I've been messing with this all summer. I bought a pizza peel (the big paddle), and a large rectangular pizza stone on Amazon.com. I went by the ones with a high rating. I have been buying the whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's, and I've had a lot of success with that. But you could make your own. I tried Pillsbury refrigerated dough on the stone once, and it scorched on the bottom and was raw on the top. I had to throw it out. But at a lower temperature, it might have worked.
I started this because I've never had a crispy bottom crust in the oven, ever. Sure, Boboli work, but I wanted real pizza: chewy inside, floury on top, and crunchy on the bottom. Well, turns out you need a stone. And it could not be easier.
You build the pizza on the paddle, and you're supposed to use corn meal. Well, I've used Italian breadcrumb, and that seems to work okay. The purpose of this is just ball-bearings... You know, to move the dough off of the peel easily. The stone gets pre-heated on the propane grill (or in your oven). Mine gets up to just over 400 degrees (medium-high works pretty well). Also, you MUST use room temperature dough. Otherwise, it's like trying to roll a rubber band. Also, it won't puff up while cooking.
I use marinara out of a jar, but I've found it can be watery. You can mix it with tomato paste and heat it, or barbecue sauce. Or, just touch a paper towel corner to the watery parts when it comes out, and the water will wick up into the towel.
I've made all kinds of pizzas this summer, but all a little bit healthy. Turkey sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella... Take my advice and use the shrink-wrapped cheese, not the kind in water. Too much water on your pie. And I dunno about you, but I've never sat on Santa's lap and asked for a watery pie.
After some trial and error (and a lot of blackened dough), turns out these babies cook in about four minutes! (Lets see Domino's beat that). But you want to burn it just a LITTLE bit... This is supposed to simulate the coal or wood-burning pizzeria oven, after all!
I also bought a honkin' pizza blade to cut the pizza with, shaped kind of like a saber and a mezza luna combined (they have them at Bed, Bath and Beyond). Your little wheel just isn't ready for this kind of crunch.
Awesome looking pizza G! I gotta get me one of those paddle thingies. May I also humbly submit my favorite store bought pizza sauce for making homemade pizzas: http://www.pastorelli.com/wdk_pas/wcm/content/products/pizza_sauce/retail_pizza_sauce_products.jsp We always use it when we make our margherita pizzas.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thanks, Cam!
ReplyDeleteYum-ola! Those are some tasty looking pies. I just made pizza tonight - a "hot wing pizza" recipe that I ripped out of a magazine. I used a pillsbury crust for the first time (my normal crust comes out of a Jiffy box) and I wasn't in love with it. Like you said, kinda raw on the bottom.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, what I actually intended to comment on was pizza cheese. I might be crazy, but in college when I figured out I was lactose intolerant and should only be eating hard cheeses, I started subbing monterrey jack in for mozzarella. And now, mozzarella tastes super bland to me. If you're looking to stir things up in your pizza kitchen, I highly recommend a little experiemental cheesy switch-a-roo!
One of my nosier students looked over my shoulder just now and said I was mean for looking at yummy pizza before class.
ReplyDeleteThese do look awesome...you are such an artisan.
Great pizza techniques!!! I'm from New Haven, CT originally where they pride themselves on coal or wood oven fired pizzas (or as they say APIZZA). I think I'll try the grill version.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that you baked a pizza on the grill! I have been doing that for years and it is fantastic! I would love to email you my pizza crust recipe that was for my grandfather's pizza place, the crust is super easy to make and you can make a shit ton for like pennies! send me your email!
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