RosieCotton Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Ok - I am awesome at making breads, rolls, roasts, fried chicken, pies and all. Why can't I make a good homeade pizza? First, I could eat pizza FOR BREAKFAST. Um like 3 days a week. :) This alone makes me want to find a good recipe. My complaints are usually the sauce. Everything I've tried just tastes so fake. Maybe Trader Joes has a good one I haven't checked there. Here's the recipe for the crust I make which is pretty good. It gets a little soggy in the middle tho. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/perfect-neapolitan-pizza-dough I love the woodfire pizza restaurants. Wow how awesome to have one ready in 3 minutes with fresh basil. I've never made one on the grill but am going to try to this summer. Suggestions and help here please! I usually use a large flat cookie sheet. Would kill for a good deep dish recipe that tastes like Green Mill. Wow it's Friday night and I am hungry!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 This flour for the crust: Antimo Caputo "00" Chef's Flour 2.2 Pound (Pack of 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BR0K62E/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_73P3ub1SPF9HC Sauce: take good canned tomatoes, crush by hand and let hang out in a strainer. Stir in a bit of grated garlic and a glug of good olive oil. Salt to taste. Use a baking stone and let it preheat as the oven preheats. Let the oven really heat up; don't use it as soon as it says it's ready. That just means the coils are up to temp, but the inside of the oven isn't really hot yet. ETA: for deep dish, there's a good crust recipe on chowhound that I can't find on my phone. I bake it in a large cast iron skillet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamanthaCarter Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I second the pizza stone, heated up to a good hot 500+ degrees. Some places I've read that it takes about an hour. I usually don't wait that long, but it does take a while for the pizza stone to really soak in the heat. I like this sauce recipe (with less honey and pepper), its good and fast: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Exquisite-Pizza-Sauce/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=exquisite&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i2 Make sure you don't add too much flour to your dough, you want it pretty loose. Also, I shape the pizza on parchment, top it and slide the pizza, parchment and all, onto the stone. Might not be the "right" way, but again, easy and it turns out really well. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelle in MO Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Trader Joe's does have a great sauce. For 25 yrs., I've used a recipe from The Complete Book of Pizza for my crust. It's so good! I use half white/half whole wheat flour, assemble on a peel or large cutting board that's been sprinkled w/cornmeal, and use baking stones. I hope you find what makes you happy! Pizza is sooooo good! :drool5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 We go low sodium here, so you may not want my exact recipes--no added salt in the dough or the sauce and we use fresh mozzarella that has lower sodium than the regular stuff. Sauce--28 oz can of Trader Joe's no salt added crushed tomatoes. I whirl this around in the blender a bit because my girls want NO chunks of tomato in the sauce. 1 6 oz can tomato paste. Couple cloves of minced garlic. 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp pepper. Simmer for a half hour or so. In our house, this makes enough for 8-10 pizzas. We do 2 pizzas every pizza night--I freeze the extra in 1 cup mason jars with plastic lids. One jar does 2 pizzas--just take a jar out of the freezer every pizza day. Because of the no-salt reality of our pizzas, I add some flavor by rubbing olive oil on the rolled out crust and then sprinkling a mix of garlic powder and Italian seasoning around the edge (and I put a little salt in that mix for the kids' pizza). This is a good way to get kids to eat the crust! But I think the biggest difference in our journey to yummy pizzas was getting an oven that goes to 500°--old one only went to 450°. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I am a sauce person too. If a pizza doesn't have good sauce, well it is not pizza. The homemade sauce on this page is amazing., https://themoveablefeasts.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/cook-illustrateds-chicago-style-deep-dish-pizza/ The Chicago stle pizza is great too, but I use this sauce on traditional pizza as well. Most take out pizza has tasteless sauce which makes me nuts! I use a stone too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Oven as hot as it will go. Baking stone in the oven as it preheats. Better yet get a baking steel - http://www.bakingsteel.com/shop/baking-steel Ken Forkish's same day pizza crust recipe from "Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast" is my favorite recipe, but any lean dough is a good place to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosieCotton Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Num Num Num I want pizza again tonight! I've got a great woodfire pizza place I found, and the owner is FROM Italy. Num. SO, he is helping with the crust (recommended the same flour listed above -- on Amazon. :) He stretches his mozz everyday (not going quite that far really . . .) I'll try some of the recipes above and my favorite childhood pizza place sells their sauce too. I'm on the pizza stone this weekend and hope to have some good pizza's next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 Sign up for and take this FREE class at Craftsy http://www.craftsy.com/class/perfect-pizza-at-home/186?_ct=sbqii-sqjuweho-dum&_ctp=1&rceId=1428614032642~xs8xxddd It is with Peter Reinhart, so rtyou can't go wrong. I found it really helpful to take it to another level. If you don't like your sauce then make your own that you do like. Making sauce is really easy. And once you make your own, and make it the way you like it, it will be sooooo worth the effort. Plus you can make it and freeze it and then it is as easy as opening a jar! Look around for some different homemade tomato sauces, most are super easy. If you want to get fancy then start with canned imported tomatoes. Here is a page with the sauce that my BIL (fancy restaurant guy) likes. It is super easy and is fantastic. I love everything these guys make. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/06/frankies-tomato-sauce-recipe.html edited to fix the link 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I use a pizza stone and this sourdough crust: http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/08/15/sourdough-pizza-crust/ I like Don Pepinos sauce and just make my own when tomatoes are in season. If you don't want to fuss with cornmeal and a peal, just use parchment. Make the pizza on the parchment, put the parchment on the stone. When it's about halfway done (or sooner) you can yank the paper out and finish baking directly on the stone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 If you don't want to fuss with cornmeal and a peal, just use parchment. Make the pizza on the parchment, put the parchment on the stone. When it's about halfway done (or sooner) you can yank the paper out and finish baking directly on the stone. :rofl: :rofl: DH and I thought we invented that! I swear we really did. We could NOT for the life of us figure out how to get the pizza off the peel. So we made it on parchment and put that on the peel. But then..we couldn't figure out how to get the parchment out so we waited a bit and then yanked it out like a magician removing the tablecloth. We've been doing it that way ever since because it is just SO easy. DH lines up bits of parchment and has the pizza all ready to go, one in and one out We couldn't decide if we were super clever or very lame pizza makers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 :rofl: :rofl: DH and I thought we invented that! I swear we really did. We could NOT for the life of us figure out how to get the pizza off the peel. It's a bit of a quick jerk - or rather a series of them. The key is to make sure there's enough cornmeal on the peel and not allowing the dough to sit on the peel for too long. If you can give it a periodic jostle to make sure it still slides around you should be good to go. Pizza screens would be a nice reusable way to do it without having to worry about removing the parchment paper and you can still use them with a stone/steel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pink&bluemommy Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 I use this dough recipe (its quick and easy and I normally use at least whole wheat flour, it rolls out nicely without contracting back to an 8" diameter!): http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-pizza-crust/ I cook it on a stone at about 450 (I use parchment under it to transfer to the stone). I use this sauce and quite like it: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/homemade-pizza-sauce/ I've also used the trader joes and muir glen pizza sauces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 You could skip the sauce and just use garlic oil and fresh sliced tomatoes...a white pizza. I like to top that with thinly sliced onions, some fresh mozzarella and some parm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Pizza is the one thing I don't make at home. It never tastes as good. The acceptable alternative are those take and bake pizzas from the grocery store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 We use the KAF recipe...but one thing I haven't seen mentioned here, is that the dough is much better if you let it sit overnight in the fridge. I make my own sauce (we like a hearty sauce...which is so NOT Italian...lots of herbs and spices in mine...slowly simmered and then frozen or canned for later). White pizza is also a favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 We use the KAF recipe...but one thing I haven't seen mentioned here, is that the dough is much better if you let it sit overnight in the fridge. I make my own sauce (we like a hearty sauce...which is so NOT Italian...lots of herbs and spices in mine...slowly simmered and then frozen or canned for later). White pizza is also a favorite. I agree about resting the dough. I thought of mentioning it but I thought she was good with dough and needed sauce advice. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KungFuPanda Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 :rofl: :rofl: DH and I thought we invented that! I swear we really did. We could NOT for the life of us figure out how to get the pizza off the peel. So we made it on parchment and put that on the peel. But then..we couldn't figure out how to get the parchment out so we waited a bit and then yanked it out like a magician removing the tablecloth. We've been doing it that way ever since because it is just SO easy. DH lines up bits of parchment and has the pizza all ready to go, one in and one out We couldn't decide if we were super clever or very lame pizza makers. Let's go with super clever! I honestly don't like dealing with the cornmeal mess and having it on the bottom of my crust does nothing for me. I buy parchment at Costco, so it's always on hand and much easier to clean up than cornmeal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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