| My thoughts on pizza... [message #69194] |
Sun, 11 June 2006 17:44  |
chuck duffy
Messages: 453
Registered: July 2005
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Senior Member |
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This is mostly for Jimmy... :-)
Jimmy, when I read that you got it after ten tries I almost pissed myself.
I have been working at it for the past ten years and have yet to produce
a pie that I'm satisfied with. But anyway..
Here is my ramble.. You gotta have a stone, or you gotta have some clay
tiles. The stone needs to be heated in a 500 degree oven for at least 30
minutes before hand. The dough needs to be at room temperature (go figure
:-).
Now here's where I go different from everyone else I know. I never, never,
ever put the pizza together and throw it in the oven.
First I sprinkle the stone with corn meal - it will smoke like crazy, and
after tossing the dough lay it out on the stone. Brush the top litely with
olive oil and push the assembly back into the oven.
Watch carefully, and when the top of the dough starts to turn the slightest
brown it's time for the sauce. This is the crucial time, it's where everyone
makes the mistakes... Poke the bubbles that are forming and do the sauce.
It doesn't take much sauce, a couple tablespoons full of crushed tomato/garlic/olive
oil, or a nice pesto. Too much sauce destroys the pie.
Put it back into the oven until the sauce is hot and just starting to dry.
There's nothing worse than a pie with sloppy, dripping sauce.
Now it's time for cheese. Use interesting mixtures of fresh mozz, parm,
romano, assagio, whatever you have on hand, but the key is this.... The cheeses
have to COOK, brown and almost burn to bring out the real flavor.
Once you get to the point where you can reliably produce a great pie you
can move on to adding toppings.
The other thing people often overlook is that a grill is an excellent pizza
oven, but you need to watch the pie like crazy. Soaked apple wood is a good
wood to try on top of the coals.
The other aspect that is often overlooked is the crust. A mixture of crushed
red pepper, kosher salt, parmesean and olive oil brushed over the crust about
2/3 the way through is NUTS!
I love pizza !
Chuck
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