Pizza

Find a genuine Italian restaurant and learn.

a few of us cut our teeth on this recipe.  simple and easy to get started, then fine-tune it the more you do it.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/sep/08/how-to-cook-perfect-pizza

Alternative use YouTube and teach yourself. Give me 5 I’ll see if I still have some booked marked. 

Son bought (bake off)Giuseppe Dell'Anno's book.
His Pizza from scratch is dead easy..and bloomin marvelous.

Despite what the artisans on here will say, making an acceptable pizza is pretty easy. Strong white flour or pizza flour if you want. Bit of olive oil, salt, water yeast some sugar. Mix, knead, leave to rise, roll out ,add topping of choice and put in the oven as hot as it will go. Job jobbed.

My mix is about
550g strong white flour
100g wholemeal flour
Sprinkle of salt
Sprinkle of sugar (or gluf of maple syrup)
Sprinkle of yeast
Good sprinkle of mixed herbs
Cup and a half (or a wee bite more) of warm water and knead. Leave for as long as you want.

Sauce
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1/3 tube of tomato puree
Equal slugs of red wine for me and the sauce
Sprinkle of dried basil
1/2 an onion
A pepper of any colour
2 cloves of garlic

Cook then attack with a stick blender.

We've used the cheat method greek yoghurt and SR flour recipe (Google it) before to good effect, not the purest's choice I'm sure, but to get the kids making stuff and knock up something edible quickly it works.

Toppings are entirely up to you, I like cooking down some chopped tomatoes and puree, chucking in dried 'italian herbs' slap that on and then let everyone choose and apply their preferred cheeses/meats/veg/fish...

You'll want some form of pizza peel. First time I tried I spent quite a while scratching my head working out how you get it from the kitchen bench to the oven. 

Also, remember to put yeast in... (I'm not one for reading the instructions) 

Don't use too much water in the dough unless you want to make it really difficult. 

I don't do frozen pizzas anymore now. 

20 pages, 7 running feuds, still going in 12 months time, several mentions of ingredients nobody has ever heard of and pizza ovens that cost the same as a decent car, at least 10 bans

Just order one from people who are really good at it. I had one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten yesterday. Bacon and Brie at the Square Orange in Keswick. It was absolutely bloody lush!

A dusting of polenta on whatever you’re putting the pizza on to cook… (cheap metal pizza tray for me, stone for you people of means)… that’s my only tip.

I found this very helpful for getting good results in the home oven. His channel is full of experiments and helpful advice for when you go down the rabbit hole…

Soft and crunchy Neapolitan style. Keep the toppings simple and use Polpa tinned pizza sauce if you can find it.

Not an oven thing or a base or sauce recipe (I've not got to that particular part of middle aged/ middle class-ness yet) but the best pizza I ever had was in a spot in Glasgow and was Pastrami, Gruyere and Fennel. 

- If you happen to have a bread maker then get that to make the dough.

- Don't stress if you find you need to roll out out the base rather than hand stretching. That's the hardest bit and isn't the end of the world if you take the easy option despite what others will say.

- Roll out in advance and stack up separated by well floured baking paper.

- Passata or blitzed tinned chopped toms (never tomato puree)

- Never use that pre-grated mozzarella stuff. Easy enough buy proper mozz and slice it up.

– Roll out in advance and stack up separated by well floured baking paper.

Has anyone tried freezing them like this or do they need to pre-cooked? Have often thought about trying it but doesn't seem to be the done thing. I make pizza at least once per week but doing the dough each time is a bit of a chore. 

I expect it's unacceptable, but buying pre-made dough saves that element of it and you still get a pizza that's so much better than a completely off the shelf one.

Last time I bought a pizza base from the supermarket it was basically a sheet of cardboard far inferior to even the frozen pizzas. Maybe I picked a bad one. 

This is where I started, and it makes a very consistently good pizza with min fussing about. 

Adam Ragusea and Brian Lagerstrom on YouTube have some good recipes and tips for various types.

It's super easy and there is lots of good stuff in the comments above.  I would add:
If you aren't going to use OO flour the 50/50 bread/plain is a good mix.  Too much bread flour and it's difficult to flatten out without a rolling pin.  To much plain and it won't hold together so well.
60% water is a nice starting point.  It's easier to knead but still works well.  More is nicer but it gets trickier
Time is your friend.  Even if you don't knead it well if you leave it a good few hours it sorts itself out
Same with after you shape it into balls.  If you leave them an hour then they are much easier to shape nicely into pizzas
Floor tiles make nice pizza stones, just get them up to temp gently the first time.  After that they are fine
Practice lots 😀 because, pizza

The YouTube I posted is Adam Ragusea, I agree @Kramer, he knows what he's talking about

Last time I bought a pizza base from the supermarket it was basically a sheet of cardboard far inferior to even the frozen pizzas. Maybe I picked a bad one.

Was that a dry one? Those ones are terrible.

These ones are really nice imho. It's a lump of dough you roll out and leave in a warm place before use.

Pizza Pilgrims frying pan pizza. It works really well  https://www.pizzapilgrims.co.uk/2017/06/frying-pan-pizza/

If you are cooking in an oven, get a pizza stone and turn the heat right up. Toppings - less is more (I still have tell myself this every weekend). Pizza base should be no more than chopped tomatoes, a bit of puree, a dash of salt and sugar and a sprinkle of oregano. Current favourite - tuna and spring onions with a room temperature egg poured into the middle and cooked over easy.

My favourite tomato sauce base is still from a poster on here years ago.  A can of tomato puree, the same can filled with water, bit of sugar + salt + oregano to taste and finally a little vinegar.  I then cook that for 10 mins or so and let it cool.  I find it works better than chopped tomatoes as it's less wet and home ovens don't really get to the thermonuclear temps of proper pizza ovens.

I've been trying to improve this since starting late summer this year. I picked up a Lidl pizza oven and went from there. It really is a lot of effort and takes half the afternoon making the dough then splitting it up, drying the mozzerella, making the sauce all in advance. And then the stressful hour or so of getting the fire going, keeping the fire going, rolling out the dough, making the pizzas up, cooking them. Maybe it's because I'm trying to feed 5 people but it all just gets a bit much and I end up just grabbing a slice in between cooking. I find beer helps the situation.

I've moved inside to the frying pan and grill method for the winter. Balls to standing in a cold, wet garden. To be honest, it's a bit easier as it takes the fire maintaining element out of it.

I'm interested in some of the tips people have given, especially pre-rolling/stretching and layering between sheets. And the 50:50 of strong white bread flour and plain flour.

A couple of questions:

- is there a better way to dry the mozzerella out? I currently slice up 3 balls and then lay it out on a tea towel or kitchen roll and flip/rotate throughout the afternoon. I'm tempted by the dehydrate setting on the air fryer but don't want to melt it all by accident.

- similar for the sauce. I currently use a carton of passatta, tablespoon of tomato puree and then salt/sugar/herbs. But it's always a bit watery and leads to a siggy pizza. Do I need to be cooking it down for a while? (adding more faff to the situation). My plan next time is to start with plum tomatoes and drain them before blitzing.

– is there a better way to dry the mozzerella out?

Don't use fresh and buy dry mozzarella instead?

– similar for the sauce

Buy a tin of peeled tomatoes (whole is better) fish them out of the liquid they come in and chuck that away, add olive oil, tomato puree and dried oregano, blitz that all up, should be the consistency of a thick sauce, use sparingly

We love pizza night at my house!
I've an ooni koda gas pizza oven, and though you can only cook one at a time, it's fun and allows the kids to pick and chat and make their own if they want.
I've found a really good recipie for 4 pizzas is:
500gm oo flour
1 tsp of salt -add this to the flour.
about 1-2gm of yeast
300ml warm water (add the yeast to this, and stir it so it mixes adn starts to froth a bit.
I use a kitchenaid - add the water to teh flour and mix for about 10 ish min.
I the leave the bowl, covered, on teh side for 20-24 hours (hence less yeast).

I'll then take the big dough ball, and split it into smaller balls (500gm flour = 4 balls), and tehn i put these in a proofing tray (basically a flat 'very useful box' for another hour or two)

<br />I find it makes a really strong and smooth dough. Not sticky, and v easy to stretch.<br /><br /><br />I know it's feeding into Binner middle class attack ( 😉 ) but the pizza over really is fab!
<br />DrP

Reminds me, I need to get eggs. Pancake recipe.

With cooked in fudge pieces 😉

Embrace pineapple, for pizza suitable for the gods! 😉

Ooni gas here. Massive faff for the marginally better (over quality supermarket pizzas) outcome and don't use it anymore.

Yeah, my tip is don't do the second rise, just prove it. Otherwise it ends up chewy. There's also an argument for using weaker flour too - like maybe 50/50 bread and normal. I would not advise using 'very strong' flour as it also ends up chewy.

It really is a lot of effort and takes half the afternoon making the dough then splitting it up, drying the mozzerella, making the sauce all in advance

It really isn't once you get used to it. The kneading by hand is 10 mins while listening to toons, sauce is maybe 7mins then sits in a pan, mozza is 1 min to rip up by hand and leave sitting in a sieve for the afternoon to drip.  The main thing is just having done it a million times so you no longer think about it, it is just part of Fridays

. I would not advise using ‘very strong’ flour as it also ends up chewy.

Very much that, and it's a pain to roll out too

500gm flour = 4 balls

We are 700g flour for 4 balls but we are a bit oinky.  We also rarely finish them all any more to pizza for breakfast 😁

Also, we have two racks in the over with tiles and then we hang another 2 tiles from the racks with coat hanger wire so 4 pizzas at once.   Works just fine as long as you give it all enough time to heat up

I use Jamie Oliver's bread recipe and top it, as Stanley Tucci recommends, with tomato and mozzarella and bit of basil after cooking. Nothing else.

The kids like to pile all sorts on theirs to the point that they look like squashed exotic hats. Each to their own etc...

No fancy artisan kiln dried olive wood fired nonsense either. Regular oven. 220°C. About 8 minutes.

I'd never considered drying out the mozzarella. Makes sense... will use that, ta.

Are you cooking this in your home oven? How high does the temperature go? Some home ovens go to 300c and you can use no fat. If you are limited to 220-240 then you will need a recipe with some oil in it.

Burrata is my new favourite pizza topping of choice:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EfRtTy6YSYjapnbb6

Burrata is my new favourite pizza topping of choice

That style used to be my favourite at a local pizza place. Unfortunately they took it off the menu - I strongly suspect because they got tired of explaining to idiots that, yes, the cheese on their pizza was not meant to be hot.

Well You learn something everyday, I will in future dry out mozzarella.

I find a bit of dried oregano with fresh garlic, finely chopped onion, tin of chopped tomatoes cooked down for at least 15 minutes, then zapped with a hand blender, then frozen in tiny pots, makes great sauce.

My auntie (was married to an Italian), always brushed olive oil around the edge of the pizza before baking, it gives that crispy crust.

If you are cooking in an oven, get a pizza stone and turn the heat right up.

Or even better do it on a (decent) gas grill.
Mine gets to about 300DegC, pizza stone and a peel. Kids love it.

Hand knead the dough immediately after the previous meal, takes 10 minutes including washing up then 2-3 hours to rise, 20 minutes prep before they go onto the pizza stone. More than enough time to heat the grill.
More like 30 minutes with my oven though. And only gets to 220-230. 🙁

I use 00 flour, and get through a kilo or so a month, making both pasta and pizzas.

Kids love home made pasta too, but it's a bit more time consuming than pizzas!

For those saying you'll be drying out your mozzarella, don't use this stuff

Use this stuff:

If you want a more intense flavour, finely grate some parmesan and put that on first, then tear up the sliced dry mozzarella and spread that over the top of it. I've used bagged grated mozzarella as well, and that's equally effective. Fresh mozzarella just has too much moisture in it, along with the tom sauce you just end up with a soggy pizza, and no one wants that.

If you want a more intense flavour, finely grate some parmesan and put that on first, then tear up the sliced dry mozzarella and spread that over the top of it

Agree with the parmesan. You can keep your sliced "mozzarella" though.... really not the same at all.

Unfortunately they took it off the menu

Probably stopped using it for the same reason I stopped buying it... have you seen the UK price of burrata since Brexit? Even my Italian sister-not-in-law has had to stop using it.

really not the same at all.

Exactly, it's got half as much moisture, can be cooked, and is a bit salty, all of which you need for your pizza, fresh mozzarella is for salads not cooking with.

Lidl do pizza stones for £8 or £10 from time to time - we've got one of those in the oven and some of the thin metal trays, too. The stone does help with getting the bottom crispy, and with the trays we can cook three or four at once, although the oven struggles a bit, even at full whack. I've also got a breadmaker that must be 20 years old now that I chuck dough into and it makes it really easy. I've had to dick about with how much water I put in a little (if you want to go down a middle aged man - sized rabbit hole, then 'dough hydration' are the magical words) so it's not sticky.

In the summer we use the ooni that we got for cheap a few years back, otherwise the oven is just fine. The ooni's good for all being outside and making food outside, and I think it makes slightly better pizza than the oven *when I get all the different factors of using a wood fired oven spot on*, but oven pizza with fresh ingredients and dough you've made from scratch is still far better than most shop-bought oven ready efforts, and often quite a few restaurants.

The other thing is that it costs absolutely peanuts to make compared to buying a ready made one or going out to a restaurant. We covered the cost of the ooni and a bit more by not going to Pizza Express four times with our family. Ingredients for four pizzas and two garlic breads (ie pizza dough rolled out to half size of a pizza) rarely comes to more than a tenner. 

As above: if you've got kids, involve them in the process, too. It's good fun, and if they don't want to do it, you can do it all yourself with a beer or wine to hand.

Your logic is sound Nick, I have to admit. I'll give it a go.

Use this way better than that 2nd abomination nickc posted 

Use this way better than that 2nd abomination nickc posted

You know it's the same stuff, right? By all means try to make poor person food with posh ingredients, but there's a reason why your pizza is watery and why New York pizza is, on the other hand, delicious.

the stuff i posted  is not watery tho is it

https://www.galbani.co.uk/products/mozzarella-for-hot-use/galbani-mozzarella-cucina-400g

if you’ve got kids, involve them in the process, too.

Agreed - our kids used to love helping although, as we've been doing Saturday Night Pizza Night every week since the first lockdown, they've got a bit bored of it now.

We did our pizzas in the oven (I have three stones) but I found that even on the most powerful setting and thoroughly pre-heated, the temperature dropped really quickly. So, in August 2022 I got a gas-powered oven and I love it (despite the occasional burnt pizza). In the summer we do them on the patio, in the winter I do them just inside the opened back door. I recently started doing sourdough base too which makes a nice change (although it's a bit faffy and eats into my Friday nights).

But doesn't have the salt content you need. 

I get why folks shy away from using the processed stuff I really do, but trust me; every delicious pizza you've ever eaten in your life has been made with processed cheese, and every time you shell out £15.00 for an "art-is-anal 10 inch" and it's a bit mleh is because they've ****ed about with a classic. 

Don't be like those people. Bread, tomato, melted cheese. It's tasty becasue it's simple and cheap. 

I'll try both.

I don't really need even more salt... I use salted capers and anchovies pretty often.

I find if you slice or shred the wet/fresh mozzarella well enough, you a) don't get a soggy pizza and b) it tastes nicer than the dried stuff. Not hard to do it either.

Doing it in the oven is still running the risk though, it's not hot enough to heat it and melt it quickly or thoroughly enough

I don’t really need even more salt…

Sure, but the tomato sauce doesn't have much (if any, unless you add it) and neither does the bread, so at least this way you don't have to adulterate your pizza with bits of fish 😉 

b) it tastes nicer than the dried stuff.

In the right place (even dried) fresh moz is perfect and delicious, an oven is just not the right place for it. 

This is all tongue in cheek, by the way, I hope no one is taking it too seriously. I love processed moz on my pizza, but  I'm the last person to give advise about cooking!

RE cheese... I just use the bags of the pre grated stuff...

Easier for kid's hands to sprinkle all over the floor too...

DrP

Galbani is equal to that sliced mozzarella. To my taste the sliced mozzarella is probably better, I find Galbani very bland and quite rubbery for mozzarella. I've converted most people to 60% tesco own brand shredded mozzarella over the top of pecorino and parmesan. Theres a nice truffle cheddar which goes well with mushrooms by "Snowdonia cheese".

Many people have mentioned the tomato sauce and the effort of cooking it, I've found that good quality tinned tomato with salt and pepper added and possibly garlic is the best sauce and use it raw out the tin. This is what is generally suggested for Neapolitan pizza.

I can't really add to the thread but I've just found out that there is a 2nd series of Pizza Boys on iplayer so watching that now. Shame the 1st series isn't available, I enjoyed that and would like to watch it again.

I find Galbani very bland and quite rubbery for mozzarella

Agreed. It's a topping of some sort designed to melt and look nice but it isn't great.  We also just use our supermarket buffalo mozza and it's miles better and half the price

The pre grated stuff is covered in an anti caking agent to stop it sticking together in the bag.  I'm not a huge fan but for small people it's lots of fun (and mess. 😉 )

I use this recipe for flat pizzas. https://bakingsteel.com/blogs/recipes/72-hour-pizza-dough

A baking steel makes for a very crispy base and a fast cook. Slabs of suitable steel can be gotten for fair prices.

My usual pizza is now the Detroit style. Heresy given the OP’s question but delicious!

Detroit-Style Pizza by Kate Itrich-Williams for Anova Precision® Oven.
https://oven.anovaculinary.com/recipe/RjWuiWtYqCHId0YstIAQ

It's dead easy, give it a bash. It's fine to roll out your dough. Makes great pizza and you can cut out a lot of salt if you want to. Much healthier. Bit more hassle to make, but nothing terrible.

I’m not much of a chef, but I’d say decent pizza is one of the easiest things to make from scratch. I use 50/50 strong bread flour and plain white, a teaspoon of yeast (which I mix in the warm water with half a teaspoon of sugar for a while before tipping in), a good teaspoon of salt (try and keep it away from the yeast when you mix initially), and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. <br /><br />

I use a mixer rather than needing it by hand, as it's quicker and  a lot less messy. I leave it covered in the mixing bowl for as long as I can before knocking back and using. I’d agree that semolina is nice to use to stop it sticking to the bench when you’re making it into bases. <br /><br />

I’d also say don’t worry too much about being accurate with the quantities. I’m pretty slap dash and haven’t had any complaints.