Pizza Makers - A few stupid questions

[BigChiefOrganiser]

Firstly does anyone have a really great, simple thin crust recipe?

Secondly, do all pizza's need to have the tomatoe based pizza sauce? DH says yes, I think not. I'm thinking in terms of if I do a gourmet style topping, Thai satay chicken or such, what base would you use on the crust?

Do you have any recommendations for a very good Pizza recipe book? Would like gourmet style along with traditional. We have a tin of smoked duck meat in the cupboard, and would love to pair that with something on a pizza, but have no idea how to go about it.

If I make them about 10", how many would you need per person?

How long do you need to cook them for (thin crust, 10") or is it by sight?

We're going to start having pizza evenings to get us thruogh the long, cold winter, with a crowd of people over, and am clueless where to start. Will be having a practice this weekend though before I inflict it on other people.

I have a pizza stone and cutter, and flexible boards to slide pizza onto stone. Anything else I need?

TIA

I think you need to experiment.

I think a pesto sauce would be tasty with mozzeralla for example.

Maybe a roasted pepper sauce instead of tomato?

Not sure about duck. I haven't eaten it but know it is a rich meat so you would need a sauce to balance that out.

I love your idea of pizza parties.
Homemade pizza is so much nicer (and a lot less expensive) than take away or readymade.

1. I generally use 80% plain flour, 20% semolina flour, or else plain flour with a handful of rye flour to make it more rustic. teaspoon yeast & teaspoon salt for 450g flour.

1. you are right. pizza without tomato is called pizza bianca. Thai satay chicken pizza doesn't sound gourmet to me though, it sounds weird.

1. smoked duck is a strong flavour so you wouldn't want another strong flavour which would fight with it; it's quite rich so I might put it with rocket. It would be nice with something sweet so I might scatter on some sultanas too.

1. one but I always do garlic bread too, and if I was hungry I would also want a pudding after one that size.

1. by sight. oven v hot for crispiness and 5-10 mins I would expect.

oops, forgot your book question; I don't know of one, sorry. I have used some good ones from Jamie Oliver books but lots of his books have a few, there isn't a single pizza book.

I still don't get why non-traditional toppings are called 'gourmet style' - where did that come from?

Thanks suiledonne. I stole the idea from a colleague in the last town we lived in. They did a Pizza Friday, very casual, bring your own drinks, arrive and leave as it suits. (actually I shall email them too, and ask about quantities/people and cooking times, they were very good at it)

I have no idea Seth, re gourmet style, maybe just to distinguish from traditional, they couldn't go around calling it weird if they wanted to move pizza.

Thai chicken on pizza is lush, used to go to a place in Sydney that did things like that.

I envy your guests, it sounds great, but it will be a lot of work! I tend to only do pizza when I don't have too many people to feed....

You cook by sight. When the cheese is browning, they are usually cooked, takes around 15 minutes.

With the satay chicken, I would go for a peanut sauce.

I usually make a tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, crushed garlic tiny bit of chopped red chilli, basil and oregano.
I spread this over the pizza, and top with grated cheese, mostly a combination of cheddar and mozzarella. Not too much mind. This is one of my favourite toppings:
For the kids, quality ham, pineapple, and thinly sliced fresh mushrooms, and olives.
For us grown ups: sundried tomatoes, cured ham (such as parma or serrano), red peppers, olives, "knobs" of goats cheese.

hi, i regularly make pizzas for us. i use about 2530/250g of plain flour, 6/7g bread yeast by hovis (buy a box of little sachets and use one of them) a few grinds of the salt and pepper cellar, a tea spoon of cooking oil, some water to make into the dough, kneed it for 10 mins and leave for 1 hour - 1 1/3 hours to rise in a warm place, has to be warm for the yeast to react. roll out to whatever thickness you want, put it on pizza tray.

topping, tomato puree, mixed herbs and a little extra oregano, mixed together. spread on piza based topped with mozzorella and cheddar cheese

then i put on a variation of any of these toppings
ham, mushroom, onion, pineapple, peppers, tomotoes, pepporoni,

i do a bbq chicken one with a bit of bbq sauce in the tomato puree, freshly cooked chicken and then squirt a bit more bbq sauce on the top.

usually its by sight that i know its cooked but it comes with practice,

i usally serve mine with homemade potatoe wedges and salad

This is all pretty basic but:

Pancetta (cook first, leave to cool for a few mins until brittle then crumble over pizza) is heavenly.
Be wary of putting too many veg on that give off water (like mushrooms) unless you cook them first as they can make the top of the pizza very soggy.
Having a fresh basil plant around to pull leaves off and scatter on is lovely.
If you put raw veg on it's good to drizzle a little olive oil over the top before it goes in the oven.

HTH. Now I want pizza for tea and I don't have any mozarella

Another favourite one in our house:

Taco pizza.
If we have tacos, I make enough of the fried mince mix, to use for pizza the next day. So, minced beef in a tomato sauce, with chopped red pepper, sweetcorn, seasoned with taco spices. Reheat.
Spread salsa on the base, then add the mince mix, spread over nachos chips, and cheese.

It is FAB!!

I use Nigella's Casareccia recipie, which she says is better than most as it's Ok in a domestic oven, rather than the very hot "pizza" oven's traditionall used.

I can only fit 2 (or 3 at a push) in my oven though. How do you go about catering for lots of people?

Thanks for the great tips!

Re volume of people, they'd just cook them one at a time. Have everything ready in bowls, so they'd just have to roll out the dough, and put the toppings on. You could get a couple of them ready to pop straight in the oven as soon as the first guests arrived, have 2 cooked by the time you've sorted out coats, drinks etc..

Forgot to ask, what sort of temperature would be good for cooking?

I have a pizza stone but if I'm really honest, they seem to cook better on the £2 pizza tray I bought in Tescos . You could get one or two of those otherwise there will be a delay not only while the oven is full but the next people won't be able to make their pizza as they'll we waiting for trays to be free.
Also, buy loads more mozarella than you think you will need, it is amazing how much goes on a pizza.

I cook them on 200 (gas 6ish)

That's always the way Elspeth!

I have 4 of those flexible cutting sheet things, figured we'd make them on those, then slide onto pizza stone. (idea from colleagues Pizza Friday)

I have never got on with pizza stones either, but I might be doing it wrong.

I find 1 pack of mozz does only 2 pizzas unless there is a lot of other cheese or proteiny stuff eg ham, egg, on it as well, when it goes further.

fresh herbs can really jazz it up too.

you could look at Pizza Express or other restaurant menus and steal their ideas!

Some good tips here already. Just to add...

You need to get the oven really hot for successful pizza cooking - I cook at 225C

Make sure you use a mix of plain white flour and plain white strong bread flour to make your dough (along with quick rise yeast, water, salt and a little olive oil). Hugh F-W has a great dough recipe in his latest book.

Pizza stone must be oven hot before laying the dough out on it. Sprinkle a handful of semolina over it first too to get that authentic texture.

I used to make them myself with just flour and yeast but have now gotten lazy and use the Sainsbury's Pizza Base mix which is surprisingly nice and quick to mix up. I use one packet for two large pizzas though as I want a thin base.

If you are using fresh dough I don't think you be able to make the pizza, put all the toppings on and then slide onto the pizza tray as the dough is too soft, it will just flop over and end up in a heap. You need to make it on the thing you are going to put in the oven. Sorry!

Elspeth is right!

I tend to stretch out the dough on baking paper, add the toppings then carefully slide it onto a very hot pizza stone. It's a wee bit fiddly, but it seems to make the base extra tasty.

Stone in the hottest your oven will go ( mine goes up to 250 C )
Roll out dough on floured surface
Get shelf out of oven with stone on
Flop pizza base onto searing hot stone
Add toppings
Bake 5 - 6 minutes

Top tip - make a rich tomato sauce by simmering a tin of chopped tomatoes with 2 tablespoons good olive oil and 2 peeled whole garlic cloves, reduce by half, fish out garlic cloves and whizz in blender. Keeps in fridge covered for a week. Great for pizza, as well as pasta etc.

If using tomato sauce, spread it as thinly as possible, otherwise base won't be crispy.

If you're goin to get serious about it, why not build one of in your garden? You can then get one of those mahoosive paddle things to fish it out with.

doesn't the stone cool down if you are assembling the pizza on it, though?

We do it very quickly - have it all ready to go eg cheese grated, basil torn, takes less than a minute