What's in your (PIZZA) oven?

Dough is a slippery slope for many pizza builders. Until you master the dough you aren't going to master the pizza. But it's hard, take it seriously and work at it and you will be rewarded.

Even after over 60 years of baking I still have failures. I eat them anyway but I ain't proud....
 
M_D said:
Holy Schmoley! You guys are dialed in! Thanks for sharing.

Prior to jumping in to this thread I was feeling pretty smug making my own dough in our bread machine….following the recipe that came in the owner’s manual 🙃. Now I’m excited to give this a go.

It’s too late for tonight’s pizza making but it will be on next week’s menu 👍

Fun!

and Ive…you mentioned a stone or something to bake the pizza on in a regular oven. What do you use?
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I use a 14'' x 14'' steel that is 1/8th (.125") of an inch thick. I see some folks using really thick steels but I am getting such good results on mine that I couldn't ask for much more. The thicker steels are heavy as the hubs of hell and take much longer to heat which seems to defeat the purpose of the steel to begin with. But you know how Americans are-if enough is plenty then a lot more must be even better.

I cook on the bottom rack of the oven and usually get good results but also have the second rack at the top in case I want a little more browning. About 45 seconds on broil is usually plenty. I am not a fan of black crust like some people just rhapsodize over. To me black means burnt, I have seen videos of pizzas that were burned black on the bottom and the perp stating that " it has a nicely browned crust!" Yeah, right, if you like pepperoni flavored charcoal.
 
Anyone planning to fire up the pizza ovens Sunday, Feb 9th? There's that whole sportsball thing happening with teams I don't like, but I don't want to cancel my pizza plans. Trying to figure out my menu now.
 
mcswny said:
Heresy. Use a food mill not a food processor. You introduce to much air with a food processor.

I’m kidding of course, but I’m not.

Also unpopular opinion with whole tomatoes. Most people drain the liquid before milling the tomatoes. I actually like it, I like my neo pies with a bit thinner of sauce to start, it thickens in the oven. If you drain or say, start with bianco’s crushed tomatoes, once through the oven the sauce gets to thick.
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I have found that reducing the liquid in the sauce whatever tomatoes are used as a base helps with a crisp crust and nicely browned toppings and cheese. I think it's less steam and more dry heat. So if the sauce is thin, cook it down, check the seasoning, and let it stand and cool.
 
Smith said:
I have found that reducing the liquid in the sauce whatever tomatoes are used as a base helps with a crisp crust and nicely browned toppings and cheese. I think it's less steam and more dry heat. So if the sauce is thin, cook it down, check the seasoning, and let it stand and cool.
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You're cooking your sauce first? The tomatoes I use are ready to go right out of the can. They're also not watery - any liquid in the DiNapoli cans is quite thick already.
 
Smith said:
I have found that reducing the liquid in the sauce whatever tomatoes are used as a base helps with a crisp crust and nicely browned toppings and cheese. I think it's less steam and more dry heat. So if the sauce is thin, cook it down, check the seasoning, and let it stand and cool.
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I don't necessarily have that issue, but then again, I'm cooking at 800+ degrees.
 
I don't make pizzas often and when I do, I make them in the regular kitchen oven. After a misadventure with a soggy, steamed crust on a deep dish pizza, I started adding the cheese toward the end, when the pizza was almost cooked. My theory is that the cheese would melt and form a lid on the sauce, trapping the moisture. Adding the cheese late solves that.
 
Zak said:
I don't make pizzas often and when I do, I make them in the regular kitchen oven. After a misadventure with a soggy, steamed crust on a deep dish pizza, I started adding the cheese toward the end, when the pizza was almost cooked. My theory is that the cheese would melt and form a lid on the sauce, trapping the moisture. Adding the cheese late solves that.
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That's why many of the deep dish styles have the cheese as the bottom layer. I actually do that quite a bit myself even though my oven is hot enough to overcome it.
 
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For you pizza dough aficionados , I have dough balls that have been proofing for 3 days in the fridge and find that they will not be used today. Will an extra day or two render them unusable? Should I wrap and freeze them? Speak to me please.
 
albula said:
For you pizza dough aficionados , I have dough balls that have been proofing for 3 days in the fridge and find that they will not be used today. Will an extra day or two render them unusable? Should I wrap and freeze them? Speak to me please.
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Probably fine
 
albula said:
For you pizza dough aficionados , I have dough balls that have been proofing for 3 days in the fridge and find that they will not be used today. Will an extra day or two render them unusable? Should I wrap and freeze them? Speak to me please.
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You'll be fine,especially if your fridge is in the low 30s

If it doesn't smell like vinegar, then make pizza
 
albula said:
For you pizza dough aficionados , I have dough balls that have been proofing for 3 days in the fridge and find that they will not be used today. Will an extra day or two render them unusable? Should I wrap and freeze them? Speak to me please.
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As long as you don't let them dry out and form a crust you should be okay. And you can certainly freeze them.
 
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Yes, they’re oiled….and thanks for the helpful reminders and tips cuz I’m still learning to stop being in a rush, enjoy the ride, and fully read/comprehend the directions 🤪🤪

It took me about three times of scraping dough off my hands before the light came on and I remembered to wet them…..gaaah 🙃
 
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