The Homemade Pizza Thread

[DavidDetroit]

Here's a pizza that I'll take 1/3 credit for:

 

[Alastair70]

No 2. son arrives back from uni in time for dinner tomorrow night. That can only mean one thing….Pizza!!
Better get started on the dough.

 

[Clint]

LSD...sounds interesting.

 

[Alastair70]

My pizzas are so good they’ll blow your mind

 

[Alastair70]

First step, cook the toppings. My daughter did sticky Chinese marinaded chicken last night which was awesome. This is the leftovers.

Second step, cook the pizza.

 

[DavidDetroit]

My daughter did sticky Chinese marinaded chicken

Chicken looks really nice. I kind of want to just eat it on it's own.
Crust top-notch too.
Do your pizzerias in the UK have some focus on specialty pizzas besides the usual (sausage (pepperoni), ham, bacon, mushrooms, onions, green pepper, sausage? I know there's a bit of a nomenclature thing between "pepperoni" and "sausage." Pepperoni, as I know it is the hard, salami-like item and sausage is cooked and seasoned pork.
"Specialty" would be BBQ chicken pizzas, BLT pizzas, etc.?

 

[DavidDetroit]

I worked in a pizzeria for six years, learned a little bit here and there. The recipes where I worked were straight from a chef from Italy. It was interesting to me when I first started that the way to get the sauce to spread without too much effort was as simple as using a ladle of sauce, start from the middle and go out to the edges. My mom used to use her hands to smear it around.

 

[DavidDetroit]

@Dutto
haven't seen you around in a while. Were you over here in Las Vegas making some dough by counting cards or something?

 

[Alastair70]

Chicken looks really nice. I kind of want to just eat it on it's own.
Crust top-notch too.
Do your pizzerias in the UK have some focus on specialty pizzas besides the usual (sausage (pepperoni), ham, bacon, mushrooms, onions, green pepper, sausage? I know there's a bit of a nomenclature thing between "pepperoni" and "sausage." Pepperoni, as I know it is the hard, salami-like item and sausage is cooked and seasoned pork.
"Specialty" would be BBQ chicken pizzas, BLT pizzas, etc.?

We had most of the chicken the previous evening and it was amazing, I can’t wait till my eldest comes home from uni in a couple of weeks, he’s going to completely lose his s**t when he tastes it. We cooked it again last night, again in the skillet in the wood fired oven. there was no left overs this time round.
I don’t know about mainland UK, but in Northern Ireland the pizza scene isn’t great, 90% of what you can get is from either big chains or small fast food outlets alongside their kebabs, fried chicken and burgers. I avoid both.
We only have a couple of places who turn out Neapolitan style from wood fired ovens and Green’s Pizza in Belfast who have done the best ‘restaurant‘ style pizza from their electric oven for 30+ years now; sourdough bases and high quality ingredients on the toppings. All of them stick with the standard toppings, and the specials on the menu board will have a BBQ sauce or a bit of ‘Nduja on top, or something even less imaginative than that.

 

[DavidDetroit]

I don’t know about mainland UK, but in Northern Ireland the pizza scene isn’t great

We have states I've visited where the pizza is quite embarrassing because frozen pizza is better and so, traveling around, it can be hit or miss. Michigan, luckily, is wildly competitive and we have the pros making all of the styles correctly.
Neapolitan is a very special method and a delicacy, if you ask me, but I grew up on NY Style/Detroit Style which originated in Italy. Then there's Chicago Style which I don't know where it's from but it's a good-looking pizza.
Personally, I'd keep the toppings limited but I'm not a snob about it.

 

[Hanglow]

Pizza Napoletana is easy to get now in most uk cities, alongside the ubiquitous domino's, pizza hut, papa John's etc and the kebab shop ones as Alastair mentioned, which I think are probably closest to what is known as Greek pizza in the US. Other types of Italian pizza such as tonda romana or pizza in teglia are also available. What is harder to get at least in scotland is something closer to US styles of pizza such as a NY slice or Chicago deep dish etc. There was one place here that did a very good slice but they closed down last year.

Haggis is sometimes offered as a topping here, but it doesn't really work. I find most unusual toppings make a pizza less that the sum of its parts, the best thing about a marinara/margherita/mastinucola is that they are far greater than the sum of their parts. Simple is always better when it comes to pizza imo

 

[Dutto]

@Dutto
haven't seen you around in a while. ….

Rule No.1 is “Don’t break your femur when you are 77 years old!”

Long story, but mainly sitting in a chair for two years waiting for “bone growth”!

Got a brew on now (Coopers IPA kit) and starting to feel human as I slowly get back to normal. Inshallah!

 

[DavidDetroit]

“Don’t break your femur when you are 77 years old!”

Good job on persevering.
Cheers.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Trying a poolish tonight for pizza tomorrow. Might be wasted as it's for my kids and their pal. Me and the wife are trying to eat healthily.....

First go at it so quite excited.

 

[DavidDetroit]

domino's, pizza hut, papa John's

I apologize from America for those places. At most they're edible. Dominoes here has comically high prices, or at least they used to.

Simple is always better when it comes to pizza imo

Haggis! Haven't seen that yet here. I'm going to look at the Kroger (our NE major grocery store chain) to see if we even sell it. It's likely but I haven't looked for it since I don't know how to cook it.
I lean toward concentrating on the sauce, dough and cheese. When I assemble, it's usually with one meat for me (ham or pepperoni) and two vegetables for my wife (green pepper and onion).

 

[SilverShadow]

I apologize from America for those places. At most they're edible. Dominoes here has comically high prices, or at least they used to.

Pizza is, without doubt, the unrivalled ripoff of the fast food industry. The ingredients cost a few quid, it takes literally minutes to cook & requires very little culinary skill (once the dough base is formed)

And yet, despite this, a truly well cooked pizza with quality fresh ingredients is one of the things I hugely enjoy. The buggers round my area must know, cos the prices are sky high!

For us mere mortals with just a gas over, does anyone have any basic tips?

I always heat the over for 15 mins at max temps & just put it straight on the oven grills without a tray. Seems like getting the dough thoroughly cooked while slightly crispy is the bedrock of a great pizza for me

 

[SilverShadow]

Also wondered if anyone had been brave enough to try a doner meat pizza, and what they thought to that?

 

[prog99]

Also wondered if anyone had been brave enough to try a doner meat pizza, and what they thought to that?

Yes.
I am still in one piece.

 

[will4009]

Trying a poolish tonight for pizza tomorrow. Might be wasted as it's for my kids and their pal. Me and the wife are trying to eat healthily.....

First go at it so quite excited.

Me too,

Let it rest on the counter for an hour this evening, then put the poolish in the fridge for 24 hours.

Trying a new dough, that's a mix of bread flour and 00. So will see how it goes.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I apologize from America for those places. At most they're edible. Dominoes here has comically high prices, or at least they used to.

Haggis! Haven't seen that yet here. I'm going to look at the Kroger (our NE major grocery store chain) to see if we even sell it. It's likely but I haven't looked for it since I don't know how to cook it.

The UK Domino's is semi-independent of the US, it's franchised from the US but also controls a lot of the franchises in Europe.

I like haggis, and I like haggis pizza, although haggis Scotch egg is better....

Haggis exports to the US have been impossible due to a longstanding US ban on sheepmeat imports over scrapie fears. Although that ban has been overturned recently, they still haven't got all the necessary clearances yet, although they're tentatively hoping to be able to get the all-clear by St Andrews day this year :

https://www.politico.eu/article/scottish-haggis-exports-to-us-remain-stalled-on-burns-night/
But you may have some luck across the border around St Andrews day and (especially) Burns Night as they do export to Canada (albeit a recipe without lungs)

Pizza is, without doubt, the unrivalled ripoff of the fast food industry. The ingredients cost a few quid, it takes literally minutes to cook & requires very little culinary skill (once the dough base is formed)

And yet, despite this, a truly well cooked pizza with quality fresh ingredients is one of the things I hugely enjoy. The buggers round my area must know, cos the prices are sky high!

Welcome to capitalism - you pay the value it gives you, which happens to give them spectacularly good margins. It's just a shame that so many people are satisfied by "adequate" pizza, and aren't prepared to pay the relatively little extra to get really good ingredients.

For us mere mortals with just a gas over, does anyone have any basic tips?

I always heat the over for 15 mins at max temps & just put it straight on the oven grills without a tray. Seems like getting the dough thoroughly cooked while slightly crispy is the bedrock of a great pizza for me

Umm - try reading this thread? But in an ordinary oven, a couple of minutes pre-cooking the base without the topping was a gamechanger for me. And just generally try to minimise how "wet" it gets - I pat dry eg the mozzarella, and go sparingly with the fresh tomatoes.