Usually every other week I’ll make either: Andrew’s yeasted NY-style, Kenji Lopez-Alt’s yeasted sheet pan, or the bar pie by the notorious PIE on Instagram. All veggie toppings - my daughter loves black olives so I’ll usually do one of those with tomato sauce, then maybe a plain cheese with tomato sauce and then maybe one with shallots or mushrooms on a white pie with cream for the sauce. In summertime I’ll shred, salt and drain/squeeze dry a few zucchini/summer squash and mix that with the cheese (h/t smitten kitchen). In the wintertime I might f around and shred some Brussels sprouts and throw them on a white pie. This past Saturday night I slinged out six bar style pies for a pumpkin carving party in my backyard.
Something I’ve always wondered is the best way to scale pizza recipes for different-diameter pies. I’ve tried adjusting the amount of flour based on the ratio of the surface area of the pie called for by the recipe and the surface area of the pie I want to make but it always feels like I have more dough than I need after scaling. Anyone have any tips?
I make pizza very often and now am using the sourdough thin pizza crust recipe that you posted here about a year ago for nearly all my pizza-making needs . I had asked a bread-friend (who is also a regular friend - clarifying in case they read this) what sourdough pizza crust they liked, and they pointed me to Wordloaf. I had tried many sourdough pizza dough recipes before, but always found the NYT version of Roberta's non-sourdough to be superior. That was not the case with yours. It's delicious, with real depth of flavor and is reliable in terms of how it behaves. I found that it doesn't even require as long of a cold ferment as you suggest (though the flavor does deepen if left for the longer rest). I've made it many times on the same day (final dough mix in the morning, shaping and baking in the evening) using the same levain build that I use for my other breads and bagels. If I'm making pizzas in my Ooni I divide the dough into four balls instead of two. This same recipe makes killer flatbreads for falafel, etc. It's been a game-changer for me. Thank you for sharing it!
I have been making pizza about once a month for the last forty years or so.
My go to "sauce" for the last five years are a base of homemade olive tapenade (Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone recipe), followed by a complete cover of very thinly sliced and drained fresh tomatoes, then a heavy handed sprinkling of chopped soft sun dried tomatoes ( I use tomatoes in packages rather than marinated in oil).
After that base, my toppings are thinly sliced onions sauteed with olive oil and black pepper until softened, sliced mushrooms and sliced green olives.
I have been trying new dough recipes over the last decade but I always put a bunch of dried herbs in my dough. I crush oregano, thyme, basil, a lot of marjoram and a touch of fennel into the dry ingredients.
Since I was born in Chicago, I started making Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza a few years ago after trying an abominable example at a chain of a much beloved Chicago Pizzeria. Recently I found a recipe I like that is not too heavy on the dough and has the cheese and tomato sauce layered in the correct order!
Right now I am making John Carruthers's Tavern-Style Pizza for the first time and have the dough proofing in the fridge.
I've actually never attempted homemade pizza. I don't have my own starter going, so I'm relying on instant yeast for now, and I have mixed results getting the kind of flavor profile I want from that method. When I have the time to proof dough for long enough, I'd love to try a rectangular pizza in my challenger bread pan. Here to learn!
Pizza month is exciting. I am a master of the English muffin pizza for the children but have never made dough-from-scratch pizza. I would love to learn how to make different kinds of crusts plus a spinach ricotta pizza.
Love this newsletter; it is '1st place, blue ribbon' from my house.
We make pizza weekly in our house! I use the King Arthur sourdough discard pizza dough and love the flavor of the discard in the resulting crust. Standard toppings are tomato sauce, cheese, bell pepper and pepperoni but we love to experiment in the summer with whatever our small garden provides! Zucchini blossoms are my favorite in season
Though it may be disloyal to say, I use the Bittman pizza dough recipe from the NYT ca. 2003. It's very easy: 3C flour, 2t salt and yeast, 2T olive oil, 1C water, basically dump-and-mix, then refrigerate for 1-7 days. In the case of pizza, the primary objective is getting dinner on the table with minimal fuss. In my one apt. I have a DIY pizza stone made of six red clay paving tiles that are like $1 each from the Big Box Hardware Store. In the other, I don't have a stone or steel, so it's a bit less satisfying, but I still make it on average once a week. I know that my pizza is not as good as it could be, but it's still pretty delicious. Toppings are usually a basic red sauce (Marcella Hazan if I have made it), mozzarella cheese (fresh if available, otherwise the rubber stuff), and whatever veggies, meat, sausage are in the fridge. Reading this, I realize that I have a kind of cavalier attitude toward pizza, I guess. I still think it comes out better than just about any neighborhood joint that's near me.
I'm most confident with the sourdough recipe from last Pizzember, and I've modified it slightly to end up at at a flour ratio that is about 60% Caputo 00 and 40% bread flour. Sometimes, I might add a little less than 5% rye. Instead of letting it sit untouched for the suggested two hours, I add in two stretch and folds about 40 minutes apart, and then once more before putting into the fridge. I've found those extra touches help give me the added lift and structure I want.
I'm still trying to figure out best practices for pan pizza, such as Andrew's al taglio one. I don't find that my pies brown in a predictable manner, and sometimes I have to blast the heat for the last five minutes. Still playing around with on and off a baking steel.
Also trying to figure out the best time to add toppings to these pies. I parbake my crusts naked for a little less than half the cooking time. I'm not a big fan of browned cheese, so I'm still trying to find the perfect moment of when to add it so that it's perfectly gooey and not crusty.
Ours, roughly every 10-14 days, is a 3-4 day cold ferment yeasted NY style that began somewhere 10 or more years ago via pizzamaking.com. I think it originated as a JerryMac crossed with Pete-zza's tweaks (it's just flour (I experiment with different types - high gluten, bread, Caputo Nuvola, blending them, etc.), a tiny bit of diastatic malt powder, water, IDY, and kosher salt). It's been a 28 year journey trying to duplicate the pizza we grew up with. Toppings are usually pepperoni, sometimes spicy soppressata instead, and a hot pepper. Usually peperoncini but sometimes I do fresh or pickled jalapeno slices or roasted Hatch chiles instead. That's the style I'm most interested in, since it's what we think of when we think "pizza". I also use the same dough for calzone and stromboli (and garlic knots).
I've also done a few Chicago-style casseroles (being from the NY/NJ area we don't consider that pizza ;-) ) which had fresh Italian sausage (not pre-cooked), pepperoni, and precooked spinach and mushrooms in them. My dough recipe for those is always pizzamaking's BTB Malnati clone with semolina. It might not be real pizza, but it's really good.
In the last couple of months I dabbled in Detroit style since it came across one of my FB pizza feeds. Bought a Lloyd pan and used Hans' recipe also from pizzamaking.com. Toppings for those were pepperoni and precooked mushrooms. Some day soon I want to try that dough as a focaccia.
One style that interests me which I haven't tried doing is Neapolitan. Unfortunately, I don't yet have the oven for it.
I’ve been making pizza at home for years, used to be just store bought dough from the refrigerated section… nothing special. Then I started researching how to make my own dough, specifically for a Greek pizza (Boston/surrounding area thing). Have been doing that for awhile, then started getting into making thin crust, Neapolitan, and NY style. Have tried 00 flour, AP, bread flour, and high gluten flour. Always go back to using the high gluten and making the NY style. I like to make my own version of a margarita pizza, adding a little red wine to the sauce, using little sungold tomatoes, homemade pesto, fresh mozzarella and drizzling with a balsamic reduction. I also make one with olive oil and minced garlic as the “sauce”, fresh arugula, shrimp, and a sprinkling of cheese, then drizzle with a balsamic reduction. I also make the usuals, plain cheese, pepperoni, green pepper and onion, etc. sometimes I do roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, onion, and rosemary, sometimes I do chicken with scallions and pickled onions with a drizzle of spicy mayo.
I have everything queued up to make our usual at home pizza which is done about once every 2 months. I make the ATK Cast Iron Pan pizza and just use cheese and simple sauce as toppings. For homemade, I've found the most success with simple/no toppings. I'm inspired to try the sourdough pizza thin crust again.
When we order in pizza (which is once a week or so) favorite toppings right now for my 17 year old: sauce, cheese, bacon, scallion and globs of pesto. Yum. My 16 year old has not changed his toppings in 10 years. He likes sauce, cheese, sausage, red onion, and black olive. My husband and mix it up every time. Thanks for the ideas everyone!!
Since I got into sourdough 3 years ago, I've become a "dough snob" and will not make anything "dough" without Sir Bobby-Farts Alot. :) So the dough always has about 30g of Bobby in it, and I only make one pizza since it's only 2 of us and we like the same thing -- veggies. I bake it in my my challenger pan because it makes pizza soooo crispy! Since we love garlic, I usually make a pesto as the base sauce (I still have some frozen from this summer's abundance of basil). Last time I mixed the pesto with goat cheese that that was really yummy. Then I add my dehydrated tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, olives, shallots -- whatever I find in my fridge--and then topped with mozzarella and some Asiago or a good goat gouda. I'd love to add brussels sprouts but I think my hubby would not appreciate that too much. :) Maybe if I shred them finely and hide them under the cheese? Mhmmm, I need to think about that one..... I wonder if he'd notice? ;)
I have been using my "Napoli" (00/Italian semolina starter) to make sourdough pizza for a few years now. I first started with TPL's pizza dough recipe, which I liked, but have switched in the past year to Wordloaf's SD Thin Crust Pizza. I use 00 in place of AP and Italian Semolina in place of the whole wheat. This is my Go-To pizza dough! It is perfect for the Neapolitan style pizza that we love...in flavor and texture! I typically do a 72-96 hour "fermentardation" (my new word for a long cold retard and fermenting of flavors!) in the fridge if I am not freezing the dough (which I do often to have dough on hand whenever I want to use it). We usually make pizza monthly and make two pies, one margherita (with grass-fed buffalo mozz that I strain), basic sauce that I make (BA's "Red Sauce for Pizza") and fresh basil, EVOO and maldon salt after the bake. I use a baking steel, get my oven to 550 for at least 45 mins and I cook the pizza in 4 mins! (launch dough onto steel, spritz with water bottle, 2 mins broil and 2 mins bake- on the steel, close to the top of the oven). The second pie we usually experiment and try dessert pizzas!
Just this week I used my pizza dough for Lydia Bastianch's "pizza rolls" (kinda like a calzone) stuffed with Italian sausage and broccoli de rape! YUM!
I’ve mostly made pizza dough recipes with the goal to get rid of sourdough discard but without the patience and forethought needed for the 1-3 day true sourdough pizza recipes out there. I’ve made the KAF sourdough pizza recipe before in distant past, and for a while I mostly used the 2-cup-discard wonder that is the sourdough pizza recipe from the blog The Gingered Whisk, but I realized that my discard was overall too sour, and while it was edible, in the end, my daughter liked the cheese but not the crust. Lately my go to recipe for pizza is taken from Bonnie Ohara’s book “Bread Baking for Beginners”, in which she uses a fairly high hydration no knead bread dough for pizza dough. I adapted it to take on 150 grams of discard, which has also been less sour recently due to more dedicated feeding of my starter during the pandemic. The dough is light and airy from the regular yeast and higher hydration, and with a bit more character from the added starter. And my daughter loves this crust, as long as it doesn’t get too crispy! I do a 450ish (I think? Whatever Bonnie has in her book) degree oven and bake pizzas on my Lodge cast iron pizza pan that I got from my mom. As for toppings, my daughter fell in love with a basic white sauce with garlic, Parmesan, and mozzarella, and lots of black pepper, and that’s all we ever do these days. Topped with pepperoni and cheese for the kid, veggies and meat du jour (whatever is in the fridge) for the grownups. I keep collecting other pizza crust recipes and never really having much opportunity or motivation to budge from the current crowd favorite. But we haven’t bought pizza in years!
Usually every other week I’ll make either: Andrew’s yeasted NY-style, Kenji Lopez-Alt’s yeasted sheet pan, or the bar pie by the notorious PIE on Instagram. All veggie toppings - my daughter loves black olives so I’ll usually do one of those with tomato sauce, then maybe a plain cheese with tomato sauce and then maybe one with shallots or mushrooms on a white pie with cream for the sauce. In summertime I’ll shred, salt and drain/squeeze dry a few zucchini/summer squash and mix that with the cheese (h/t smitten kitchen). In the wintertime I might f around and shred some Brussels sprouts and throw them on a white pie. This past Saturday night I slinged out six bar style pies for a pumpkin carving party in my backyard.
Something I’ve always wondered is the best way to scale pizza recipes for different-diameter pies. I’ve tried adjusting the amount of flour based on the ratio of the surface area of the pie called for by the recipe and the surface area of the pie I want to make but it always feels like I have more dough than I need after scaling. Anyone have any tips?
I make pizza very often and now am using the sourdough thin pizza crust recipe that you posted here about a year ago for nearly all my pizza-making needs . I had asked a bread-friend (who is also a regular friend - clarifying in case they read this) what sourdough pizza crust they liked, and they pointed me to Wordloaf. I had tried many sourdough pizza dough recipes before, but always found the NYT version of Roberta's non-sourdough to be superior. That was not the case with yours. It's delicious, with real depth of flavor and is reliable in terms of how it behaves. I found that it doesn't even require as long of a cold ferment as you suggest (though the flavor does deepen if left for the longer rest). I've made it many times on the same day (final dough mix in the morning, shaping and baking in the evening) using the same levain build that I use for my other breads and bagels. If I'm making pizzas in my Ooni I divide the dough into four balls instead of two. This same recipe makes killer flatbreads for falafel, etc. It's been a game-changer for me. Thank you for sharing it!
I have been making pizza about once a month for the last forty years or so.
My go to "sauce" for the last five years are a base of homemade olive tapenade (Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone recipe), followed by a complete cover of very thinly sliced and drained fresh tomatoes, then a heavy handed sprinkling of chopped soft sun dried tomatoes ( I use tomatoes in packages rather than marinated in oil).
After that base, my toppings are thinly sliced onions sauteed with olive oil and black pepper until softened, sliced mushrooms and sliced green olives.
I have been trying new dough recipes over the last decade but I always put a bunch of dried herbs in my dough. I crush oregano, thyme, basil, a lot of marjoram and a touch of fennel into the dry ingredients.
Since I was born in Chicago, I started making Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza a few years ago after trying an abominable example at a chain of a much beloved Chicago Pizzeria. Recently I found a recipe I like that is not too heavy on the dough and has the cheese and tomato sauce layered in the correct order!
Right now I am making John Carruthers's Tavern-Style Pizza for the first time and have the dough proofing in the fridge.
I've actually never attempted homemade pizza. I don't have my own starter going, so I'm relying on instant yeast for now, and I have mixed results getting the kind of flavor profile I want from that method. When I have the time to proof dough for long enough, I'd love to try a rectangular pizza in my challenger bread pan. Here to learn!
Andrew,
Pizza month is exciting. I am a master of the English muffin pizza for the children but have never made dough-from-scratch pizza. I would love to learn how to make different kinds of crusts plus a spinach ricotta pizza.
Love this newsletter; it is '1st place, blue ribbon' from my house.
Thank you!
Sandy
We make pizza weekly in our house! I use the King Arthur sourdough discard pizza dough and love the flavor of the discard in the resulting crust. Standard toppings are tomato sauce, cheese, bell pepper and pepperoni but we love to experiment in the summer with whatever our small garden provides! Zucchini blossoms are my favorite in season
Though it may be disloyal to say, I use the Bittman pizza dough recipe from the NYT ca. 2003. It's very easy: 3C flour, 2t salt and yeast, 2T olive oil, 1C water, basically dump-and-mix, then refrigerate for 1-7 days. In the case of pizza, the primary objective is getting dinner on the table with minimal fuss. In my one apt. I have a DIY pizza stone made of six red clay paving tiles that are like $1 each from the Big Box Hardware Store. In the other, I don't have a stone or steel, so it's a bit less satisfying, but I still make it on average once a week. I know that my pizza is not as good as it could be, but it's still pretty delicious. Toppings are usually a basic red sauce (Marcella Hazan if I have made it), mozzarella cheese (fresh if available, otherwise the rubber stuff), and whatever veggies, meat, sausage are in the fridge. Reading this, I realize that I have a kind of cavalier attitude toward pizza, I guess. I still think it comes out better than just about any neighborhood joint that's near me.
All Andrew recipes, all the time!
I'm most confident with the sourdough recipe from last Pizzember, and I've modified it slightly to end up at at a flour ratio that is about 60% Caputo 00 and 40% bread flour. Sometimes, I might add a little less than 5% rye. Instead of letting it sit untouched for the suggested two hours, I add in two stretch and folds about 40 minutes apart, and then once more before putting into the fridge. I've found those extra touches help give me the added lift and structure I want.
I'm still trying to figure out best practices for pan pizza, such as Andrew's al taglio one. I don't find that my pies brown in a predictable manner, and sometimes I have to blast the heat for the last five minutes. Still playing around with on and off a baking steel.
Also trying to figure out the best time to add toppings to these pies. I parbake my crusts naked for a little less than half the cooking time. I'm not a big fan of browned cheese, so I'm still trying to find the perfect moment of when to add it so that it's perfectly gooey and not crusty.
Ours, roughly every 10-14 days, is a 3-4 day cold ferment yeasted NY style that began somewhere 10 or more years ago via pizzamaking.com. I think it originated as a JerryMac crossed with Pete-zza's tweaks (it's just flour (I experiment with different types - high gluten, bread, Caputo Nuvola, blending them, etc.), a tiny bit of diastatic malt powder, water, IDY, and kosher salt). It's been a 28 year journey trying to duplicate the pizza we grew up with. Toppings are usually pepperoni, sometimes spicy soppressata instead, and a hot pepper. Usually peperoncini but sometimes I do fresh or pickled jalapeno slices or roasted Hatch chiles instead. That's the style I'm most interested in, since it's what we think of when we think "pizza". I also use the same dough for calzone and stromboli (and garlic knots).
I've also done a few Chicago-style casseroles (being from the NY/NJ area we don't consider that pizza ;-) ) which had fresh Italian sausage (not pre-cooked), pepperoni, and precooked spinach and mushrooms in them. My dough recipe for those is always pizzamaking's BTB Malnati clone with semolina. It might not be real pizza, but it's really good.
In the last couple of months I dabbled in Detroit style since it came across one of my FB pizza feeds. Bought a Lloyd pan and used Hans' recipe also from pizzamaking.com. Toppings for those were pepperoni and precooked mushrooms. Some day soon I want to try that dough as a focaccia.
One style that interests me which I haven't tried doing is Neapolitan. Unfortunately, I don't yet have the oven for it.
I’ve been making pizza at home for years, used to be just store bought dough from the refrigerated section… nothing special. Then I started researching how to make my own dough, specifically for a Greek pizza (Boston/surrounding area thing). Have been doing that for awhile, then started getting into making thin crust, Neapolitan, and NY style. Have tried 00 flour, AP, bread flour, and high gluten flour. Always go back to using the high gluten and making the NY style. I like to make my own version of a margarita pizza, adding a little red wine to the sauce, using little sungold tomatoes, homemade pesto, fresh mozzarella and drizzling with a balsamic reduction. I also make one with olive oil and minced garlic as the “sauce”, fresh arugula, shrimp, and a sprinkling of cheese, then drizzle with a balsamic reduction. I also make the usuals, plain cheese, pepperoni, green pepper and onion, etc. sometimes I do roasted red peppers, kalamata olives, onion, and rosemary, sometimes I do chicken with scallions and pickled onions with a drizzle of spicy mayo.
What a timely thread.
I have everything queued up to make our usual at home pizza which is done about once every 2 months. I make the ATK Cast Iron Pan pizza and just use cheese and simple sauce as toppings. For homemade, I've found the most success with simple/no toppings. I'm inspired to try the sourdough pizza thin crust again.
When we order in pizza (which is once a week or so) favorite toppings right now for my 17 year old: sauce, cheese, bacon, scallion and globs of pesto. Yum. My 16 year old has not changed his toppings in 10 years. He likes sauce, cheese, sausage, red onion, and black olive. My husband and mix it up every time. Thanks for the ideas everyone!!
Crispy, cheesy pan pizza from KA. Recipes from the Zoom pizza/focaccia class with Andrew. Always ready to experiment.
Since I got into sourdough 3 years ago, I've become a "dough snob" and will not make anything "dough" without Sir Bobby-Farts Alot. :) So the dough always has about 30g of Bobby in it, and I only make one pizza since it's only 2 of us and we like the same thing -- veggies. I bake it in my my challenger pan because it makes pizza soooo crispy! Since we love garlic, I usually make a pesto as the base sauce (I still have some frozen from this summer's abundance of basil). Last time I mixed the pesto with goat cheese that that was really yummy. Then I add my dehydrated tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, olives, shallots -- whatever I find in my fridge--and then topped with mozzarella and some Asiago or a good goat gouda. I'd love to add brussels sprouts but I think my hubby would not appreciate that too much. :) Maybe if I shred them finely and hide them under the cheese? Mhmmm, I need to think about that one..... I wonder if he'd notice? ;)
I have been using my "Napoli" (00/Italian semolina starter) to make sourdough pizza for a few years now. I first started with TPL's pizza dough recipe, which I liked, but have switched in the past year to Wordloaf's SD Thin Crust Pizza. I use 00 in place of AP and Italian Semolina in place of the whole wheat. This is my Go-To pizza dough! It is perfect for the Neapolitan style pizza that we love...in flavor and texture! I typically do a 72-96 hour "fermentardation" (my new word for a long cold retard and fermenting of flavors!) in the fridge if I am not freezing the dough (which I do often to have dough on hand whenever I want to use it). We usually make pizza monthly and make two pies, one margherita (with grass-fed buffalo mozz that I strain), basic sauce that I make (BA's "Red Sauce for Pizza") and fresh basil, EVOO and maldon salt after the bake. I use a baking steel, get my oven to 550 for at least 45 mins and I cook the pizza in 4 mins! (launch dough onto steel, spritz with water bottle, 2 mins broil and 2 mins bake- on the steel, close to the top of the oven). The second pie we usually experiment and try dessert pizzas!
Just this week I used my pizza dough for Lydia Bastianch's "pizza rolls" (kinda like a calzone) stuffed with Italian sausage and broccoli de rape! YUM!
I’ve mostly made pizza dough recipes with the goal to get rid of sourdough discard but without the patience and forethought needed for the 1-3 day true sourdough pizza recipes out there. I’ve made the KAF sourdough pizza recipe before in distant past, and for a while I mostly used the 2-cup-discard wonder that is the sourdough pizza recipe from the blog The Gingered Whisk, but I realized that my discard was overall too sour, and while it was edible, in the end, my daughter liked the cheese but not the crust. Lately my go to recipe for pizza is taken from Bonnie Ohara’s book “Bread Baking for Beginners”, in which she uses a fairly high hydration no knead bread dough for pizza dough. I adapted it to take on 150 grams of discard, which has also been less sour recently due to more dedicated feeding of my starter during the pandemic. The dough is light and airy from the regular yeast and higher hydration, and with a bit more character from the added starter. And my daughter loves this crust, as long as it doesn’t get too crispy! I do a 450ish (I think? Whatever Bonnie has in her book) degree oven and bake pizzas on my Lodge cast iron pizza pan that I got from my mom. As for toppings, my daughter fell in love with a basic white sauce with garlic, Parmesan, and mozzarella, and lots of black pepper, and that’s all we ever do these days. Topped with pepperoni and cheese for the kid, veggies and meat du jour (whatever is in the fridge) for the grownups. I keep collecting other pizza crust recipes and never really having much opportunity or motivation to budge from the current crowd favorite. But we haven’t bought pizza in years!