Pizza the Dustin way

[dgaddis1]

I feel like I'm finally hitting my stride in homemade pizza. I've got a dough recipe I like and I can finally cook them so the crust is cooked all the way before the toppings burn. Here's the latest two from last night, and details below on how I made 'em.

Broccoli and mushrooms

https://i.imgur.com/SyMu12gh.jpg

Nice puffy crust

https://i.imgur.com/SKAQQoFh.jpg

Crust cooked all the way.

https://i.imgur.com/RjVmKGTh.jpg

'white' pizza (mozarella, olive oil, garlic oil, basil)

https://i.imgur.com/Fl3QMC1h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/JhgmMgZh.jpg

Oh yeah - Dizzy Pig's Mediterranean-ish seasoning - put some of that stuff on your pizza, adds some nice flavor, but more importantly it makes the whole house smell amazing. They should just call it Pizza-ish.

Dough recipe:

333g of '00' style flour
233g of water
10g fine sea salt
~1/4 tsp yeast

Stir together water, salt, and yeast until everything is dissolved. Mix with flour just enough to incorporate all the flour, cover and let it sit for 30mins to an hour. Kneed the dough for about two minutes, shape into a ball, cover and let it sit for another two-ish hours. Divide dough in two, and shape each half into a ball and put them each into an oiled bowl. Cover, let sit for another hour or so. At this point the dough should have spent about 4hrs on the counter at room temp. Put the bowls with the dough balls into the fridge.

I mix the dough the night before we make pizza, so my dough balls sit in the fridge for ~20hrs or so. I don't think this time is all that critical, you could likely let them hang out in the fridge until the next night with little to no downside. I haven't tried that yet though. If you don't have 4hrs to do the mixing and initial rise/proofing, you can use more yeast and/or use warmer water when you mix the dough to speed up the process.

Take the bowls out of the fridge and let them sit at room temp for about two hours before you shape/top/bake them. Each ball will make a ~12" pie.

I bake mine at 550*F in the oven on a baking steel. The steel is the key - it transfers heat much faster than a pizza stone, so it cooks the crust faster. With a stone my toppings were burning before I got the crust cooked as well as I wanted.

If you're cooking on a grill you can get the temperature higher, and the stone will likely work. I used to cook pizzas on my Egg until it cracked, haven't tried it on the Weber yet. But the steel + home oven works so well I'm just not sure it's worth the hassle of dealing with the grill.

I 'build' the pies on a piece of parchment paper, trim it to fit the shape of the pie other than a 'handle' sticking out, and load them into the oven on the paper. Just makes it much easier and less messy than trying to use flour/cornmeal/etc to keep the dough from sticking to the peel. After about 4/5mins I pull the paper out (using tongs to grab that handle) and let the pie finish up. They bake in about 8mins or so.

Next up I want to try and make some pizza dough using my sourdough starter.

[KevinJ]

Nice looking pies.

[BBQ Bacon]

Most excellent looking pizza.

[LordRiffenstein]

Lovely pizzas, the white one looks especially amazing!

[Badjak]

Those pizza's look fantastic!!!

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

Looks like you have it down for sure.

[brbaker]

Just curious, have you pre-heated the stones in the oven before you cooked the pizza. I'm not really well versed in pizza cooking (but would like to be) so I appreciate your thoughts.

[dgaddis1]

Just curious, have you pre-heated the stones in the oven before you cooked the pizza. I'm not really well versed in pizza cooking (but would like to be) so I appreciate your thoughts.

Oh yeah. Forgot to mention that, but any time you're cooking pizza (stone or steel) you want it HOT. I turn the oven on about an hour before the first pie goes in.

The dough needs that instant heat to give it some oven spring for that light and poofy open crumb crust.

When using the stone I cooked at the same temp, but since it doesn't transfer heat as quickly it didn't cook the bottom of the crust as much as I'd like.

I've baked bread on my pizza stone, and that works fine. I tried it once on the baking steel - total fail. The bottom was BURNT. Smelled like fire when I opened the oven. Pizzas cook in less than 10 minutes, but a loaf of bread takes ~45mins. That long on of the faster heat transferring steel = burnt.

Here's a pie cooked on a pizza stone (a nice thick Big Green Egg stone). Note how much of the cheese is well browned (almost burnt, all that dark brown stuff - there's no sausage haha), yet the bottom is barely getting some color - and this was the best I ever got with the stone.

https://i.imgur.com/jjeP4DEh.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/iZcgCk9h.jpg

Meanwhile, with the steel: Cheese is melted, a few brown bits here and there, and the bottom is well spotted and firm.

https://i.imgur.com/4w5KDw3h.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ULEnuDrh.jpg

[PaSmoker]

Lovely pizzas, the white one looks especially amazing!

^^ What he said! ^^ :thumb:

[BBQ Freak]

pizzas look great and I am definitely trying your crust recipe .:clap2:

[gtsum]

Looking good! Love the white pie. Baking steel is the key when doing sub neo temps. Much better spring than a stone.


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[Whisky]

Awesome pies

[BillN]

Amazing job Dustin, those pies are perfection.

[Mrs B]

Very Beautiful. Now I need more pizza.

[ChEgrad]

Those look great. Very close to how I cook my pizza. I cook on a steel at 550 also. I use AP flour, not 00. Need to find a local source for 00. I use a 3-day ferment in the refrigerator for the dough.

The baking steels are not inexpensive, so I was hesitant to buy one. Luckily, my brother-in-law has a friend who owns a fabrication shop. He gave his friend some ducks he shot, my wife gave her brother a white chocolate bread pudding, and I got a 3/8" thick rectangle of steel. The barter system is alive and well :-)

[ssv3]

Excellence! You know those pies were legit. Thanks for the detailed pics.

[Titch]

Now I must have pizza, they look good

[dgaddis1]

Those look great. Very close to how I cook my pizza. I cook on a steel at 550 also. I use AP flour, not 00. Need to find a local source for 00. I use a 3-day ferment in the refrigerator for the dough.

The baking steels are not inexpensive, so I was hesitant to buy one. Luckily, my brother-in-law has a friend who owns a fabrication shop. He gave his friend some ducks he shot, my wife gave her brother a white chocolate bread pudding, and I got a 3/8" thick rectangle of steel. The barter system is alive and well :-)

They are expensive if you buy the name brand version for sure. A co-worker of mine owns Grill Master Grills and builds customer grills and smokers, so he's got plenty of plate laying around and he cut me a piece of 1/4" plate for only $20. I seasoned it myself.

https://i.imgur.com/f03t6t9h.jpg

[bschoen]

I too have failed to find a local source for 00 flour. I use King Arthur AP which can be found just about anywhere. I know I can get 00 online (come on, you can get [I]anything[I] online) but is there really that much difference? I do not have the technology to achieve the 900 F, 3 minute pie if that matters.

Just to offer some thing up, I started using pesto in place of marinara for sauce, less acidic and tastes good too.

[dgaddis1]

I too have failed to find a local source for 00 flour. I use King Arthur AP which can be found just about anywhere. I know I can get 00 online (come on, you can get [I]anything[I] online) but is there really that much difference? I do not have the technology to achieve the 900 F, 3 minute pie if that matters.

Just to offer some thing up, I started using pesto in place of marinara for sauce, less acidic and tastes good too.

I too cannot find 00 locally, even the Fresh Market doesn't carry it. I got this (https://www.amazon.com/Antimo-Caputo-Pizzeria-Flour-Molino/dp/B01BB7U6W2) - basically they take the BIG bags of flour, break it down into smaller bags and resell the smaller bags. Totally worth it!

It is different, its much, much softer flour/dough. It's much easier to work with when shaping, it stretches (without springing back) much easier. We make pizza about every week and a half or so, so that bag of flour lasts us a while.

[gtsum]

I too cannot find 00 locally, even the Fresh Market doesn't carry it. I got this (https://www.amazon.com/Antimo-Caputo-Pizzeria-Flour-Molino/dp/B01BB7U6W2) - basically they take the BIG bags of flour, break it down into smaller bags and resell the smaller bags. Totally worth it!

It is different, its much, much softer flour/dough. It's much easier to work with when shaping, it stretches (without springing back) much easier. We make pizza about every week and a half or so, so that bag of flour lasts us a while.

This^^^

There are some who will say no need to use 00 flour when not cooking at 750 plus, but for me, the feel of the 00 flour and how it performs when used on a steel is just superior to AP flour for the kind of pies I like (neo type with light airy crumbs, soft on the inside, crunchy on the rim). I have a Blackstone (not used anymore) and thats where I started using 00 flour, but if you increase HR and aim for 4-5 minute pies and use a steel at 550-600 degrees, the results can be outstanding.

If you are more into NY style with a bit more body to the crust and able to hold more toppings, then AP or bread flour (or mix of the two) would likely be better.

[OklaDustDevil]

I want to try the parchment paper method you describe. I love making pizza, but for some reason I'm always fighting with it to get the pie off the peel and onto the stone. Sticks like crazy, regardless of how much I dust the dough or peel with flour, corn meal, what have you.

I think you may have the solution.

[Whisky]

You can get Caputo 00 Pizzeria in repacked bags on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Antimo-Caputo-Pizzeria-Flour-Repack/dp/B006XL9W7W/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1521039491&sr=8-1&keywords=caputo%2B00%2Bflour&dpID=51nyIkV1U8L&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch&th=1

For American/NY pies I always start out using parchment paper until the crust sets up a bit, then yank it out.

For Neo pies I use the Super Peel, which works excellent. Also available on Amazon.

https://superpeel.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWfa5dw0RNo

[dgaddis1]

I want to try the parchment paper method you describe. I love making pizza, but for some reason I'm always fighting with it to get the pie off the peel and onto the stone. Sticks like crazy, regardless of how much I dust the dough or peel with flour, corn meal, what have you.

I think you may have the solution.

That super peel looks pretty sweet!!

I hear the dough sticks to metal peels much more so than wooden. That's why some people have two peels, a wooden for loading, and a thin metal for retrieving.

My peel is made of a composite material (it's the same stuff used as the ramp surface at skate parks - https://www.epicureancs.com/about/ ) and the issue I have is if I build the pie on the peel (adding the sauce, toppings, etc) by the time I'm done it will sometimes stick. If I build the pie first, then I make a mess trying to get it onto the peel. And then, I end up throwing flour all over the inside of the oven. So the cheater parchment paper method works well for me haha.

And, it prevents catastrophes like this.

https://i.imgur.com/S31tvO6h.jpg

[Mason Dixon Bowhunta]

Wow they look amazing