Home style pizza

[rwsaunders]

The youngest is home for a few weeks after graduation, so pizza was requested for a hot Saturday night.

[robin3mj]

It was about 95 degrees today and after coaching, then spectating, multiple kids soccer games (on astroturf!), I was not much in the mood to cook. So we defrosted a few dough balls and made pizza.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Had my dad to visit this weekend (65th birthday) and the plan was to make pizza for him on Saturday night, but when a front moved in and fell a tree onto the power line a half a block up the street our plans changed (went out for a great Vietnamese dinner). Come Monday it was really use-it or lose-it on the pizza dough so Monday night was pizza night.

[j44ke]

That's it. I'm getting a pizza cooker.

[ColonelJLloyd]

That's it. I'm getting a pizza cooker.

There are myriad ways to skin that cat and, in my experience, many of them are good.

As a data point I've been using a Green Mountain pellet smoker with this $140 attachment. I would never have bought a pellet grill/smoker for myself, but I'll be damned if it hasn't been pretty awesome smoking wings, ribs, shoulders, hams, and fish. It's difficult, if even possible, with most cookers to smoke at 150F, but that's how I like to smoke sides of salmon and the results are just fantastic. I've found the sweet spot for making pizza how we like it at home to get the stone in the 725F range and I can get it plenty hotter. Like I said, I wouldn't have bought a wifi smoker that I control with my phone for myself, but this rig has been pretty great for us.

We gifted a Gozney Roccbox as a wedding gift last year and they really like it.

If I had the space that you do, though, I'd be very tempted to build myself a wood fired oven. They're just so fun and cool.

[jclay]

I shoulda taken some photos but I was hungry, each and every time I made pizza lately.

Over the past month:

Used a round pizza stone in the charcoal grill; cooked the pizza fine; nice crust; cracked the stone.

Used the larger, thicker, rectangular pizza stone in a 550F oven, preheating the stone for about 45 min. Cooked the pizza fine, nice crust; didn’t crack the stone; but it’s a thousand degrees outside and I’m pumping pizza stone preheat heat into the house and then trying to remove it with the AC; profligate; can’t do it; fk’n nuts.

Thought, hmmm, how about a thin (read thermally responsive) metal cookie sheet, on a lower rack for a minute or two as the oven passes through 500 (no preheat), moved to the rack a space or two higher thereafter; comes out as it nears 550 or shortly thereafter; kill the burner. Cooked the pizza fine, crust just as good, still a thousand degrees outside; only semi profligate (about 1/6th) use of energy. No need to buy more stuff, made (resources) and shipped from somewhere else (more resources), expensive (yet more resources), to do only one thing and destined to be transported to the dump (yet even more resources). Happy medium for when we want pizza.

Covered, screened deck runs around the entire house; it’s tropical down here, more-so by the year; set up a table with electric hot plate + toaster oven. If I’m steaming veggies, boiling water for pasta, baking small stuff (it’s always small stuff)….if cooking anything that can be done on those two, and most stuff we eat can, then that’s where it generally occurs for summer. Having the kitchen heating the crap out of the house when it’s a thousand degrees outside, and then burning more energy to pump it out….anybody see a fundamental problem with that?

Today’s margarita pizza was pretty good. Not as good as Little Italy, about 18 miles away RT on Magnolia (resources), but damn well good enough.

I'd kinda like to make a pizza/bread oven outside (yes, resources but mineral/earthen based, not destined for the dump); it's about number one thousand on my to-do list; and it's hot right now.

Oh, and I discovered that it's easier and quicker to make the dough the old fashioned way (elbow grease) than with the damn Kitchen Aide stand mixer. If amortized by the number of times it's been used....'fk, don't like to think about it, and that's what monkey see, monkey do can do for ya.

[robin3mj]

According to my excel spreadsheet, we’re within a handful of weekends of paying off last years pizza oven purchase versus ordering Andy’s/Pupatella locally.

My dough continues to get better and my wife said last weekend's was the best yet. It was a 57% hydration Roman style. And I only made it that morning?!? I guess the EVOO, sugar, and salt work some magic.
I will make dough tomorrow for Saturday or Sunday consumption (the kids are begging for sushi- no complaints except for the cost), so this weeks crust version will be well aged.

[robin3mj]

Pizza again tonight. Same recipe as above, with a 30 hour proof. Dough was nice.

One of my daughters crafted a perfect traditional pie. I switched it up today by doing half preserved lemon, pickled tomato and buffalo mozzarella and half bbq chicken, romesco sauce, shredded mozzarella, and jalapeños. Both were tasty but at the end of the day there’s really no beating regular old tomatoes and cheese.

[rec head]

I was gifted an Ooni gas powered oven and put it to work immediately. My peel was too big so I had to run down to the basement and make a new one. I have no idea what kind of wood this is but it is beautiful. I think it was the rough sawn bottom of a built in pantry drawer that I saved when we remodeled. The handle is way too long but it was my first peel.



I took the oven to work a couple days later and we made 12 pizzas.

[Brian E Hammer]

RW - Tell me about the stand that your weber kettle resides in. It's always been the cheaply made two wheel / Pod stands that weber utilizes that has caused me to run the other way. The kettle, lid assembly coupled with the Kettle Pizza add on has me more than intrigued, but still, the stand....

[rwsaunders]

Brian…this is the model that I have and it’s about 10 years old. It’s held up very well and I use a vinyl cover.

https://www.amazon.com/Weber-1540100..._1660786385317

[rwsaunders]

Not quite a pizza, insomuch as being a tomato tart. Stale bread (sacrilegious I know), eggs, parmesan, ricotta, spices, olive oil, tomatoes and some basil.

[rwsaunders]

Let’s get this Labor Day weekend started with some pizza.

[rwsaunders]

Stopped for lunch with an old friend at Papa J’s in the Strip in Pittsburgh and I got the grand tour from the owner, Michael. His pizza and focaccia start as 90% hydration dough and the end product…yum. Oh….the gelato was superb and they make their own pasta too. Now I’ll have to come back with Mrs. RW as I made the mistake and sent photos.

[Diablo de Acero]

I want to try a slice of everything in there!