The Pizza lovers thread

So I figured I'd help add some flavor and comfort to ATS during these bizarre times. My topic is PIZZA, and how to master making great pies and getting creative and being proud of making a wonderful food that will impress your friends and family.



So I have loved pizza since I was little, who really doesn't like a good slice? But here in Seattle we are not much into amazing pizzas, so I had let my taste drift and forgot about pizza for many years. Several years ago I went to a wedding in NY and they had some pizza delivered during the reception, and wow did that change me back to loving the slice again.



Several years ago I tried a local spot that made a truly unique slice that was wild boar ragu and Funyuns (u heard me right funyuns) and that was inspirational enough that I decided I would apply myself and master pizza. This place made several other bizarre pies that got my mind grinding on ideas.



So I did what a true ATS person does and I did some extensive research and development. First I binge watched the Pizza Show and tons of YT pizza making content, then I found a great dough recipe and sourced where to get the right flour, stone and slide.



Here's the best pizza dough recipe I've been able to find:
6 c "00" italian pizza flour (blue medal all purpose works fine)
2 tsp sugar
2.5 tsp sea salt
1 tb olive oil
2.25 c luke warm water
1 tsp active dry yeast (pizza yeast also works of course)

Add all dry ingredients in large bowl, mix loosely with fingers, then slowly add water while mixing the flour. When you are almost done adding the last of the water, drizzle the oil on the dough and work in while adding the last of the water. You just need to knead the dough until its a sticky ball, then cover with a cloth and let set for 30 minutes in a dark warm place. After the resting the dough should almost have doubled in size, and you take it and cut into 4 equal portions and lightly oil each ball and place into a round tupperware bowl with tight fitting lid and place in the fridge.
The next morning I take all 4 doughs out of the fridge, knead each 4-5 times and place them back in bowls and back into fridge. The secret to amazing dough is knocking it down and giving it a few kneads EVERY day for at least 3 days, no more than 4 really, but after 3 days of knocking it down it gets a supple feel, an almost sourdough smell and gets these amazing pockets of air.

Just so you know this recipe and techniques work for thin crust, NY style, thick crust as well as chicago deep dish and anything in between.

A large pizza stone (or pizza steel, I have not used one but hear they can give great results in home ovens) as well as a large pizza peel (or slide) is a serious must unless you only want deep dish. Also very recommended is some fine ground semolina or cornmeal to put down beneath the crust before prepping and cooking.



After 3 days I will take out a dough and flour up a board and preheat my oven to 500 (I wish it could do 600). I place my dough from the container with the same top and bottom and give it a good flouring while pushing the sides out gently, you are just flattening the ball into a disc shape until the disc is large enough to pick up and start to spread out on the backsides of your hands and using both gravity and gentle stretching as you coax your dough into a wonderful elastic plate for toppings. You don't want to take too much time or the dough gets too warm and starts to get sticky again, at which point you just add some more flour. I also use bright light and look thru the dough as Im tossing it to see where the thin and thick spots are, you want to be gentle and not make a hole at any cost.

When its at the size and thickness I want I sprinkle semolina over the pizza peel and then gently lay the dough on top of the peel. I then add my sauce (typically a good can of tomato sauce mixed with a small can of paste with a sprinkle of garlic and oregano) with the backside of a large shallow spoon in circular motions until its a thin layer and I have an inch or so crust edge.
I then start adding toppings like peppers, onions, mushrooms, capers etc, but keep in mind you want everything to be FLAT otherwise it will roll right off into the bottom of your smoking hot oven! After each topping I put down I give the peel a little shake to make sure the dough isnt starting to stick to the peel, then I proceed with cheese (8 oz low moisture moz that is NOT pregrated typically) then finally proscuitto or spicy cap or pepperoni last so it gets cripsed, then I give it one last shake and then it goes into the TOP rack of a 500 degree oven on the pizza stone for 10-12 minutes depending on crust thickness, toppings and personal preference.

If you are adventurous you can do things like pull the pizza out at 5 min and brush eggwhite wash on the crust and then sprinkle sea salt or sesame seeds or furikake, then toss it back in for another 5.

The biggest hurdle for me when learning to make pizzas was learning the handling of the dough, and working the pizza peel to get the pie in and out without damage or losing toppings.

Some tips I recommend are using good quality sea salt that has a good flavor, never use too hot of water or it kills your yeast, never use pregrated cheese since they use non clumping agents that messes with texture, use imported italian 00 flour that works great for everything and has no glysophates, make sure the sauce isnt too watery or that the toppings are dry enough so they dont make the pizza soggy, be adventurous and experiment with toppings like leftovers, chinese or mexican food, anything, mix sweet and savory to mix it up even more.



My favorite few pizza creations have been, Leftover chorizo and pork mexican meatballs with a chipotle sauce and queso fresco and some pickled jalapenos, then there was the char su pork with szechaun plum sauce pickled baby corns garlic cheese curds pea shoots spring onions and a sesame crust, but my alltime favorite has been a pork carnitas salsa verde peaches queso fresco pickled japapenos and a sea salt crust.



Ive done a few middle eastern and SE asian flavored pies that were fun, but still not as badass as a great simple cheese and sausage or pepperoni pie, or one of the crazy off reservation pies Ive accomplished

I wish you all the best, and hope you all happy healthy and well fed, let me know if you have an insane pizza combo you'd like me to attempt

You won my heart with the first pizza. I love pizza too, who does not!!

I will get a pizza stone soon

It is 2am at a Sunday morning and now I make pizza! Well, I will un thaw one and throw some cheese and ham on it. Pure blasphemy I know. I can not wait a few hours for the dough to gas up and cook sauce but now I want pizza.

I will post my Japanese pizza soon. Japanese make better pizza then Italians. Italians don't know how to make pizza. LOL
Damn, I'm Italian too.

a reply to: Aliquandro

Those pies look absolutely delicious.

I don't make homemade pizza often, but after getting a stone and peel, ventured into it a bit. I prefer a thinner crust pizza, and the recipes I have found generally call for a rise and smash or two. While it does make a good dough, I find it to be a but too thick for my liking even after rolling it out, in which case I found that rolling it out, topping and baking before it rises makes it thinner and more crispy.

Your dough looks more traditional, but damn if they don't look tasty and delicious af.

Pictures one and three to be sure, not sure what the hell is on two and four, but they also look good.

What's on # six?

I could live on pizza. It's the food of the gods!
The best pizza I ever had was at a little place in Omaha called Tasty Pizza.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

That first one was my most recent, 4 day proofed dough with prosciutto, salami and sweet peppers.

The pizza stone is such a great invention, works well for calzones and pretzels and empanadas too, i also cant live without my pizza peel.

One tip I forgot to mention is NEVER cut your pizza while its still on the pizza peel (aka pizza slide, the giant aluminum spatula thingie), it scores up the metal and makes it harder to slide a pizza off at a super low angle, when you got a fully loaded large pizza ready to go in and all of a sudden its not sliding well, well I used to panic and have serious bad outcome, the fix is you carefully peel up the dough and sprinkle more semolina or flour under until it slides freely again.

One issue with home pizza making is normal ovens only go to 450-500, and you want to seriously preheat that oven for an hour to get it up to heat (or 45 min with gas) and always use the top rack because its hotter up there, but means you have less space to slide that big floppy dough with toppings in.

I began by making smaller pizzas with fewer toppings and worked my way up and I got a feel for working with dough and the whole process of getting it in/out of the oven without issues.

Really happy you're inspired

originally posted by: musicismagic
I will post my Japanese pizza soon. Japanese make better pizza then Italians. Italians don't know how to make pizza. LOL
Damn, I'm Italian too.

Japanese pizza? I'm intrigued. I must hear more!

originally posted by: ColeYounger

originally posted by: musicismagic
I will post my Japanese pizza soon. Japanese make better pizza then Italians. Italians don't know how to make pizza. LOL
Damn, I'm Italian too.

Japanese pizza? I'm intrigued. I must hear more!

OK wait till I can post my pictures.

Mama's Sicilian pizza's.

originally posted by: ColeYounger

originally posted by: musicismagic
I will post my Japanese pizza soon. Japanese make better pizza then Italians. Italians don't know how to make pizza. LOL
Damn, I'm Italian too.

Japanese pizza? I'm intrigued. I must hear more!

It's raw pizza, raw toppings.

a reply to: Aliquandro
Thank you for the pizza spatula hint, I planed to get a wooden one.

Temperature has always been a problem in my electric oven. 250°C maximum and no stone yet. I just put it on the metal tray, was okay for hand sized pizza. I can get my grill up to 380°C, that should do a pizza in 3 minutes on a preheated stone, as soon as I get the stone.

I still have to work on the spreading, often they turn out like ovals, instead of circles.

What thickness does your stone have? I plan to get a 3cm or a bit thicker than an inch. I have a Turkish dough recipe that is awesome, if you want, I share it. It is similar to the dough used for kebab or Döner, if you heard of it.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Thank you for the pizza spatula hint, I planed to get a wooden one.

My peel is bamboo. I like it, but not as thin as metal, and perhaps more cumbersome in practice versus a very thin metal peel.

a reply to: Liquesence

I thought that the metal one would be the smarter idea because it can flex. Curiously, I only focused on wooden ones. They might not be that popular here, I might have to order on the internet.

Jesus, we need to talk about cheeses!!!

Gouda, Emmentaler, Parmesano, sheep cheese. Yes sheep cheese, it is awesome with Italian garlic sausages as a topping, or even Turkish.

Pizza is frightening to me lately.

My son has discovered anchovies and he already loved pineapple. Now he has to have the two together.

god damn #ing pizza
(i ate a pizza once)

a reply to: Liquesence

Ive rolled a few doughs for a serious cracker crust, they are tasty but I like a beefier crust edge, the pics always make most look like thick crust which they mostly not, after 4-5 days you can just gently grab the crust edge end let gravity do the work, thats why i do in well lit kitchen so i can do the batwing check and see for thin spots.

So here's a list of each pizza i posted:

1) Salami sweet peppers proscuitto moz and parm
2) Char su pork mushrooms red onion snow peas plum sauce and sesame crust
3) St Louis smoked spareribs with St Louis bbq sauce pickled jalapenos moz and smoked cheddar
4) Carolina smoked spareribs with Carolina sauce pickled jalapenos moz and fresh slaw on top
5) Bacon proscuitto mushrooms moz and fresh parm
6) Mexican chorizo and pork meatballs with chipotle sauce jalapenos queso fresco and cilantro
7) Char su pork plum sauce green onion yellow peppers and sesame crust

a reply to: musicismagic

Im intrigued as well, Ive been contemplating a teriyaki pizza, Ive done a peanut sauce Thai pizza that was just ok, but the chinese pork with plum sauce is awesome eats

originally posted by: ThatDamnDuckAgain
a reply to: Aliquandro
Thank you for the pizza spatula hint, I planed to get a wooden one.

Temperature has always been a problem in my electric oven. 250°C maximum and no stone yet. I just put it on the metal tray, was okay for hand sized pizza. I can get my grill up to 380°C, that should do a pizza in 3 minutes on a preheated stone, as soon as I get the stone.

I still have to work on the spreading, often they turn out like ovals, instead of circles.

What thickness does your stone have? I plan to get a 3cm or a bit thicker than an inch. I have a Turkish dough recipe that is awesome, if you want, I share it. It is similar to the dough used for kebab or Döner, if you heard of it.

If you get a stone and put in on the top rack 250 c should be good enough, I prefer the aluminum peel since its easy to clean and very thin since my stone is almost 1" thick and really close to the top of oven.

I love doner bread and have never trid so if you have a good recipe I'd love you to share

I didnt worry too much about shape my first few dozen pizzas, its when you figure out a process that works for you to get that dough to work with you and start to thin out with that wonderful texture and bubbles and chew

a reply to: ketsuko

Ive made anchovy pizza ONCE, it was ok and kinda fishy. But Ive made several different canned mussel pizzas that were amazing, used the sauce from the can and just brushed it on the dough with capers the mussels and some parm and pecarino, then brush more of the sauce on the crust halfway thru and MAN, that crust edge is like next level flavor and texture

I like sweet on pizza too, but usually mixed with spicy savory meats and not anything from the sea, wait maybe sweet and sour shrimp pizza? havent tried that one yet

a reply to: Aliquandro

All those pizzas looked absolutely wonderful!

We love pizza....and currently we get our pizza at a small local place with a wood fired oven....this place does it perfectly, without charring the bottom of the dough....yuck!
When we were making out own, well, my oven never was happy getting up to 500 degrees.
So, we do take out or dine in only now.

I never thought about aging the dough like that, what an amazing concept!!!
Also, yes.....pre-grated cheese sucks.