Always trying to perfect homemade pizza , just like a lot of you guys . Been thinking about getting a pizza oven , or the kit for my kettle . Working on a couple ideas right now . Not opposed to spending the money , just need it to make sense .
Anyway . Had my first wood fired Neapolitan style pizza last week . I'm hooked . Always liked thin crust pizza ( still do ) but this was fantastic .
So I wanted to try a different cooking method . Not traditional , but adapted to a home oven .
I set the oven up for 2 stages . One rack as low as I could get it , and another with a rack up high . About 3 " from the broiler . The bottom was about 4 " over the baking element . Electric oven . Pizza stone high and low . 2 pizza peels at the ready . 2 cutting boards / landing areas .
Had a bag of store bought dough , and a batch of 00 homemade . Both around 440 gr. I went with 240 grams per pizza . So that gave me 3 pizzas . 2 at 240 grams and one was around 330 .
One had store bought dough , one had homemade , and the last one was mix of the 2 .
Ran the oven at 450 . Stones in place for the heat up . 1 hour before putting pizza in .
First was the store bought dough . Home made Italian herb and cheese sausage . Used tomato sauce right out of the can . No spice added . This was the first time putting the sausage on raw . I knew that would be enough to flavor the sauce .
Into the oven on the bottom rack to pre-bake . Once I got some spring on the edge , and this one actually started to brown up ,
I turned the broiler to high . Leave the oven door open a bit so the element stays on .
Pull the pizza and add the cheese . I always have blocks of Motz . in the fridge . Fresh grated is key . Then under the broiler . Watching and turning . Came out pretty damn good .
This dough had been in the fridge 5 days after I bought it .
This is about as near to perfect as I've gotten .
Next was the mixed dough . Half store bought , half 00 homemade .
Pepperoni and sausage on this one .
It took more time to start to brown on the bottom . Could be because of the recover time for the oven , or the fact that the homemade has no sugar added to the dough .
Same drill . Switched to broiler to heat up .
Then add the cheese and under the element .
Came out good too . The mix of dough was more bread like . You can see that in the slice .
Still good texture and chew . Nice char again .
Third pizza was all 00 homemade . Mixed up that day , and set at
room temp for 10 hours . My son built this one . All pepperoni and provel cheese .
The cheese is a St . Louis pizza thing . Good stuff , but it does not like high heat .
Skins over and gets dark fast . I let him do his thing . Did the same but went with a low broiler setting .
This pizza was not much to look at . Had to pull it before the crust would brown .
For taste , texture and chew ,,,, this one was the winner hands down . They were all good , but the dough on this was perfect ,
and the tang of the cheese is so good . Really creamy melt on the cheese .
Wasn't any leftover from this one .
I think the 2 stage setup on the oven works pretty good . First one cooks the best .
Then I think it becomes a temp recovery issue . I like the 240 / 260 gr size . I think that also plays into how they cook .
Have everything ready and a place to go with them and a way to move them . Worked out good .
Thanks for looking .
Anyway . Had my first wood fired Neapolitan style pizza last week . I'm hooked . Always liked thin crust pizza ( still do ) but this was fantastic .
So I wanted to try a different cooking method . Not traditional , but adapted to a home oven .
I set the oven up for 2 stages . One rack as low as I could get it , and another with a rack up high . About 3 " from the broiler . The bottom was about 4 " over the baking element . Electric oven . Pizza stone high and low . 2 pizza peels at the ready . 2 cutting boards / landing areas .
Had a bag of store bought dough , and a batch of 00 homemade . Both around 440 gr. I went with 240 grams per pizza . So that gave me 3 pizzas . 2 at 240 grams and one was around 330 .
One had store bought dough , one had homemade , and the last one was mix of the 2 .
Ran the oven at 450 . Stones in place for the heat up . 1 hour before putting pizza in .
First was the store bought dough . Home made Italian herb and cheese sausage . Used tomato sauce right out of the can . No spice added . This was the first time putting the sausage on raw . I knew that would be enough to flavor the sauce .
Into the oven on the bottom rack to pre-bake . Once I got some spring on the edge , and this one actually started to brown up ,
I turned the broiler to high . Leave the oven door open a bit so the element stays on .
Pull the pizza and add the cheese . I always have blocks of Motz . in the fridge . Fresh grated is key . Then under the broiler . Watching and turning . Came out pretty damn good .
This dough had been in the fridge 5 days after I bought it .
This is about as near to perfect as I've gotten .
Next was the mixed dough . Half store bought , half 00 homemade .
Pepperoni and sausage on this one .
It took more time to start to brown on the bottom . Could be because of the recover time for the oven , or the fact that the homemade has no sugar added to the dough .
Same drill . Switched to broiler to heat up .
Then add the cheese and under the element .
Came out good too . The mix of dough was more bread like . You can see that in the slice .
Still good texture and chew . Nice char again .
Third pizza was all 00 homemade . Mixed up that day , and set at
room temp for 10 hours . My son built this one . All pepperoni and provel cheese .
The cheese is a St . Louis pizza thing . Good stuff , but it does not like high heat .
Skins over and gets dark fast . I let him do his thing . Did the same but went with a low broiler setting .
This pizza was not much to look at . Had to pull it before the crust would brown .
For taste , texture and chew ,,,, this one was the winner hands down . They were all good , but the dough on this was perfect ,
and the tang of the cheese is so good . Really creamy melt on the cheese .
Wasn't any leftover from this one .
I think the 2 stage setup on the oven works pretty good . First one cooks the best .
Then I think it becomes a temp recovery issue . I like the 240 / 260 gr size . I think that also plays into how they cook .
Have everything ready and a place to go with them and a way to move them . Worked out good .
Thanks for looking .
