The Pizza Thread - Piffle

To pizza I say piffle, that's PIFFLE - Pizza Is For Food Lovers Everywhere.

Anyone who doesn't like pizza just hasn't found the right kind of pizza to suit them yet, but who doesn't like pizza? It is one of America's favorite fast-foods, though it's not always that fast, and it is probably the most healthy choice in fast-foods not to mention the tastiest. It certainly is the most versatile and personalize-able of the fast-foods, but lets get off the fast-food kick, discard the Domino's delivery pizza for a moment and talk about the pizza made at home.

There is just no end to what you can do with pizza made in your own kitchen. You can throw the kitchen sink into a deep-dished everything-under-the-sun meat and veggie pizza, or the purist can make a simple pepperoni pizza on a crisp thin crust. they are all good. The pizza pictured above is actually a "white" pizza, that is to say it has no tomato sauce but uses a special sauce I made to help bring all the elements together. It turned out good, was an experiment prompted by a friend online whose husband prefers white pizzas, and in a conversation on the subject of white pizza said I would have a go at it myself. But to be honest I prefer the traditional red-sauce pizzas. It is just not a hard, fast rule in pizza-making that one needs to use a tomato sauce, there really are not any rules. There are some obvious limitations but essentially for pizza, anything goes. Todo vale. This white pizza is topped with roasted chicken, baby portobello mushrooms, mango, and calabacitas (zuchinni), and tomato slices.

I will get into the intracacies of pizza making in this thread. Actually there is only one step that really can be critical and that is making the crust, a good crust can make or break a pizza, and it is the only part that has to adhere to at least some rough measurements, proper ingredients, and requires a little effort to get it right. So to get ready for that big step I will end this first post here and open my sack of flour to get ready to show that first big, all-important step.

_________________
"There is no route out of the maze. The maze shifts as you move through it because it is alive. "
— Philip K. Dick (VALIS)

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Mon 27 Jun 2011, 15:30 by Dave and Rosy

We await your tutorial recipes... yummm and please with tomato sauce...

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Tue 28 Jun 2011, 06:00 by Don Cuevas

My Pizza Pics; some of my pizzas, some of pizza pros'.
Click me for pizza!

I'd better include a wedge shot of a recent pizza.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Tue 28 Jun 2011, 10:18 by **Peter**

A "recent" pizza?? Is this one you made at home recently? Looks good! Your Picasa spread had many that appeard to come from American pizzarias. Almost unfair comparison but we tend to make do here.

Finding suitable cheeses is not always easy. Queso Oaxaca works, it melts, and there are mozzarelas to be found in most larger stores but that is often limited to bags of shredded cheese. Costco and Sam's has some good cheeses but it is not always dependable to be able to find certain ones again after buying some to experiment with. What did/do you typically use?

For my white pizza I would have like to have made it with a clam sauce but locating such items are kind of hit and miss here. I settled for using chicken in mine. Last Friday we were at Mega Commercial and found a large can of chopped clams for around $200mx. I passed for the time being as the can was so large it would have meant eating clams all week. When the weather gets cooler I will hope to find these again and make clam chowder.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Tue 28 Jun 2011, 18:21 by Don Cuevas

The colorful wedge in the pic was at Ray's Famous NY Pizza, Verona, NJ.
I have several shots of their amazing pizza varieties in a dedicated Pizza Album. https://picasaweb.google.com/104875488785418381911/RaySFamousNYPizza

At home, the most recent pizza I made was a simple Margherita, with crushed Italian tomatoes, mozz cheese and fresh basil.

The second pizza was a Puttanesca, with tomatoes, black and green olives and anchovies. It also got a sprinkle of mild red pepper flakes.

About clams: Wal-Mart and I think, Superama, have jars of whole baby clams. The same product is also available in cans, for somewhat less. They are excellent products, running about $60 pesos per.

Here's a photo of the classic white clam pizza, at The Spot (next door to Pepe's), in New Haven, CT.

Now this is making me hungry.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Tue 28 Jun 2011, 18:54 by Don Cuevas

Another thought: I'm not too keen on most of the pepperoni I've had in recent years. Locally, I prefer to use a semi-dry Spanish type chorizo. It works well, is less greasy and to me, it tastes better.
I can get them at Don Chucho's, the gringo's gourmet grocer of Pátzcuaro, as well as other places.

The ones on the left. The ones on the right are "casero", and too picante for my taste.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Tue 28 Jun 2011, 21:53 by **Peter**

Gringo gourmet grocer... I don't know of such in Morelia. I guess we have some supermarkets that are semi-gourmet for the upscale crowd. None of that on my end of town though.

I end up making a lot of linguicia pizza or Italian sausage that I get at Superama. I find pepperoni in various forms here and there. Mostly use the bags of frozen, sliced pepperoni from Sam's or Costco but haven't bought any for awhile. For a time I was craving pepperoni but after a time of havng it regularly I do prefer the local-made sausages. I will buy the Argentinan chorizo, white or yellow variety, when my carnicería makes them but that is not regularly. I like those anytime but their availability usually prompts me to make pizza with them.

Good thing about pizza is that anything goes. A favorite Mexican style I haven't made in a long time is tuna and jalapeño. I use much more mango than piña when the occasion calls for a sweet touch. One of the pizza photos I have coming up has mango as a topping and how to deal with the mango. Cut off the flat sides, score them in a criss-cross then push them out and cut off the dices.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Wed 29 Jun 2011, 05:15 by Don Cuevas

Don Chucho's customer base are local people, but they do carry a lot of specialty foods that appeal to gringos. Much of those items they buy at Costco or maybe Sam's and add a little markup. There's a cheese factory across the street, and the Panadería La Espiga, with its wood fired oven and terrific sourdough rolls is a few blocks north

Besides those delicacies, I was able to find Cristal Manteca Vegetal—the only store in Pátzcuaro that I know of. I consider Cristal second only to Crisco for making pie crusts.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Wed 29 Jun 2011, 08:59 by **Peter**

Thanks, I'll watch for that brand. Not sure which I've used here, everything is kind of make-do. I've gotten some reasonable pie crusts though. Might have been that brand I used. Don't remember off-hand where I bought it, Soriana or Superama perhaps.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Fri 01 Jul 2011, 03:34 by Don Cuevas

I like the U.S. brand, "Precious" Mozzarella, as sold in 907 gram blocks at Costco. It's to be preferred over the pre-shredded mozz in a bag. As you say, Peter, Queso Oaxaca makes a good substitute. There are other white, melting Mexican cheeses that will do in a pinch, but the Oaxacan is closest to mozz.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Fri 01 Jul 2011, 11:03 by **Hound Dog**

I´m sympathetic with you guys but, since I prefer pizza prepared in a wood fired oven, of which Dawg ain´t got one in his home, I prefer that someone else prepare it. As someone once said about sandwiches, they always taste better when prepared by someone else - well that´s Dawg´s preference as well when it comes to pizza.

When we are in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, a town with a large Italian colony, we prefer the thin crust pizzas from Pizzeria El Punto prepared in the wood fired oven and are especially fond of their versions of Pizza Pugliese and Siciliana but they have many varieties and I have never had a bad pizza there. There are a number of very good pizzerias in San Cristobal but El Punto, with two locations, has a branch on El Cerrillo Plaza near our home there and that, plus their delicious thin crust, wood fired pizzas makes them the winner down there in our book.

Now, when we are in Ajijic, we rarely eat pizza except when we have swimming parties for the kids of our local Mexican friends and we have learned long ago that Domino´s is fine but we had damn well better have some catsup in the house as that is an essential ingredient for these youngsters.

Sorry no pictures but as to the latter pizza, just invite some Mexican kids over, order any Domino´s pizza and pour catsup over it. Maybe, I´ll try that method the next time the kids are over only with a bit of mayonnaise as well.

Now Dawg´s darlin´ wife is a frog and she has added immensely to my pizza eating repertoire by the addition to my menu the delicious pisaladier or French onion and anchovy pizza popular in the Nice area and made on a thin crust with tomato sauce but no cheese. Damn, I could have married old Betty Sue back in Alabama and spent my life after youthful and complicating sexual adventures having subsisted on collard greens and hog jowls and I married a frog and lived on stuff like pisaladier. Here´s to variety.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Fri 01 Jul 2011, 13:30 by JimRP

So Pete, when you started this thread, you promised to share your recipe for pizza crust. I hope that is still on the way!

Jim

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Fri 01 Jul 2011, 23:11 by **Peter**

Pizza Dough

Ready for the oven

Well, here it is, the magic formula:

- 3 parts flour for the foundation
- 1 measure of dry yeast to make it rise
- 1 spoon of sugar to feed the yeast
- 1 dash of salt to give it flavor

Mix these together and add:
- 1 part water, very warm to start the yeast
- 1 drizzle of oil for the helluvit

Knead vigorously by hand 7-10 minutes (or more) or use electric mixer with dough hook. The dough should aggregate completely and should pull cleanly away from the mixing bowl, or adjust flour or water slightly until it does.

Give it a few minutes rise time covered with a towel then roll it out to fit your pan, then allow a few more minutes covered before adding toppings. I set the pizza pan with the ready dough, covered, on top of the stove as the oven pre-heats so the warmth will rise the dough quickly.

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That's the basic formula and all you would ever need to know or do to have a good pizza crust every time. But taking a look at all the pizzas pictured you will see plenty of variation, though all on the same general theme.

Slight adjustments to the mixture, rise times, type of flour, freshness of the yeast, thickness of the dough, baking times and temperatures, addition of other ingredients, reposing the dough, etc., all will customize your dough and/or make it suitable for thick custs, thin crusts, deep-dish style, give it crispness, stretchiness, and other characteristics.

Best to start out by following the basic imprecise formula, then roll out the dough suitable to the type of pizza you want to make. See by practice what that does for you and how you may want to customize your dough.

The grade of flour you use, how active your yeast is, how you activate the yeast, how you rise the dough, if you use canola oil vs. extra virgin olive oil, all will give somewhat different results. There is no right or wrong way, the experts and afficionados can argue the fine points, there is just making a kind of dough you like. Simple!

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Sat 02 Jul 2011, 03:26 by Don Cuevas

I use a variation of the pizza dough recipe in "The Vegetarian Epicure, Book Two", by Anna Thomas.

Quote:

Notes:
1: I am not a vegetarian, but I really like this book.
2: This is not an authentic Neapolitan pizza dough recipe, but it works well.

1 pkg (1tbsp) dry yeast (I prefer to use less, if Im not in a hurry, and let the dough rise more slowly. It tastes better, risen over 4 or 5 hours. Easy to do in col Pátzcuaro area weather.)
Dissolve in 1/4 cup of warm water, let sit 5 minutes.
Approx 1 cup warm, not hot water in mixing bowl.
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
The dissolved yeast
approx 3 cups of flour, added in increments. I like Sello Rojo Tradicional, if I can get it. If not, I use Harinera Guadalupana OPTIMA.
1 tbsp Olive oil and a bit more for the bowl.

I usually start mechanical mixing with the flat beater, then as the dough begins to come together, switch to a dough hook. But as Peter indicated, hand mixing is fine.

When the dough forms a ball and cleans up the inside of the bowl, it's kneaded.
Coat with a light film of olive oil and let rise slowly, covered, (I use hotel shower caps) at least 2 hours and up to 5.

I could eat pizza every week, but it's more trouble than pasta, so we have pasta more often.

Re: The Pizza Thread - Piffle on Sat 02 Jul 2011, 04:20 by **Peter**

Sounds like the same formula but in a somewhat different order. The only real difference is the shower cap, but if you are going to let it rise for five hours you may need something more airtight than a towel to keep the dough from drying out on top.

My preference is to make up enough dough that I have enough left-over for one or two more pizzas then store the extras in the refrigerator to let them repose for a couple days or more and rise slowly in a plastic bag. When you get ready to use it let it come up to room or kitchen temperature. If there is need to store longer than a few days they can be frozen of course.

Less yeast used can give a chewier dough.

My pasta maker gets a good workout also. Been making more pizzas lately though.

The Pizza Thread - Piffle

The Pizza Thread - Piffle :: Comments

The Pizza Thread - Piffle