Homemade pizza - how to get in the oven without breaking?

[LadyMetroland]

For the first time in ages I made homemade pizzas tonight. They were fairly successful but I think I need a few pointers...

Firstly, how do you get the dratted things into the oven directly on the shelf? Raw, thin dough does not lend itself to being man-handled. I ended up putting mine on foil which was ok, but base in the middle was a wee bit soft for my taste.

Second, what are your top tips for adding taste? I felt mine were a bit bland. Does anyone have any sauce tips? I didn't season mine but did use some anchovies - nice but not as nice as Pizza Express sauce. How do they get theirs so tasty?

Any other pizza tips out there?

I use a large baking tray..can stretch the dough with your hands. My sauce is tomato( sometimes I make a fresh sauce) or use polpa or passata with salt and crushed basil then drizzle olive oil on. Toppings in our house tend to be simple.

I roll the dough out then pull it into a sort of rectangular shape and put it on the baking tray before doing the topping.

I make sauce out of toms, onions and garlic; sweet potato to take off the sharpness of the toms and herbs.

Definitely put it on a baking tray - you can get ones with holes in to let the air circulate if you prefer.

I use passata with basil, or buy a jar of pizza sauce!

I put the base on parchment paper - dh rolls it on the paper, you could use a re -useable baking liner. Anyway - don't do the topping until it's on the paper or liner. When it's topped you can place directly on oven shelf, by grabbing the sides, for a fabulously crispy base. Too scared of doing that then slide it off the worktop onto a preheated baking tray - in to the hottest preheated oven you can manage.

Best way I find is to freeze the rolled out based. Then put in an oiled baking tray in a very hot oven.

Sprinkle your baking tray with polenta. Add dough and manhandle to fit if necessary. Don't forget to add some salt to the dough when making or it will be utterly tasteless. I quite like to add a pinch of mustard powder and a little parmesan to mine to give it extra flavour The polenta ensures the dough doesn't stick to the baking tray and gives a nice crispy base.

With your tomato sauce, make sure you caramelise the onions properly at the start - it makes all the difference. I also add garlic, celery and carrot to mine before the tomato and tomato paste, cook it slowly for ages then whizz it with a hand blender.

To get the base crispy pull / roll out the dough and put onto a preheated tray. Then cook without toppings in a really hot oven for a few minutes. Take out and top - put it back in to cook the topping.

Poundland do some great silicon mesh thingies you can use for pizzas - get the bases really crisp

I put mine on the grill tray and then put the topping on, before transferring to the oven.

I use a pizza stone - I heat it in the oven first, then put the dough on there, then the toppings, then put the whole thing back in the oven.

These days the sauce I make is very simple, I got it from someone on here, and it does taste rather like pizza express sauce. I start with frying a crushed clove of garlic in a little olive oil, then before it colours too much I add a tin of tomato puree. I then add a bit of boiling water, swished round the tin, a good squirt of lemon juice, a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper, and then simmer it for about 5 minutes.

And I use delia's recipe for the sauce - blend half a tin of toms with a tbsp of Tom purée and some oregano

i use a baking tray with holes in it - that way it bakes much better than on a tray and you do not get warm soft bottoms

You can get them in tesco or JL

Sauce - I used pasatta, season with salt and pepper, add very finely chopped onion or garlic and add a splash of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, some semi dried tomatoes finely chopped, taste it before adding to your pizza, don't add too much sauce, just a smear is enough. Use mozzarella, no cheddar - it's too overpowering for most toppings, you need to get the balance right - thin base, light coating if tomato sauce, light on the cheese and the toppings. When it comes out of the oven you can season with freshly grated Parmesan, torn basil, extra virgin olive oil, Maldon sea salt or chilli flakes.

I put it on the baking tray too before baking. I need to get some pizza trays though. Passata with seasoning is my sauce, usually basil/garlic/bit salt.

I cook mine in baking trays which I have oiled lightly and thrown some polenta at. The pizzas slide right out. I always turn the oven up to full blast so cooking really only takes 10 mins max.

Tomato sauce- chopped onions, fat clove of garlic sizzled lightly in a bit if chilli oil . Add tin of chopped tomatoes and cook on high until reduced by 1/3. Season with salt pepper dried oregano and a teaspoon of brown sugar . Blitz with hand blender. Nom

Start it on the baking tray then slide it off about halfway through to crisp up the bottom

We use pizza trays with the holes in. Our base is just tomato puree and it tastes great. DH's pizza recipe has a touch of honey in it. As previous advice, we use mozzarella cheese.

Hmm, hadn't thought of baking tray purely because Jamie Oliver book I use insists it goes directly on shelf for crisp base. Will try with holed tray. He also suggests buying a piece of granite to get that 'stonebaked' effect but I have no idea how you'd go about obtaining such a thing.

caramelised onions in sauce a great idea - Will give it a whirl

There's no way I could lift one of our pizzas onto the oven shelf without it completely collapsing into a heap. Not sure what Jamie Oliver is thinking of

I hand stretch the dough directly on the shelf. Our oven gets super hot and I make the bases quite thin so come out crispy (I also proof the bases after they've been stretched).

For flavour I use a bit more olive oil than the recipes suggest.

For the sauce I use garlic, softened, tinned toms and herbs. Occasionally a bit of chopped courgette then whizz up and simmer for about 30-45 mins.

I absolutely love calzone too (ie pizza folded in half). You can add spinach which tastes lovely

(when I say onto the shelf - I line it with foil first and they are removable obviously!)

Ds loves pizza but hates home made pizza Some of these ideas sound great though! Anyone got a good pizza dough recipe?
Might give them another go this weekend. I have a pizza stone, what do I do with it??

My pizza stone is the most used kitchen thing ever. Stick it in a smoking oven while the dough rises, cover in semolina, stick rolled out dough on it, we use just Tom purée and oregano, sprinkle with cheese, stink on some pepperoni, torn mozerella and more grated cheese, takes about 15 mins! Lush!

We use pizza stones in a very hot oven, semolina on the outside of the dough gives a lovely texture too.

I roll the dough out on a piece of floured foil and then lift the foil onto a pre heated pizza stone. Works really well for the children to make their own little pizzas.

My pizza sauce recipe:
Tin of tomatoes in a pan - add a pinch of sugar, pinch of oregano, half a tsp of garlic salt and a squirt of tomato puree. Bring to a slow bubble and then mash with a potato masher. Add a tblsp of EV olive oil and reduce over a v low heat for a couple of hours. Alternatively you can put in a warm oven or aga for a few hours. I make once a month or so and freeze. Also make a big batch of pizza dough and freeze.