My perfect pizza recipe ...... Enjoy

[bringm...@gmail.com]

First, thanks to everyone here for their help in letting me achieve a
fantastic pizza. Here's my take on it.

To make an amazing pizza with a perfect crispy and chewy crust:

Mix the ingredients below leaving a small pile of the flour to the
side to add back in while kneading the dough. This keeps

the wet dough from sticking to your hands while you knead. Knead for
10 minutes.

Flour 18.2 ounces
Water 12.4 ounces
Salt 1/2 Tablespoon (.3 ounce)
Yeast 1/2 teaspoon
EVOO 2 Tablespoons
Optional flavorings: Dried basil or oregano, parmesan cheese,
teaspoon of salt.

Divide the dough into 2 balls and put them in 2 lightly oiled
tupperware containers and into the fridge for 1 to 5 days.

When you are ready to make pizza:

* Preheat oven to 550 or whatever you can for 45 minutes to an hour
and put your pizza stone on the shelf just below the

center. I use a fibrament pizza stone because they don't break like
many do.

* Remove from fridge and place container into 3" of lukewarm water to
start warming the dough. After 2 hours the dough should

double in size.

* Remove the dough, punch it down and start making pizza. I use a
rolling pin because it's easier for me so I just roll it

out on a lightly floured surface.

Take a pizza peel and spread cornmeal over it so the pizza will slide
off when you put it in the oven on the stone. Choose

from the ingredients below and put your rolled out dough onto the
cornmealed peel. After you add your ingredients, jiggle the

peel to make sure your dough is still loose on the peel. Then you can
jiggle the peel onto the pizza stone in the oven to drop

the pie onto the stone. The jiggle motion is lots of very short quick
jerks to get it to come off the peel. Don't tilt the

peel too much.

canned mushrooms / red peppers wet ingredients go on top
romano, parmesian cheese
pepperoni, sausage, spices
red onions
garlic, some cheese
sauce
=============================== dough

Possible ingredients include:

Centos sauce from can
minced garlic
oregano and italian spices
cooked sausage
deli pepperoni
mozerello, provolone, romano and parmesian
canned mushrooms
sliced red onions
centos roasted red peppers

Alternative Minimalist Pizza:
Us plum tomatoes that have been seeded and crushed. Don't use too
much, just enough to coat the dough lightly.
Then use some cheese and a bit of maybe sausage or pepperoni with a
bit of basil sprinkled
over the top.
Optional: drizzle a tiny amount of olive oil on top

ENJOY !

[Kent]

<bringm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1170011949.4...@a75g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...

I use very close to the same dough recipe. I think the high level of
hydration is very important. You use 68% hydration[water/flour by weight]
for a wet dough as I do. It seems you're making the whole dough like it is a
preferment or pate fermentee. I use a poolish which has been sitting for x
days in the frig. with or without extra yeast.
I don't like corn meal, and use extra flour on the board and on the paddle,
so it slides onto
the stone. This works well for me, for those that don't like corn meal
either.
I think one should get the heftiest stone you can find, or use tiles. Heat
the stone to 550F for a full hour. I think stone yields a slightly crispier
crust than a fibrament type product because it absorbs the small amount of
water from the undersurface of the dough. I always spray pizza with water as
it goes onto the stone, and twice more during the first five minutes. I
think a pizza in a home oven should cook in 6-7 minutes. I don't open the
oven door any more than necessary, and then very rapidly.

Kent

making pizza is an illness!

[Dick Margulis]

Kent wrote:

> I don't like corn meal, and use extra flour on the board and on the paddle,
> so it slides onto
> the stone. This works well for me, for those that don't like corn meal
> either.

Farina is a good choice, too. It has the ball bearing rollability of
cornmeal, but without the corn taste.

[bringm...@gmail.com]

My goal was to make it as close to what a pizza parlor is doing and I
believe most of them make up the dough in one batch with no biga/
poolish so I wanted to mirror that. Regarding the fibrament stone, I
can't imagine how it could be crispier as it is very crispy. I enjoy
all the tips though and definitely am learning a lot. I made the biga
before but I don't see that it buys me anything if I just let the
entire dough fridge out for a day or more. It rises great an makes a
great crust.

Thanks

[Kent]

<bringm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1170031191.8...@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

One of the few times I have managed to get into a local commercial pizza
kitchen
I was told that you make the dough the day before with a tiny bit of yeast,
and make the pizzas on the next day, just as you do. I hadn't thought about
that. I would try the fine water mist spray into the oven for a bit more
crisp. Use the same spray you do when you iron with a non steam iron.
I also use a fine mist of PAM on the top of a veggie pizza just before it
goes into the oven, as I think you're doing.

Cheers,

Kent,

next we'll start a thread about sauces!!

[bringm...@gmail.com]

FIrst, the pizza is very crispy and second, the water mist would not
be good for my pizza stone. You're trying to solve a problem that
doesn't exist. The title of the post is about my perfect pizza.
It's perfect! Really. Make one !

On Jan 28, 8:02 pm, "Kent" <kh6...@comcast.net> wrote:
> <bringmewa...@gmail.com> wrote in messagenews:1170031191.8...@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...> My goal was to make it as close to what a pizza parlor is doing and I

> > believe most of them make up the dough in one batch with no biga/
> > poolish so I wanted to mirror that. Regarding the fibrament stone, I
> > can't imagine how it could be crispier as it is very crispy. I enjoy
> > all the tips though and definitely am learning a lot. I made the biga
> > before but I don't see that it buys me anything if I just let the
> > entire dough fridge out for a day or more. It rises great an makes a
> > great crust.
>

> > ThanksOne of the few times I have managed to get into a local commercial pizza

[Kent]

The spray goes in the oven after the pizza is on the stone. It crisps the
crust, not on the bottom but on the edge and top. What you are doing in a
primitive fashion is mimicking a baker's oven. You're increasing the oven's
humidity, not spraying H2O in a particular direction onto anything. It's
obviously not necessary to do this. It just gives you a bit more "crunch".

Kent

<bringm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1170115516.0...@h3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

[bringm...@gmail.com]

i'll try it. thanks !

[drgon...@gmail.com]

I made this, one dough was used after 1 day, the other after 4 days.
Both were excellent. This was the dough I was looking for, I got
better results than the recipe in BBA, I'll have to check the
hydration diff between the two.

Anyway, this dough was pretty dang sticky, but it all worked out. I
finally got what I was looking for - crispiness,tenderness, and big
holes!

My oven tends to burn the crap out of the cheese if I have it on the
whole time. So my method is, let the dough just turn brown ~ 10
minutes @ 500F in my oven, then I add the sauce/cheese and let that
melt. Yum yum.

Thanks!

[Kent]

<bringm...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1170370072.6...@h3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

> i'll try it. thanks !
>

When you form your dough ball, push it down to 1" thickness with your hands,
let it sit, and then stretch that to make your pizza. Don't roll it out. The
pizza emerges with a nicer slightly puffy Ciabatta like crust, and a more
delicate thin bottom.
I'm learning the dough is much more sensitive to touch than one would assume
!
It doesn't like rolling pins.

Kent

[gweh...@bellsouth.net]

drgon...@gmail.com wrote:

> My oven tends to burn the crap out of the cheese if I have it on the
> whole time. So my method is, let the dough just turn brown ~ 10
> minutes @ 500F in my oven, then I add the sauce/cheese and let that
> melt. Yum yum.

I do something similar. Oven is set at 430.

I place parchement paper on the peel, dough on parchment, paint dough
with just sauce, then slide it into
oven onto hot stone for 8 minutes, Then I remove it, whip out the
parchment,
add rest of toppings and cheese, then the pie goes back onto the
stone for 12 minutes.
I get a crispy-on-bottom crust and the top has had a chance to bake
so it's
not sogged out from all the toppings placed on raw dough.
No cheese burn this way, either.

I use my dough almost straight from the ABM - well, I do let it rest
about
15 minutes til it's somewhat relaxed.

[Kent]

<gweh...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:1171137815.0...@a34g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

If I cooked my pizza round for 8 minutes I would end up with a cracker. You
should be able to cook a pizza in 7-8 minutes at most. I sometimes do it in
6 min.
You should have your oven at the highest temp. it will safely go. Recently
someone even suggested making pizza with the oven in its cleaning cycle. I
turn my oven to 550F, heating the stone for at least 45 min. I turn the
broiler on for a bit to heat the entire oven more evenly.

Kent

[jack]

great idea about the double bake process :)

[bringm...@gmail.com]

My 1 day was excellent but I tried one at 5 days and it had exhausted
it's yeast and was flat. I think I'll stick to a couple day window
till I get more experience.