What's Your Best Pizza Recipe?

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My favorite is a crust rubbed with garlic, pesto base with slices of Sargento mozz (not the fresh stuff, the prepackaged stuff... for some reason I don't want to try the fresh?!? but it's still quite good!) get a can of peeled tomatoes, roughly slice them and pile them on top of the cheese or layer with the cheese. sprinkle salt, pepper, and a bit o' crushed red pepper flake. mmm.
 
The best pizza I've ever made wasn't pizza but the pizza fixings rolled up in the dough and baked.

My oven just won't hold the heat necessary to make a nice crisp crust so I just rolled the fixings up in the crust and baked it. Everyone loved it.

I made a few changes...instead of my regular pizza sauce I just used straight tomato paste and spread it on like peanut butter on a sandwich and sprinkled it with garlic salt, Italian seasonings and Parmesan cheese, Mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions and bell peppers. I also cooked my mushrooms first. Rolled it up and baked it.

It was a big hit.

I made this again tonight and took some pics.


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I never met a pizza I didn't like and we make pizza almost every weekend. I make the dough from flour, salt, SAF yeast water and a little oil.

I used canned (yup, plain canned) tomato sauce and add dry seasonings on top of sauce. Ground fennel seed, garlic pwd, dried basil and oregano. Then shredded mozzarella gets layered on.

After years of trying flavor combos our default pizza toppings are artichoke hearts (canned/quartered and pressed dry), kalamata olives (whole with pits), onions and sauteed mushrooms.

This gets baked on an aluminum pizza pan at 450 (about 15 mins) and at the last minute I slide the pizza off the pan directly onto the bottom rack of the oven and let it cook for about a minute more. Cool on a rack for a few minutes and eat.

I love champagne with pizza - seriously, it's perfect.
 
The pizza I usually make is basic, my children like it even my 2 1/2years old. I just made one today.

For 2 large crusts:
1 tablespoon (one package) yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 cup warm water
1 cup flour

Add the above ingredients and set a set aside. When the yeast starts to bubble add another
2 cup of flour and add
1 teaspoon garlic or onion sprinkles or finely grated parmesan cheese to the dough to flavor the crust.

Preheat oven to 400F
Spread pizza sauce over the crust
add your favorite veggies and then top with shredded mozeralla cheese.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!
 
I like the idea of flavoring the crust! My crust recipe is is like most of the others except I don't add any oil. Have been using this with junior high and high school students for many years. Toppings can be anything you like. I make a simple sauce with, 1 can tomato sauce, basil, granulated garlic, oragano, a little salt and pepper. I found pizza pans make a great deal of difference in how the pizza comes out also.

Betty R, that calzone looks amazing!
 
I made this again tonight and took some pics.


img_871958_0_2353e128305b0a24b5d07e7a46528b9b.jpg


img_871958_1_33f5195c158cf5be40c05035ef279153.jpg

The best pizza I've ever made wasn't pizza but the pizza fixings rolled up in the dough and baked.

My oven just won't hold the heat necessary to make a nice crisp crust so I just rolled the fixings up in the crust and baked it. Everyone loved it.

I made a few changes...instead of my regular pizza sauce I just used straight tomato paste and spread it on like peanut butter on a sandwich and sprinkled it with garlic salt, Italian seasonings and Parmesan cheese, Mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions and bell peppers. I also cooked my mushrooms first. Rolled it up and baked it.

It was a big hit.
that looks awesome!! i have a fix for your crispy crust. stretch dough out, thin layer of olive oil and a thin layer of sauce, herbs and spices of your choosing. bake at 450F for 2 -3 minutes till dogh rises abit and the sauce looks a bit dry. remove from oven add another thin layer of sauce and your toppings. back into oven till cheese and toppings are to your liking and bottom is golden.

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Pizza dough made from Peter Reinharts's poolish based Ciabatta recipe.

I don't know about Peter Reinhart's recipe, but I make a poolish the day before and it makes all the difference when it comes to both flavor and texture!! :chef:
 
Didn't see any mention of poolish in your 7 Nov. post.

shhhh... it's a secret!!! :ROFLMAO:

Actually, I just started using a poolish since after Christmas. I'm in a position where I make pizzas for myself and/or friends about once a week (I should open a... nah!!!) Anyway, it's worked out really well!

There's one method were I add the yeast directly to the softened dough without blooming it. It makes an interesting crust.

Besides, I used about three different recipes depending on the kind of pizza I was making. Using a poolish makes method number four and has become my favorite.
 
If you make your own pizza dough, allowing it a long slow rise in the fridge will improve the crust immensely.

I make mine the night before I plan to make the pizza, and I use the no-knead NYT bread technique. Just stir your ingredients together, cover the bowl and stick it in the fridge.

If you like thick chewy crust, pat the dough out gently and let it rise for half an hour or so. For thin crust, roll out the dough on the counter.

I have been making pizza from scratch for decades and this crust is my current favorite. Just google "no-knead pizza dough recipe". You start the crust the afternoon before the day you make the pizza, it uses 3 cups of flour and 1/4 t. yeast plus other stuff. I put the water, oil, sugar and yeast in a large bowl, mix together equal parts of semolina, white, and whole wheat flour and stir that in the liquids. I leave mine on the counter top, covered with plastic wrap, until the next day when I make two large, thin crusted pizzas.

My favorite toppings vary, from a white, pesto, or a tomato sauced based pizzas.
 
Since yeast does not seem to digest durum / semolina and whole wheat as readily as some other flours, Bethzaring's approach (a longer unrefrigerated ferment) makes a lot of sense. Because I'm making enough dough to have pizza for two people to eat 2 times a week,
On day one I start with 1 cup of durum, 2 tbs 00 flour, 1 cup water and 1/8 tsp yeast letting it sit unrefrigerated fo 8 hours then refrigerate overnight.
On day two I remove from fridge, add 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup durum, 1 cup bread flour and 1/8 tsp yeast letting it sit unrefrigerated for 5 hours then refrigerate until three o'clock on day 3.
On day 3 I give half the dough(Poolish) to my wife who adds 1/2 tsp yeast, 1/2 cup water, 3/4 tsp salt and enough bread flour (about 1 1/2 cups) to form an elastic dough which she stretches, to make two medium thin crusted pizzas.
On day 4 I feed the remaining refrigerated dough with 3 oz water, 3/4 cup bread flour and 1/4 tsp yeast, ferment unrefrigerated for 3 hours and return to fridge until day 6.
On day 6 I do as on day 4 but also add 3/4 tsp salt.
On day 7 my wife makes the last two pies.
 
My personal favorite pizza recipe is the old fashion cheese pizza! All of those toppings take away from the pizza taste!!!! =)
 
Looks great BettyR!!

I love makeing canolies or calzones what ever you call them.My kids brag to their friends about how big they are and bet them that they cant eat a whole one.I never thought about makeing one huge one.Wait till next canoli nite,and I reveal a couple of these bad boys.Im sure that my kids shall keep their dignity and I will reign supreme as the canoli king.Thanks for the photos, looks delish!
 
In my town, long before I ever heard of a calzone, there was a pizza shop that made what we call a "pizza pastie" If you've ever been in Upper Peninsula Michigan, you know what a pastie is. It's a cross between a pie crust and bread crust wrapped around ground beef, carrots, potatoes, rutabeggas, salt, pepper, and onions. The edge of the crust is substantial, making a handle of sorts with which to hang onto the bread. It was created for miners who often had to eat lunch with dirty hands. The crust "handle" was discarded. Well, this pizza chef did the same thing with pizza dough and filings. But unlike the pasties eaten in the mines, you don't throw away the handles. The thing was very large, like eating a large pizza, but folded, with extremely tasty and juicy sauce and fillings fo choice inside. Pizza Pasties:chef:. you can still get them around here, at the deli in one of our local grocery stores. They aren't quite as large as they were at the now-closed pizza establishment, but that's Ok, 'cause I can't eat as much as I could when I was a teenager. Btu I can still remember how amazing it was, with an ice-cold A & W rootbeer. Anyone who ever visited or lived in Sault Ste. marie, and ate at King's Pizza knows what I'm talking about.

Now I'm jones'n for a pizza pastie, and am short on cash until payday. see what you've done to this poor, hungry man!:(

Oh well, guess I'll have to go home and create something new, at least new to me.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
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