have this weird habit of cutting our pizzas into squares, not pie slices. My visiting Hungarian friend thought I was joking when I presented her with a pizza cut in this manner. See? The whole world thinks we’re weird. (But I actually like our silly little differences in portioning.)

[DoctorJ]

Plus us Chicagoans have this weird habit of cutting our pizzas into squares, not pie slices. My visiting Hungarian friend thought I was joking when I presented her with a pizza cut in this manner. See? The whole world thinks we’re weird. (But I actually like our silly little differences in portioning.)

This is how it’s done in the pizza al forno shops found on every street corner in Italy. The more upscale pizzerias, though, use the more familiar circles and wedges.

[Farmwoman]

@JoeSki

Also, what constitutes as a warm place? Room temperature?

I boil a cup of water in the microwave, then immediately place the bowl of dough (covered with a cloth) inside, leaving the door ajar so the warm little light keeps my dough nice and toasty. But honestly, any warmish place, out of drafts and chills will do, your dough just won’t rise as quickly…and I’m all about the speed.

[Amaranta]

I don’t put cheese on my pizzas. I know, it doesn’t sound very good, but it makes a nice light meal.

I love mixing hummus, balsamic vinegar, and a bit of tomato sauce for a pizza base. The creamy-ness of the hummus makes up for the lack of cheese. Roasting up some garlic and mixing it into the sauce is heavenly.

There’s very few things I don’t enjoy on pizza. I love tomatoes, grilled zucchini, baked thinly sliced potatoes, corn, blanched cauliflower, red onion, black beans, artichoke hearts, you name a veggie, I’ll think of a good pizza combo for it.

My favourite pizza of late: homemade wholewheat thin crust, the aforementioned hummus-sauce, orange tomato slices, lotsa garlic and red onion, fresh torn basil, and blanched cauliflower. Toss it in the oven til the crust is nice and crispy. Remove it from the oven and top with blanched green beans and pine nuts, and maybe some avocado slices. Sooo good, I promise! My friends call it “hippie pizza”, but they never turn it down if I make it.

[pulykamell]

@DoctorJ

This is how it’s done in the pizza al forno shops found on every street corner in Italy. The more upscale pizzerias, though, use the more familiar circles and wedges.

Aren’t those slices fairly sizeable though? It’s been awhile since I’ve been to Italy, but I don’t recall them looking anything like our pizza slices. Chicago style cuts are about 3-4 inches by 3-4 inches. You get these funny little tiny corner pieces. An average-sized pizza (16-18 inches) would therfore be cut to yield something like 25 pieces.

[Lady_of_the_Lake]

Trunk,
Keep it simple? twitches

No, no, you’re right. I should probably stop throwing everything that sounds fun at the pizza (at least until I’ve made one good pizza…)

I will be switching to regular Pepperoni - if I can find it. I ended up with Turkey Pepperoni against my desires because I didn’t actually read the package.

Pulykamell,
The funny taste is a ‘bitter’ aftertaste that lingers in the mouth. I was forced to consume sharp chedder cheese with a glass of wine before my mouth felt better.

It sounds like cutting out the parsley would be a good idea? (I used ‘Italian Parsley’ because pizza = Italian so I thought ‘Italian Parsley’ = appropriate garnish for pizza).

Devilsknew,
I do love basil, so that hopefully isn’t the problem. The mushrooms were white button mushrooms and baby bella’s.

I used presliced mushrooms the last time I tried (this was the time I didn’t cook them before hand) and they left a yellow film or something on top of the pizza - I could tilt the pizza and it would flow off. Is that supposed to happen? Maybe it was the short cut of buying them pre-sliced? (which I usually don’t do, scouts honor!)

I don’t know if I will try sausage again, which I usually love on pizza. I asked the meat man for pizza sausage and he gave me ‘Italian Sausage’ which looked like a package of ground beef. I cooked it on the stove in garlic but it came out way too tough and not at all tender like it usually is on pizza. shrug Unless I can find this ‘sausage topping’.

Thanks for the replies - I think cutting out the parsley and trying to keep it simple will help.

[pulykamell]

[QUOTE=Lady of the Lake

Pulykamell,
The funny taste is a ‘bitter’ aftertaste that lingers in the mouth. I was forced to consume sharp chedder cheese with a glass of wine before my mouth felt better.

It sounds like cutting out the parsley would be a good idea? (I used ‘Italian Parsley’ because pizza = Italian so I thought ‘Italian Parsley’ = appropriate garnish for pizza).[/QUOTE]

I’m not saying parsley is wrong, but it’s not typical of pizzas you’d find here. It can leave a bitter aftertaste. Here’s your possibilities:

1. Olive oil. Taste the olive oil itself. Go ahead, chug some straight from the bottle, nobody’s looking. Does it taste good? Olive oil can go rancid if not kept correctly, plus there’s some brands that are absolutely abysmal. I’ve tossed more than one bottle in the garbage it’s been so bad and bitter. If your olive oil tastes fine, then:

2. Parsley. Fresh parsley can taste a bit bitter. Do you like the taste of fresh parsley (I know, stupid question, but, you know, I have to get those “Is your computer plugged in?” type questions out of the way). If you do like parsley, then:

3. Did you burn your garlic? Burnt garlic will leave a horrible, bitter aftertaste. Toss out your garlic and oil and clean out the pan if you ever burn garlic.

4. Have you tasted your crust on its own? Does it taste fine?

The bottom line is, if you want to find out the source of the odd taste, well, taste each of your ingredients on its own, and see if you can pinpoint the problem.

[pulykamell]

Oh, and nobody’s mentioned it, but goat cheese works fantastically well on pizza. I wouldn’t put it on a pizza with something really strongly flavored like Italian sausage on it already, but with artichokes, bell peppers, and onions…I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

[Max_Torque]

@JoeSki

Also, what constitutes as a warm place? Room temperature?

Well, I used to use the obvious one: the stove top.

No, wait, hear me out! I didn’t turn on any burners. I just put the dough, in its bowl, on top of my range, between the burners, while the oven was pre-heating. I mean, it’s gotta preheat for a long time with a pizza stone, and the top of range gets nice and warm (but not TOO warm) while the oven is preheating; might as well make use of that escaping warmth, no?