The Homemade Pizza Thread

[Leon103]

Cheers. It’s a mix of ash and birch, kiln dried. Produces a lovely clean burn, decent sized embers with high heat and low ash production.

Same here. Haven't used mine this year yet

 

[Alastair70]

Same here. Haven't used mine this year yet

This is my first pizza cook this year, but the oven has seen plenty of action. The one thing I forgot to do was stick the Tuscan grill back in for a clean burn when the last pizza came out

 

[Agentgonzo]

Oven at 250°. No need for an ooni.

 

[Agentgonzo]

The secret to making any pizza taste delicious

 

[Clint]

I think I've got my dough recipe right for me..but I still think at full pelt my range isn't quite hot enough....the pizzas are good but I'm gonna try something on the bbq at 300c+.

 

[Alastair70]

Either Caputo Cuoco or Manatoba flour at 70% hydration will do well at 250C and the dough won’t be a nightmare to work with. Both are available from AdiMaria.
I had a last minute notion for a pizza tea this morning and did an 8-hour dough with Cuoco at 65%, and it was actually very tasty.

I even went with ready made sauce! No photos of the pizza, sorry.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Either Caputo Cuoco or Manatoba flour at 70% hydration will do well at 250C and the dough won’t be a nightmare to work with. Both are available from AdiMaria.
I had a last minute notion for a pizza tea this morning and did an 8-hour dough with Cuoco at 65%, and it was actually very tasty.


View attachment 85873

I even went with ready made sauce! No photos of the pizza, sorry.

View attachment 85878

We use mutti sauce most of the time. Made our own this evening at the cupboard was bare!

 

[Clint]

As a complete novice...please enlighten me on hydration!

 

[Alastair70]

We use mutti sauce most of the time. Made our own this evening at the cupboard was bare!

I try to have a couple of tins of San Marzano toms in the cupboard at all times, I don’t know why my local supermarkets don’t carry them so buying them involves a trip into Belfast. Our local M&S had them fresh last summer which was just bliss. I’m too far north to grow my own unfortunately.

 

[Agentgonzo]

As a complete novice...please enlighten me on hydration!

It's when you pour water on stuff to make it wet.

You're welcome

 

[Alastair70]

As a complete novice...please enlighten me on hydration!

In a nutshell, its the percentage of water to flour. Sourdough starters are 100% hydration, if you have just added 40g of flour to feed your starter, you’ll be adding 40g of water also. Most bread recipes will have between 75% and 85% the amount of water than flour (or in baker talk, 75% to 85% hydration).

Pizza dough hydration varies widely, and as the hydration increases the temperature that you cook at decreases but the time in the oven gets longer. Classic Neapolitan dough is at most 62% hydration, needs to be cooked at 350+C and will be done in 90 seconds.

As the hydration increases, the temperature needs to come down so you can dry out and bake the crust properly. My home ovens hits 230C tops, so I’d need a dough at around 70% hydration to work at that temp. To make the wetter dough handle easily, a higher protein flour is essential. The Cuoco is way high, and Manitoba as high as you’ll get. I usually use them for long ferments or if I’m `baking Focaccia.
Bakers use percentages so they don’t have to remember recipes, it’s a bit like brewers and grain bills. You just scale up your quantities as your mash tun gets bigger.

 

[RichardM]

We had pizza cooked in the Ooni tonight. I forgot to take any photos of them, but here is the empty tin of tomatoes used for the sauce

My daughter says "tell them I had pickled onion on mine"

 

[Alastair70]

We had pizza cooked in the Ooni tonight. I forgot to take any photos of them, but here is the empty tin of tomatoes used for the sauce
View attachment 85884
My daughter says "tell them I had pickled onion on mine"

Only the best! They need a long growing I was going to see if @Clint will try grow some for both of us on his patch

 

[RichardM]

I try to have a couple of tins of San Marzano toms in the cupboard at all times, I don’t know why my local supermarkets don’t carry them so buying them involves a trip into Belfast. Our local M&S had them fresh last summer which was just bliss. I’m too far north to grow my own unfortunately.

This where I get my tins of toms
https://www.adimaria.co.uk/italian-...sauces/peeled-tomatoes-bella-san-marzano-400g

 

[Clint]

Can't remember what I've got in the tunnel this year. I have grown marzano Tom's in the past though.

 

[user 47834]

I use a poolish dough as I can't be bothered with sourdough. I don't have a pizza oven so instead I use my old battered Tefal pan with a metal handle.

Get the pan screaming hot on the hob, place dough on pan and dress. Then finish it off under a very hot grill.

 

[SMP Brewery]

Tried a pizza on the Kamado, so impressed with it.

 

[obscure]

I’ve just bought myself an Ooni Kodi and was wondering if any one had views regarding solid fuel. I bought a box of overpriced Ooni branded hard wood ’logs’ basically kindling and also have charcoal. I used some of the wood to get it up to temperature to ’season‘ the oven as per the instructions and it does seem to burn rather quickly.

So I see you can also use charcoal so what I was thinking of doing was building up a small charcoal fire to bring up the temperature then adding wood on top to get the ‘flames’ for when the pizza goes in the oven does this seem reasonable.

 

[Clint]

I dunno but setting stuff on fire is fun.

 

[obscure]

I dunno but setting stuff on fire is fun.

Well yes there‘s a reason I didn’t go for an electric one who doesn’t like pizza cooked in a cleansing wood fired inferno, enclosed in a probably overpriced metal box.