Earlier quoted context omitted.
you're either joking or creating a flame war. [edit]: typo
"Pizza is just an open-faced sandwich" https://qwantz.com/index.php?comic=3991
If it looks like a pie just call it a pie instead of pizza
The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
61–70 of 127 posts
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#62Ok, what's the verdict on using pizza stones?
Best option is to get a big cast iron pan, put the pizza together on it, then start it on the stove and transfer to the oven on a high rack and finish with the broiler for the last minute or two.
Home pizzas are also better made slightly thicker with a little bit of oil in the dough like pizzerias with deck ovens do, the super thin Neapolitan style pizza with leopard spots are tricky even with a proper oven.
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#63Good pizza is all about the pineapple!
Yup. The ham ruins it tho, put the pineapple with some good sausage/kielbasa and onion and it's perfect
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#64Pizza is one of my standard food items. E.g., I get bread and pizza flour in 25 pound bags from Sam's Club. Each batch of dough uses 650 ml water, 1 tablespoon of Fleischmann's active dry yeast, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 kilogram of the flour. I end up with 8 chunks of pizza dough. So, each chunk of dough is good for one pizza for one. No way do I want to try to compete with the artistry of brown spots from 600+ F…
I cook it for a sec on stove to get that bottom crust then shove it to a oven. Totally worth for me for that cheese.
Never got the stove-only right but maybe I just don't have right pan for it
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#65Good pizza is all about the pineapple!
Pineapple & anchovies! Few combinations work together so harmoniously. :) Salty and sweet; tropical and oceanic; rich glutamate umami and tangy, burning bromelain.
There's people who listen carefully to their desires for flavor, and yield to them; and there are people who subserviate themselves to the bland expectations of society, and live repressed lives of quiet normalcy.
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you are baking at under 750F, you should really not use 00. It will never brown and you'll have much more luck with another flour. Concur with the author that 00 is very different from other kinds of flour, as far as the result you get, but I like a blend of about 80/20 bread flour (usually King Arthur) / 00. Maybe up to 70/30, tops. You get a lot of chewiness and flavor from adding a little 00. Add too much and…
Huh, so that's why... I've been just putting it on stove (in a pan) before baking to get a bit of brown
Yeah, 00 is the "correct" flour for pizza dough, but only if you're using a real, high-temp pizza oven. If you're stuck at 550F or lower, like most home ovens, it won't cook right—it's pretty char/firming-up resistant, you'll burn the hell out of your toppings before the 00 dough gets where it needs to be. It has killer flavor and does some good stuff for texture, though, which is why I still blend some in.
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
> No way do I want to try to compete with the artistry of brown spots from 600+ F wood-fired pizza ovens, etc If you make pizza a lot, consider also the middle way of gas-fired "portable" ovens, the likes of Ooni or Roccbox. My experience was very positive.
Disclosure: very much a beginner at this and I'm happy to be corrected on any of it. My Ooni experience has been very bad. I have an IR thermometer, so I can check the temps: at the back it's 900, at the front 600. This is after an hour of warm-up. If I weren't so stubborn I'd have gotten rid of the Ooni already. Furthermore, the lack of height means you can't use gravity to slide the pizza off the peel, like you can…
> My Ooni experience has been very bad
Sorry to hear that, but maybe you can still work at it.
> at the back it's 900, at the front 600. This is after an hour of warm-up.
I think that it will be as hot as it is going to get, after about 30 mins.
I get a touch over 500c at the back corner (maybe 950F) and a bit over 300C (600F) at the front lip. This should be right, with a centre at 350 to 400C
> rolling pin, or hand-stretch?
I hand-stretch, but also autolyse.
> lots of flour on the peel.
Semolina. Put your friend Semolina on the peel. It's a very coarse flour, as opposed to pizza flour, which is very fine. It makes the pie slide like it's little dry ball-bearings. Semolina.
If you can't get Semolina, use coarse cornmeal.
The next time you have pizza in a relatively authentic Italian place, run your finger along the underside of the pizza. You should feel a slightly rough, sandpapery texture that isn't present on top. That's from the semolina.
Just before launch, give the pizza a back-and-forth shake on the peel first, to be sure that it's moving, and get it moving if need be. You should know that it's not sticking to the peel, because you've seen/felt it move a bit.
Do you use the same peel to launch and to extract? Typically this is not recommended as the extraction can make that peel hot and moist, which would affect the next launch. Launch off wood or aluminium. Extract with aluminium or other metal peel.
Look for the "ultra-low zone" trick for turning the flame down very low after launch.
You will get these tips in https://www.reddit.com/r/ooni
You can see techniques demo'd on youtube. e.g. ulttra-low zone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAGmW4SI4PU and shake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkD-IrTNpTk&t=27s Don't give up, there are tricks and techniques to learn.
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#68Ok, what's the verdict on using pizza stones?
Best option is to get a big cast iron pan, put the pizza together on it, then start it on the stove and transfer to the oven on a high rack and finish with the broiler for the last minute or two. Home pizzas are also better made slightly thicker with a little bit of oil in the dough like pizzerias with deck ovens do, the super thin Neapolitan style pizza with leopard spots are tricky even with a proper oven.
This is not the best option if you want to make two or more pizzas in a row. Or pizza-dough-breadsticks after the pizza, or whatever. Building a pie in a hot cast iron pan is not fun and you'll have to adjust your technique a little, because it will have started cooking while you were still putting it together. It'd work if you have at least two big cast iron pans, but I doubt most people do.
I do strongly recommend the cast iron technique for beginners, though, since it requires no special equipment at all—otherwise, you'll want a stone, and you're probably gonna have a really bad time unless you also get a peel, since transferring off the stone to e.g. a cutting board when the pie's done isn't bad, but transferring onto the stone without a peel makes the single trickiest part of pizza-baking even trickier. Cast iron technique skips all that, you just need a pan, great way few newbies to convince themselves they can make passable pizza at home, before investing any money in it.
One trick I use is that I hit the top with an electric heat gun or propane torch, just a little, while I'm waiting for the oil (you oil the pan) to start sizzling so I can transfer it to the oven. Only needs a smidge of broiling at the end, that way, less risk of getting distracted and burning it. But that's optional.
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#69Pizza is one of my standard food items. E.g., I get bread and pizza flour in 25 pound bags from Sam's Club. Each batch of dough uses 650 ml water, 1 tablespoon of Fleischmann's active dry yeast, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 kilogram of the flour. I end up with 8 chunks of pizza dough. So, each chunk of dough is good for one pizza for one. No way do I want to try to compete with the artistry of brown spots from 600+ F…
Pizza gets a bad rap healthwise, but when it's made at home it can be perfectly healthy. I make flatbread and use that as the pizza crust. Then everybody in the family gets to put their choice of toppings on. It's a bit of a circus as you can only bake one pizza at a time in our 24" oven, but circuses are fun. The advantage of the flatbread is all you really have to do is get the toppings hot and cheese melted, as th…
Got any good recipe for flatbread ? I tried few but kinda got mildly dissatisfied with most I tried. Or annoyed that they took enough work that I might as well be making pizza.
I got food processor nearly just to make pizza dough without much mess. Just one big batch that then gets mostly frozen after for fast pizza on upcoming weeks.
Flatbreads I prefer to use as base for essentially a grilled sandwich or to put some leftovers between 2 and heat it up as sort of "quesadilla"
> Pizza gets a bad rap healthwise, but when it's made at home it can be perfectly healthy.
Eh, half of that will still be crust and that's basically calories-only. I would still not call it healthy unless you replaced so many "traditional" pizza elements that it stopped being a pizza and became just some round bread-like carrier for ingredients.
Being able to fit within healthy eating, sure, but still something that would be hard to eat day to day unless you got high daily calorie burn.
Re: The Physics of baking good Pizza (2018)
#70Good pizza is all about the pineapple!
The combination of ham and pineapple on a pizza can be very tasty because the sweet and tangy flavor of the pineapple complements the savory and salty flavor of the ham. The combination of these two flavors can create a delicious balance on the pizza. Additionally, the texture of the pineapple can add a nice contrast to the softness of the cheese and the chewiness of the ham. Many people also enjoy the way the flavor…
Used to have it all the time and loved it. Haven't had it in years, perhaps because I'm embarrassed about ordering it given all the shade thrown its way.