Pizza!

[Peale]

I've found for the best crust you really need to cook on a heated stone.

Lots of places sell "pizza stones" for big bucks.  But Alton Brown (my hero!) revealed in his pizza episode that an unglazed quarry tile works wonders.  At less than $2.00 (if you look in the right place) it's quite economical.

Later episodes (I believe his bread episode) he says he no longer uses quarry tiles, and started using a large terra cotta saucer.  I'm still going with my marble/granite tiles.  I've got one stacked on top of the other. 

They need to heat for quite a while to get optimum heat saturation.  I turn on the oven to 450 when I first start making the dough.  An hour-ish preheat time seems to work well in my oven.

My pizza dough recipe:

1 1/3 cup water
1 tbs yeast
1 tbs sugar

Combine these and let sit while you get this together:

3 1/2 cups AP flour
2 tsp salt

Mix both liquid and dry in a large bowl until well mixed.  Knead dough ten minutes or until it's good and rubbery.

Cover top of dough with plastic wrap.  Allow to rise 1/2 an hour in a warm place, or place into your fridge overnight.  This last one takes longer to rise, of course, but yields a much better crust flavour.

Punch the dough down, and divide in half.  Sprinkle your work surface with flour.  Form the halves into balls and allow to rest for ten minutes.

Begin shaping the balls into flat rounds.  If you start to have trouble flattening the dough, ie it springs back because it's too rubbery, simply allow the dough to rest again for another few minutes.  Take your fingertips and drum the center of the crust to make dimples from the middle outwards towards the edge.

Sprinkle a pizza peel liberally with cornmeal.  Move the dough to the peel.  I like to oil the edges of the crust.  Slide the crust around slightly to make sure it slides off the peel easily.

Apply your toppings from there.  Sky's the limit.

Slide the pizza onto your stone.  Cook for ten minutes, or until the cheese (if you use cheese) starts to brown just slightly.


That should yield some nice chewy crust if you do it right.

[ChadTower]

You really like your pizza, eh?   

[Peale]

I like *good* pizza.  So many places have either mediocre pizza or bad pizza.

There's a place in Greenfield, MA that has awesome pizza: Antonios.

[RecycledPast]

I make pizza every Friday (I have a bread machine).  I stopped using a stone because trying to get the pizza from the peel to the stone was a pain.  I'd have to put so much flour/corn meal on the peel that some would fall on the bottom of the stove (which would eventually set off my fire alarm) and/or the crust would roll so some cheese would get on the stone and make the pizza stick.

Now I use a cheap pizza pan and set the temp to 500 degrees for about 12-13 minutes and I'm happy with the results.  I like a crust that has a little crunch to it.

For my dough (to make it healthier) I replace 1/4-1/2 the AP flour with whole wheat, and use honey instead of sugar.
Sometimes I mix some cheese or Italian spices or red pepper flakes in the dough.

After oiling the edge of the crust I sprinkle it with parmesan cheese, garlic powder, or any other spice I've got laying around.

[Peale]

I've never had a problem with it sticking to the stone.  My only problem is after a while the stones crack.

Good thing they're cheap enough.  I just bought another couple marble tiles from the hardware store for a couple bucks each.

How much corn meal were you using?  I've found that a sprinkling does the trick.

[boykster]

Nice recipe! very similar to what my wife and I do...

If you're having trouble getting the pizza off the stone, your dough is too "wet", work in another bit of flour, maybe a tablespoon or two at a time until it's not quite as sticky.  Also Ive found that overloading the pizza can sometimes cause it to stick.

I love simple pizza, our favorite is a homemade tomato sauce with garlic and reggiano parm, fresh mozzarella, and some cut up fresh basil.  to make sure the pizza doesn't get too "wet", make sure the sauce is very reduced, and slice the fresh mozzarella into slices and press out all the water.  I do this by layering paper towels down, then the mozzarella, and then put a few books on top.  I do this about 1/2 hour ahead of time and it works great.  If you buy the prepackaged mozzarella, then you don't have to do this.

My other favorite trick is to lightly oil the entire crust (not just the edges) with good olive oil, and then sprinkle a tablespoon or so of shredded reggiano....

[Peale]

Those are some nice tips.  I'll have to give some of them a shot.

For sauce, we actually like a canned sauce.  DelMonte makes a decent canned sauce, and it's not terribly expensive either. 

I don't like to buy the pre-packed cheese from the grocery store.  Reminds me too much of plastic.  I get it sliced fresh from the co-op.