Tips for making great home-made pizzas

[caribbeanmama]

Hi all,

The kids have one pizza night per week and I would like to start making our own pizzas. My neighbor buys her dough at Whole Foods and her pizzas always turn out fantastic. Well, I went ahead and bought the same dough, but the consistency of it was really off. Any suggestions as to what pizza doughs you use? Or do you make your own? We also like Don Pepino pizza sause, but are there other brands you like better? Thanks!!!

[jayali]

We do pizza Friday. I have done both, made my own dough and bought fresh, not frozen, from the bakery. I have not had good luck with frozen dough, but know lots of people who use it. I think the real trick is to a very hot oven. You have to make sure the oven is clean so it doesn't smoke and crank it up as high as it will go. Preheat for a very long time. I have a stone that I leave in the oven while it is preheating. If we have company I make "pan" pizza. I have a really heavy sheet pan, that I bought from a restaurant supply place, I oil that and then spread the dough. I put a thin layer of sauce and prebake for about 10 minutes. Then I add our toppings - we are traditionalists usually so I only use sauce and cheese (parm. and mozz.). Oh and put the pan/stone on the very bottom rack. This seems to work for us. We like crunchy crust, but if you don't I would just change the cooking time, not the heat of the oven. I make the sauce - supper easy. I only use Muir Glen tomatoes for my pizza sauce. Little bit of olive oil in a pan with sliced garlic, heat together until the garlic is golden. Add tomatoes (they splatter like crazy, be careful) simmer on low for a long time until sauce is brick red and thick. We don't like oregano, but if you do add it in the last 20 minutes.

[jenny]

I've never tried making my own dough. I have heard that you can go to a pizza store (usually mom and pop) and ask to purchase their pizza dough.

Before this whole HFCS issue, I would just buy pita bread and use that to make little personal pizzas. That way everyone can put whatever toppings they want on their own pizza. Adults enjoy it, so I assume little kids would like it as an activity. I haven't checked to see if pita bread contains HFCS yet since the issue came up.

[Melaine]

Cornmeal on the crust makes it taste more like "real" pizza! Just sprinkle it on the pan before you lay it out.

[maestramommy]

I've had really good luck with TJ's pizza dough, and the DiGiorno's ready made.

[egoldber]

I make my own dough in the breadmaker and it is really easy. I do half and half whole wheat and white flour, which gives the crust some taste and makes it easier to roll out, IME, than pre-made dough. I have used the TJ and WF doughs and did not really care for them.

I do like the TJ pizza sauce in a jar though. No HFCS either. ;)

I bake mine at 425 for about 8-12 minutes, depending on how hot the oven is. Subsequent pizzas always take less time for me, so I have to kind of keep an eye on them while they are baking to make sure they don't get too brown.

I have a pizza pan like this (http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-Professional-Deep-Pizza/dp/B0000VLGYI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1233321281&sr=8-3) and just bought one like this (http://www.amazon.com/Winware-Seamless-Aluminum-Pizza-Screen/dp/B001CI8VHS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1233321352&sr=8-1). The latter gives a crispier crust and was much cheaper. :)

[KrisM]

We make our dough in the breadmaker and use 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat flour. We put in some oregano, parsley, and garlic in it too.

We also make our own sauce. It has garlic, onion, basil, and oregano in it. We just put cheese on top, so it's good to have a tasty sauce.

I put corn meal on the pan before the dough goes on. I cook at 500 for 10 minutes. It's a fairly thin crust.

I want to find small pizza pans so we can make 4 small pizzas instead of 1 big one. The big one isn't quite enough for the 4 of us now. But, 2 is too much. One and a half would be good.

[ohiomom1121]

My DD's preschool teacher sent this recipe...she said it's easy and good. They actually made it in class and used it like play dough.
Pizza Dough
1 teaspoon active yeast (I give used one packet)
1/2 C luke warm water
1/ teaspoon salt
1 T olive oil
1 1/4 C flour

Sprinkle yeast into water, stir, let stand 5 minutes.
Add salt, oil and half the flour. Mix well
Add remaining flour, stir
Drop onto lightly floured surface to knead until it comes together, about minutes.
Place in an oiled bowl, covered with foil or plastic wrap for 1 hour to rise.
That's it!
We are going to give it a try this weekend. :)

[fivi2]

I make my own using the recipe in How to Cook Everything (Bittman). It comes out great, and I am completely useless in the kitchen. I don't even have a breadmaker. It doesn't require a ton of work, you just have to plan ahead to let it rise.

ITA with pp about the super hot oven - very impt.

[brittone2]

High temps are definitely key. I read a book about it once...the gist was to definitely be at 450-500.

[Asianmommy]

We use Trader Joe's pizza dough and pizza sauce. We use a pizza pan with tons of little holes in it. The kids put on their own toppings, and it turns out great.

[jillc]

DH got a pizza making set for Christmas & we have been loving it!! It was purchased at Sur La Table.

It came with a pizza stone, pizza peel (big wooden paddle-type thing for putting pizza into & out of the oven), pizza slicer & recipe book.

One tip we read in the book is if you're using pepperoni, heat it up in a pan on the stovetop prior to putting it on your pizza. It makes it crispy.

We have been using Trader Joe's pizza dough & liking it a lot. I buy several & then freeze them. I just made pizza dough yesterday, using a recipe from the book, and it came out great. That'll save me the long trip to Trader Joe's for a little while.

The instructions that came w/the pizza stone say to preheat the stone in the oven for 1 hr at 450 before baking the pizza. We usually do that, but we were forgetful yesterday & it only preheated for about 20 minutes & the the pizza still turned out great.

Our Costco has shredded mozzarella in big bags for something like $0.15/oz. We stocked up & froze it in 2c+ portions to use on our pizzas.

[m448]

when I'm feeling like an authentic slice of pie I do it this way:

http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm

minus the rigging my oven lock part. I peheat quarry tile in my oven for the hottest temp (550 deg) for 45 minutes. I season crushed tomatoes with salt only for a true NY style sauce and shred some mozzarella. With his crust recipe which makes it easy to stretch thin my pies are usually done in about 8-10 minutes. My fave is a caramelized onion and bacon white pie.

Another one I'm going to try is the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipe for some crust. The key to an easy to work with dough that won't fight you to stretch thin is a high hydration and a good ripening to develop the gluten.

I bought the quarry tile at home depot and bought a peel at the local restaurant supply store.

[caribbeanmama]

Thank you all for the great tips! Also thank you Nikki for posting the recipe. Any other pizza dough recipes you ladies would like to share? I don't have a bread maker though.

[mamicka]

when I'm feeling like an authentic slice of pie I do it this way:

http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm

minus the rigging my oven lock part. I peheat quarry tile in my oven for the hottest temp (550 deg) for 45 minutes. I season crushed tomatoes with salt only for a true NY style sauce and shred some mozzarella. With his crust recipe which makes it easy to stretch thin my pies are usually done in about 8-10 minutes. My fave is a caramelized onion and bacon white pie.

Another one I'm going to try is the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipe for some crust. The key to an easy to work with dough that won't fight you to stretch thin is a high hydration and a good ripening to develop the gluten.

I bought the quarry tile at home depot and bought a peel at the local restaurant supply store.

This looks good - thanks for posting!

[LarsMal]

I've been buying the WF dough lately. The first time I made it it was a disaster, but I'm slowly figuring it out!

A couple things that have helped:

- letting the dough sit out for a little bit before working with it. (much easier to work with when it's not so cold)

- I gently pull it as I move it around in a circle and kind of let it hang for a few seconds. Then I use the roller to shape it and thin it out a bit more, then repeat, 'til I'm satisfied with the shape, thickness.

- I've been setting the temp to 475. I brush the top of the dough with olive oil, poke all over the center with a fork- so it doesn't bubble up- and bake it for about five minutes.

- After the first five minutes I pull it out, add the sauce, cheese, etc. and bake it for another 8 minutes or so.

It was so good this week we had it two nights in a row!!!

GL!

[TonFirst]

I just made my dough for tonight's pizza! MYOP is a tradition at our house. We use Muir Glen pizza sauce and top with whatever we feel like - my husband and I love prosciutto, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and arugula (put it on right when you take the pizza out of the oven and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on some salt and pepper). Our son usually does cheese, and out 10 MO loves to munch on breadsticks I make with extra crust.

The PPs who mentioned high heat are right - disregard whatever your directions say and crank your oven as high as it will go, and let it preheat for about an hour. I set mine on convection at 500 degrees (as high as it will go) so the oven runs at about 525 degrees. Also, preheat your pans in the oven and slide your pizza on there on parchment.

I am lusting after a pizza stone for the grill - my grill gets to more than 600 degrees, which is perfect for pizza.

[tmphilo]

I normally make my pizza dough in my breadmaker but I have also bought some from Winco (not sure if you have one of those near by) - it's prepackaged by their inhouse pizza place - Leonardo's (I think that's the name).

My parents saw a special on pizzas on the food network (a restaurant in Chicago makes them this way) and now we always make them this way...use an oven-safe bowl, spray with non-stick spray, line it with cheese, then pile on the toppings and scoop in some sauce. Cut out the pizza dough so it is large enough to stretch over the bowl. When the dough is golden brown, take it out and then flip the bowl over onto a plate so the crust is now the bottom and the toppings ooze out with the cheese on top. They are really good and nice since everyone can make their own with whatever toppings they choose. They freeze well too.

[Percycat]

Pizza is one of our freezer meals, to go along with another thread.

I make pizza dough on a weekend. I use the recipe in America's Test Kitchen Best recipes (basic: yeast, water, olive oil, flour, salt). The recipe makes enough for 4 pizzas and takes about 2.5 hours to prepare through the rise.

ETA: The ATK recipe uses the food processor and is super easy. Once the dough forms a ball, I knead it about 10-20 times to get a nice smooth ball and let it rise in an oiled bowl.

Once the dough is risen, I shape into four balls. We usually eat one or two pizzas that day and save the other for a future day. I take the extra balls and flatten to a disc and put in a 1qt freezer bag.

Sometimes I freeze the dough by itself and sometimes I make a pizza kit. We use the dough by itself to make margaritta pizza or BBQ chicken pizza (using left over rotisseri chicken and BBQ sauce from the pantry). When I make a pizza kit, I also freeze some pizza sauce, cooked sausage, and pepperoni. I put these in smaller zip lock bags. All the zip lock bags are put into a gallon zip lock bag. (It sounds like we use a lot of zip lock bags, but these are all labled and reused for new pizza kits.) To make pizza for dinner during the week, we take out pizza dough or a pizza kit from the freezer before work and let it thaw in the refrigerator. When we come home from work, we turn the oven on at the highest temperature so it can preheat for at least 30 minutes. The pizza takes less than 15 minutes to assemble and 8 minutes to bake.

In the summer, I make my own sauce with fresh tomatos, but we also like Contadina canned original pizza sauce.

One of our tricks for yummy crust is to roll the dough on on parchment paper. We brush olive oil on the crust before putting on sauce and toppings. I trim the excess parchment paper and transfer the pizza/parchment paper to our hot stone with a paddle. When it is time to remove the pizza, I slide the pizza out onto a cool cookie sheet or pizza platter by grabbing the parchment paper.

This pizza kits are so easy to make a yummy pizza that they are in my husband's freezer and it is one of the meals he makes on the nights he makes dinner. Pizza tastes even better when someone makes it for you. : )

[icunurse]

We use TJ's dough and their sauce is fabulous. I also make it in our toaster oven (large enough for a pizza pan), which seems to make the crust crisper.

[niccig]

Pizza is one of our freezer meals, to go along with another thread.

I make pizza dough on a weekend. I use the recipe in America's Test Kitchen Best recipes (basic: yeast, water, olive oil, flour, salt). The recipe makes enough for 4 pizzas and takes about 2.5 hours to prepare through the rise.

ETA: The ATK recipe uses the food processor and is super easy. Once the dough forms a ball, I knead it about 10-20 times to get a nice smooth ball and let it rise in an oiled bowl.



Can you post the recipe?
I make pie pastry in the food processor and it's the simplest thing, and this sounds the same for pizza dough.

[jgenie]

I have a pizza pan like this (http://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Metallic-Professional-Deep-Pizza/dp/B0000VLGYI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1233321281&sr=8-3) and just bought one like this (http://www.amazon.com/Winware-Seamless-Aluminum-Pizza-Screen/dp/B001CI8VHS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1233321352&sr=8-1). The latter gives a crispier crust and was much cheaper. :)

Do you bake the crust on the screen or place the screen into another pan?
Thanks

[egoldber]

On the screen.

[Melaine]

These are some great tips. I never knew freezing dough would work, I definitely want to try that.

[DietCokeLover]

FYI... the newest Rachel Ray magazine has pizza dough recipes for use with your cast iron skillet. Haven't tried any, but I was just looking at them today.

[citymama]

Haven't read the other posts so this may be a repeat. We use Trader Joe's pizza dough and also do pizza night every week. Totally fun to make with kids. Don't take the dough out of the fridge till you are ready to actually make the pie - room temp does not work, it has to be cool. Put some flour and cornmeal on your pizza stone (which is a must have for pizza making - it gets better with use, as it gets seasoned). We cover the spread-out dough with lots of olive oil and chopped garlic. We make various kinds of healthy and not-especially-healthy pies - home-made tomato sauce, olives and onions; pesto pizza with thinly sliced potatoes; and sauteed greens pizza is my DD's fave! (We use broccoli raab or lacinato kale) We also like to use grated parmesan cheese rather than heavy mozarella, when possible.

[hannah]

I make my dough (herbed whole wheat pizza dough) in the bread machine. Then I make my own sauce.
Pizza sauce:
Chop up garlic (3-4 cloves) and saute in olive oil with 1 tsp dried basil & 1 tsp dried oregano. Then once fragrant stir in 1 small can tomato paste that has been mixed with 1 cup water. Simmer for 5 minutes.

I preheat a pizza stone to 500 degrees, then once oven is at 500, drop the oven temp to 425. Cook pizza directly on the stone for 12-15 minutes.

[Mamma2004]

I make my dough (herbed whole wheat pizza dough) in the bread machine. Then I make my own sauce.
Pizza sauce:
Chop up garlic (3-4 cloves) and saute in olive oil with 1 tsp dried basil & 1 tsp dried oregano. Then once fragrant stir in 1 small can tomato paste that has been mixed with 1 cup water. Simmer for 5 minutes.

I preheat a pizza stone to 500 degrees, then once oven is at 500, drop the oven temp to 425. Cook pizza directly on the stone for 12-15 minutes.

Would you mind posting your recipe for the dough? We make dough different ways but are always looking for a "better" whole wheat dough.

TIA!

[almostmom]

I don't have time to read all the posts, but my favorite secret trick is to put olive oil all over the crust, especially the edges that will actually be crust, before putting on sauce or anything. I use store bought crust (often frozen) and store bought sauce (sometimes cheap, sometimes decent) and shredded cheese. And it turns out great! I also now oil the whole dough before shaping it - my hands don't stick, it doesn't break as easily - it makes it all so much easier than using flour, which I used to do

I make thin dough too. And my trick for getting it on and off the pizza stone (also a must, at a very high temp, like 500) is parchment paper! I use natural (works better than the white stuff), make the pizza directly on the parchment. No cornmeal. Then slide the parchment right onto the stone, and when it's done, you can grab a corner of parchment and slide it right onto the platter. Works like a charm!

I also make yummy toppings for us - soy sausage, carmelized onions, calimata olives, and then the normal ones - mushrooms, peppers, onions, even pineapple sometimes. YUM!!!!

[hannah]

From Better Homes & Gardens Best Bread Machine Recipes

Herbed Whole Wheat Pizza dough
1.5 pounds
6 servings

1 cup water
2 T olive oil
2 cups bread flour (I use regular white all purpose flour)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp dried basil, oregano, or Italian seasonings, crushed
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp active dry yeast or bread machine yeast

Add all ingredients to bread machine. Select the dough cycle and change loaf size to 1.5 pounds. When cycle is complete remove dough from machine and punch down. Let rest for 10 minutes.

The 1.5 pound recipe makes 2 11- or 12-inch thin crusts or 1 13- or 14-inch thick crust pizzas.