The Homemade Pizza Thread

[soupdragon]

Will have a look at the french bread setting and see what the timer says

Cheers Tom

Just had a look. The manual doesn't give a breakdown of the program timings but the French setting is 25 mins longer than the standard white loaf 225 mins Vs 200 mins. I'd have to watch the program cycle to see where the difference is. I'll go with the simple start of the basic dough mix for my first time. Follow the supplied instructions first then fiddle around with stuff

Cheers Tom

 

[Clint]

Is your machine just for dough only as won't it make a loaf otherwise?

 

[soupdragon]

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/5569106

I didn't pay that much by the way.
Full bread making machine. I chose to use it only for making the bread dough. I have on many occasions made it by hand but the machine does an acceptable job and saves me time and effort

Cheers Tom

 

[grooves]

French dough cycle on my Panasonic is 3.5 hours vs 45 mins for the pizza dough, but it's no extra effort - and the longer, slower overnight second ferment in the fridge improves the dough too.

 

[soupdragon]

The only bit of fancy kit I use is a £1.29 (now up 55% to a shocking £2) pizzamesh from Dunelm

Bought one yesterday

Cheers Tom

 

[soupdragon]

Are you ready to be underwhelmed?

Plain cheese and tomato

Cheese, tomato and Cajun chicken

Both were tasty but some fine tuning is required. Both needed longer in the oven (bases were softer than hoped) but certainly a good start

Cheers Tom

 

[Clint]

Nowt wrong there!

 

[soupdragon]

Nowt wrong there!

Base of the one on the silver tray was a little under cooked. The one on the mesh, while cooked would have been better for a bit longer in the oven. As all parties were quite hungry they were eaten as they were. Next effort will be on a higher heat and for longer.
Every day is a school day so they say

Cheers Tom

 

[ProNebula]

Are you ready to be underwhelmed?

Plain cheese and tomato

View attachment 96281

Cheese, tomato and Cajun chicken

View attachment 96282

Both were tasty but some fine tuning is required. Both needed longer in the oven (bases were softer than hoped) but certainly a good start

Cheers Tom

Probably does need to be in a touch longer. Get that cheese a bit crispier. great effort.

 

[Mash Monster]

Waaaaaay off topic but thought I would post anyway
Anybody thinking of building or repairing a wood fired pizza oven ?
I have a large amount of surplus fire clay that is free to a good home

 

[Agentgonzo]

 

[Clint]

Humpf! Should have got my ar5e into gear and got some dough on for pizza..I really fancy one after seeing your picture!
Not wasted my time though been planting and potting on in the greenhouse.

 

[ruskythegreat]

Humpf! Should have got my ar5e into gear and got some dough on for pizza..I really fancy one after seeing your picture!
Not wasted my time though been planting and potting on in the greenhouse.

If it's any consolation, we put the ingredients into the breadmaker ready to make a lovely pizza only to find 1.5h later that the breadmaker motor is fubar and all the ingredients were still as we left them.
Luckily we have a neapolitan pizza place 100m from the house so we had takeaway!

 

[Alastair70]

View attachment 97674

Ohh nice. I’m guessing the photo didn’t do that justice

 

[Agentgonzo]

Ohh nice. I’m guessing the photo didn’t do that justice

The pizza was far tastier than the photo!

 

[Alastair70]

Not our first pizza night of the year, but it was the first sit outside in the sun, cook, eat, chat and listen to music pizza night.
24hr sourdough bases, 62% hydration, 2 minute cook in a 400C oven.
Mrs70 took the photos so she’s missing from the lineup.

 

[Clint]

Awesome times!

 

[Alastair70]

My sourdough starter wasn’t match ready yesterday so did a yeasted dough instead. Interesting to compare the two.
Tonight’s dough, 40% poolish for 12hrs then 65% hydration dough, 3hr batch prove then 6hrs after balling up. So only 21hrs total fermentation time.
Depth of flavour was similar on tonight’s dough but the sour kick was missing. The extra hydration delivered some serious crustage.

The final verdict (from my dinner companion) was sourdough wins by a short margin. Yeasted dough with a Poolish beats straight dough by a country mile.

 

[peebee]

Wow ... been forgetting about the "Pizza Wars". So, I'm back!

More-or-less over-came the change to my pizza flour (new year's harvest). It's crazy how a change like that can have such an impact on flour. Similar 40% Poolish (I adjust percentage using that "Pizza App" calculator so no water needs to be added to the later "bulk ferment" stage). 60% hydration (was using 62% with the older flour), yeast risen. Two-an-a-half days Ferment, split evenly 'tween Poolish and Bulk ferments. All ferments cold (4-5C), allowed to warm about 2 hours before cooking. I use x2 the yeast the "Pizza App" suggests, 1/3rd in the Poolish, 2/3 in the bulk. My aim is large "blisters" in the crust which do occasionally char (but I like the thin, papery, crisp, black blisters!) but the dough inside remains brilliant white, translucent, and slightly chewy.

Mozzerella from Tesco "Jersey" milk although I'm finding the local "ordinary" cow milk makes fresher flavoured cheese. Making your own cheese is far less trouble than pizza bases! But it's essential to use unhomoginised milk (and good rennet, not the "for junket" stuff, that's within date).

This is cooked fairly long, 2-1/2 minutes, turn, 1 minute 40. 430C under, 330C over top (fine adjust temp "over top" once "balance" sorted). These letterbox electric ovens have wonderful control of temperature ... but flippin' well need it! They are very touchy about temperature. They'll heat to 500C, but that makes terrible pizza!

The other biggy is hydration. No-one can dictate the best hydration, the Pizza dictates, it depends on the flour, the brand, even the year as I've been finding. If I tried @Alastair70's 65% I'd be wearing pizza on me feet (but it would happily s-t-r-e-t-c-h that far).

The asparagus (UK of for sure) is a common addition on my pizzas until the cuckoos go home again (at the moment, they've only just arrived), even if it does make somewhat over-loaded pizza with the centres a bit damp.