A pizza documentary. (by John Dough)

[Gregorian]

Sorry. I never was known for being witty.

I just thought it might be at least entertaining to see the steps in making pizza around my place. I'm one of those people who needs a hand to hold, in order to learn. I wish they had been more friendly in engineering school. At any rate, for those who might be the same way, I thought I'd show just how easy it is to make a pizza. And I do it the hard way. Sooner or later someone will show me how to do it the right way. Like tossing the dough. And not using parchment paper to get it off the peel.

There will be more pictures to come, as the process unfolds. Or as the dough finishes rising.

My dough recipe is 3 cups of unbleached flour. I say unbleached because if I don't, I hear Julia asking if it's unbleached. She always did that. I mix it with around a cup of water. Probably less. Just enough to get it coming clean from the mixing bowl. And I also add a half cup of sour dough starter. The starter makes it super easy. But it is a recipe in itself to create. But once it's made, it lives on forever.

Here's a few pics.



Sour dough starter


Mixing


Now it needs to double. Could be this afternoon, or could be tomorrow morning. We'll find out. I think I mixed this one a bit dry.

[NMDemDist2]

1. sweet, I love photo cooking threads, can't wait for the next installment !

:bounce:

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

2. looks great.

Now, I'm waiting for the perfect sauce!

best

[Gregorian]

9. This sauce is pretty good.

I'll know better when I have a slice tomorrow for lunch. I've learned something- a thicker sauce doesn't soak into the pizza crust like a thin one.

[Lars39]

3. MMmmmmm...Sour dough pizza crust!!!

Haven't had any in 20 yrs. It makes a very good crust.
:drool:

[Gregorian]

4. Here we go! Some more pictures.

And this time I'll focus the camera.

The dough was a slow riser. Had to toss it in the fridge over night. But it eventually puffed up.



Here's how I begin the shaping. I use pizza pan to use for sizing. And as you can see, I'm using parchment paper. I found that it can be reused. This one is on it's fifth pizza. I think it's dead Jim.



Here's the ingredients. Green pepper, Tillamook extra super duper sharp, around a half pound of mushrooms, half a can of olives, smashed garlic, sausage, and some sauce that I'll get to when the oven is up to temp. by the way, I totally recommend a Chinese knife. Talk about multitasking- it's a knife, a garlic crusher, a spatula, a scooper, among other things. I used to work in a Chinese restaurant once upon a time, and learned quite a bit.



The shrooms are sauted dry and then garlic is tossed on. And some salt. Thanks Husb2sparkly for the great idea.



Here's the cheese. And that's my homemade grater that is used for making hashbrowns the perfect size. Sometimes you just have to do it yourself.



And this is the stone I use. It's actually a marble tabletop that I cut down to fit the oven.


I've got to get back to the pizza. The oven should be around 550 by now.

Later!

[SW FL Dem]

5. Looks Yummy

can't wait to see pics of the finished product.

[Gregorian]

6. Pizza!

Well, it ended up being the best yet.

First goes on the sauce. Thanks OldLeftieLawyer for the great recipe. Of course, being me, I couldn't follow directions. That, and the grocer left the bag at the checkout that contained the celery. Plus I added a few things like habanero sauce. It's a great spaghetti sauce, but I wasn't sure it would work in pizza.



Not just any cheese. Tillamook extra sharp. It's so hard, you really can't grate it without it crumbling. I am very hard to satisfy when it comes to cheddar. Ok, I never said I was making a traditional pizza. But still, this is one of the better cheeses, IMHO.



Here's where the parchment comes in. (Pizza training wheels. I really can't get the hang of just corn meal.) The cutting board becomes the peel.




Into the oven with it.



After about three minutes, the parchment comes out. This can be tricky. I get the peel under half the pizza, and then jiggle the parchment out.



About 12 minutes later, and voila. Or however they say it in Italian. Presto?



One delicious bite, and it is confirmed. Great pizza.


Like I've always said- we could spend all of our time just sharing recipes. Pizzas for peace.

[NMDemDist2]

7. YUM!! my kinda pizza (and I love Tillamok extra sharp cheddar too) n/t

[Gregorian]

8. I wondered if it would ever turn out.

I've been working toward a decent pizza for over twenty years. I'm embarassed to even admit it. Fianlly, I'm happy with it. Although that last picture doesn't look too appealing. There are chefs, and there are people who have to work their buns off to get it right.

[eleny]

10. A meal in a slice

It looks delicious. This pizza is as generous as it gets. If I didn't have a small bowl of raspberries here, I'd be gnawing the edge of my desk!