I have a nice middle class John Lewis pizza stone but can’t seem to make anything nice and thin/crispy in my oven.

I tried the Aldi Ready made dough mix stuff with meh results.

Tell me how to make “proper” pizza!

Ta

Use 50/50 mix of OO flour and semolina flour. And stretch them out on a surface dusted in more semolina flour. (then add other ingredients as you would as when making a ‘normal’ pizza dough).

If you can, leave it to prove for 24 hours but I question the difference this makes.

And make your tomato sauce by frying up some red onion in some olive oil, add some balsamic vinegar then add chopped tomatoes, a little tomato puree, simmer until reduced a bit then (if you want a smoother sauce) blitz with a blender.

Make a flatbread dough (flour, water, oil salt) and cook it from below in a very hot dry frying pan and above with a blow torch. Once cooked you can top it with whatever you want and cook in the oven.

Ken Forkish is my preferred formula for Pizza dough. I like his poolish version but it’s quite hard to work with.

This is the basic one:
http://the-cooking-of-joy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/ken-forkishs-same-day-straight-pizza.html

One question from me – I am about to have installed a nice new fangly Britannia Range oven with about a gazillion oven settings – do I assume that a pizza is best cooked from below?

Have pizza bread and sauce on the go as I type!

Not a fan of the cheeky chappy, but the Jamie Oliver recipe gives ace results in my electric oven.

I use the recipe that came with our breadmaker.
Flour, yeast, olive oil, salt water.

Mix, knead, rest, knead, roll, rest, toppings, cook on a v high heat.

We use Tescos ready mixed, I like to pummel the dough for a good few minutes before leaving for an hour in a covered dish, I cheat with the tomato sauce by using passata and a squeeze of GIA garlic purée.
Cook in the middle of fan assisted oven on 180 degC.

No contribution but marked for future reference.

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/recipes-for-perfect-pizza-dough

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/your-best-pizza-dough-recipe

May be of use?

Jamie oliver is good, I put a bit more polenta in. I do find on not hot ovens that a pre baking, say 9 mins, of the base works wonders for keeping it crisp.

The best recipe I’ve found is in the pizza pilgrims book. Need to leave to rise for 24 hours ideally, and only use fresh yeast. Gives better flavour.

For cooking pizza in an oven, set it as hot as it will go with a pizza stone in from cold.
Once up to heat leave the pizza stone to ‘soak’ for 20-30 mins.
Have everything ready to top the dough.
Shape the dough, take the pizza stone out and put the pizza base on it.
Top and get it back in the oven asap.
5 to 10 mins later you have pizza.
Pizza should only be eaten with effervescent drinks apparently.

Or you could go all STW and build a pizza oven outside.

xtr pizza oven porn

Now that’s what u call a pizza oven

Recipe that works well for me is; 1kg 00 flour / 2 sachets of dried yeast (if you can’t get fresh) / tablespoon of salt & 600ml (max) of tepid water to bring it all together – 10 minutes of bashing or stick it in the food mixer if you’ve got a dough hook, cover & leave overnight, then knock back & divvy up into 6/8 balls depending on preference & leave again to rest a bit, then use fresh or freeze – if freezing, let them thaw until they’re at room temp before using.

Best method i’ve found for making pizzas at home is to use a preheated big cast iron frying pan on a gas hob full bung until the base starts to brown in places (you can fling the base in first then add the sauce & toppings once it’s in there) then finish the top in the grill or oven, again up full blast – your oven won’t get nearly as hot as a big ol’ heavy pan on the hob, although if you’re using an electric hob it might not heat up sufficiently & the pizza stone might be better. I had a pizza stone for years which eventually broke – someone told me about the frying pan trick & i’ve never looked back.

J

I use a 50:50 mix of bread and ordinary white flour, need with a dough hook for 10 mins, and leave to prove in an oiled bowl for an hour or so. A pre-heated baking tray in your oven set as hot as it will go works fine.

I use Jamie Oliver too, nice and easy. Mix of semolina flour definitely works. Pizza stone are a winner 🙂

So – when using a pizza stone, in what order do you construct?

Whole lot onto a cold stone (which is what my stone says to do)

Whole lot onto a hot stone and straight back in the oven before it cools too much

Pizza base onto the hot stone then build it up (easier to do without losing all the toppings)

Whole lot onto a pizza paddle then put it onto the hot stone to minimise any cooling

??????????

I do one of the latter two, depending on whether I have any semolina left.

NY Times mega popular bread recipe from a few years back.

500g SWB flour (although I use 100g semolina flour and 400 SWB flour)
310 ml warm water
Packet of yeast
15 ml EV olive oil
10g salt
10g sugar

Fire it all in the Magimix with dough hook, give it a minute, and then tip into a bowl, cover with cling film, and warm place for a few hours.

once it’s doubled or thereabouts, tip onto a floured surface, and roll out the amount of pizza you want – I get 6 from this, nice and thin, about 12-14 inches.

I then use IKEA cheap plastic chopping boards, dusted with semolina flour so the pizza slides off onto the pizza stone and doesn’t stick. That way, I can build pizza without the pizza stone cooling down, in and out like the SAS!.

My daughter thinks my Pizza is the best there is, she generally goes into a rant if I suggest getting Pizza anywhere else. 😆

I obviously use this to wind her up on a regular basis!.

Jondoh, buy some cheap flimsy plastic chopping boards as above, then you can transfer onto a blinding hot stone for that lovely charred, bubbled look!.

johndoh – Member
So – when using a pizza stone, in what order do you construct?

Whole lot onto a cold stone (which is what my stone says to do)

Whole lot onto a hot stone and straight back in the oven before it cools too much

Pizza base onto the hot stone then build it up (easier to do without losing all the toppings)

Whole lot onto a pizza paddle then put it onto the hot stone to minimise any cooling

??????????

Avoid any doubts by flinging the base into a large smoking hot frying pan then get the sauce & stuff on & finish in the grill – Bob be thine Uncle!

Seriously guys, try it once & you’ll see what I mean – best bit is, no waiting around for oven/stone to heat up properly 😉

best bit is, no waiting around

If it was all about not having to wait around, I wouldn’t be making my own! 😆

The one I do…

200g Plain flour
125ml tepid water and add dried active yeast, stick somewhere warm for a few minutes until activated.
Tablespoon of olive oil in the flour and mix in the water, knead the dough for a few mins, stick in a bowl and put it somewhere warm (not hot) until rises.
When risen enough, take out and roll out (maybe a short further knead first). I’m no good at the flinging stuff. It just flings apart 😀

Done. Just add toppings, stick on tray / stone / etc and cook for 10 mins at 200C-ish in a fan oven.

Serves 2 or 3, or 1 if you’re a pig like me 😀

xtr pizza oven porn

Now that’s what u call a pizza oven

Fail

This https://www.thestonebakeovencompany.co.uk/shop/wood-pizza-ovens/vento-100/ is a proper oven.

No fancy under powered electric crap.

OP, I don’t think it is possible in a domestic oven to make pizza properly. They don’t get hot enough by several hundred degrees. That said whilst we are waiting for me to finish our new outdoor oven we have been getting reasonable results using the Jamie recipe (same one we use in the WFO). They aren’t as good as when cooked in the WFO but are better than most high street offerings.

Nobeerinthefridge – Member
best bit is, no waiting around
If it was all about not having to wait around, I wouldn’t be making my own!

Well, I suppose it does provide the opportunity to sit patiently & enjoy a cold beverage whilst you do so 😆

Fail
This https://www.thestonebakeovencompany.co.uk/shop/wood-pizza-ovens/vento-100/ is a proper oven.

Pah! Call that an oven? Look at this beauty losers!

#jokinglike