Anyone make their own pizza? Is it worth the time, effort and clean up?

[dex]

Do you make your own pizza? Considering all the great pizzas at Trader Joes is making your own pizzas worth the time, effort and clean up?

I got a ceramic pizza stone to try on frozen pizzas. That got me thinking about making my own from scratch. I really like the thin crispy type with a minimal amount of toppings.

If you think it is worth the time etc can you recomend a good recipe book or site?

Thanks

 

[Martha]

I'll have to get Greg to post. He makes very fine pizzas, both a thin crust minimalist version and a thick crust gloppy version.

He generally mixes up the dough using our bread maker. His crusts are excellent made that way. He spices up the crust with italian type seasonings. Toppings vary. His latest was a thin crust pizza with almost no sauce, spinach and parmesan cheese. Yummy.

 

[haha]

I can't eat wheat. If I could, I would build a gas fired stone oven so I could make pizza like they make in New Haven or Boston’s North End. Add any kind of decent TV, and everybody would want to come and play at my house.

Ha

 

[WanderALot]

Do you make your own pizza? Considering all the great pizzas at Trader Joes is making your own pizzas worth the time, effort and clean up?

Are you talking about the frozen pizzas at TJs or are you talking about the pizza dough (wheat or garlic herb) that they have in the refridgerator section? We make our own pizzas using the pizza dough and marinara sauce. Add sun dried tomatoes, fresh veggies like red/yellow/orange bell peppers and baby brocolli, onions, thinly sliced eggplant and the stuff's awesome! It's better than the stuff at California Pizza Kitchen.

 

[dex]

So I tried it tonight with a frozen pizza - it came out soft and stuck to the stone.

I think I'll just but the frozen pizza on the rack and use the stone for keeping it hot - until I learn how to make my own.

 

[Cut-Throat]

I just made one Saturday night.

We have a great Italian Deli in St. Paul called Cosettas. I cheat and go there and buy a Pizza Dough Ball for $1.70 and a Pint of Pizza Sauce and a pound of Italian Sausage. I go home and stretch the dough and laddle on the sauce. Assemble the Pizza with the Sausage, Onion, mushrooms, olives, and Mozzaerella cheese (lots) and bake it.

Ate the pizza and watched the Pink Floyd DVD Pulse

Making your own dough would not be worth it for me vs. buying the perfect dough for a couple bucks. - So hardly any cleanup just 'assembling the pizza'

 

[retire@40]

So I tried it tonight with a frozen pizza - it came out soft and stuck to the stone.

That could be because you didn't use cornmeal on the pizza stone.

I make my own pizza from scratch all the time and only got it stuck once on the pizza stone when I put too much sauce on the pizza which overflowed to the stone.

If you are going to make your own dough, try using compressed yeast instead of the dry yeast they sell in most supermarkets. It works better and it's cheaper. It costs me $1 for a one pound brick that I cut up and store in the freezer.

Favorite topping: caramelized onion

 

[honobob]

That could be because you didn't use cornmeal on the pizza stone.

My thought exactly plus did you preheat the stone? I don't think you can get good results unless you're placing the pizza on a HOT stone.

 

[HFWR]

I second the cornmeal and preheating the stone.

 

[yakers]

If you live in Chicago, definitely not.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep, I make my own and its dang good. Seconding the use of natures ball bearings and I also rub the dough with a little olive oil when i'm stretching it out, which helps prevent any sticking.

I cook about half of mine (the thin crusts) directly on the grill. The rest in the oven right on the rack. I dont think that a home oven gets hot enough to do as good of a job as a pizzerias oven...just not hot enough.

I know a guy who disabled the door lock on his ovens cleaning cycle so he could bake pizzas in it at the 750-800 degrees that the cleaning cycle achieves. I think it takes about 2 hours to get up to that temperature. Seems he's a little over committed to me...

All that having been said, its pretty tough to beat a costco or sams club pizza for $7.50. The double cheese sams club variant is curiously good.

 

[Jeb-NY]

DW makes scratch pizza most every Saturday night that we are home. Since I don't have to make it, or take care of the mess, it is definitely worth while.

Great pizza, she rotates between regular crust and deep dish. Several kinds of dough and a variety of toppings. Most dough she makes in the bread maker. Purist may think it is sacrilege, but Buffalo Wing Pizza is one of my favorites.

Jeb

 

[My Dream]

My DW makes the dough in the bread machine, but she doesn't preheat the pampered chef stone. When the dough is ready she lets it sit for about 1 1/2 hours, then she assembles the pizza's and let's it sit for another 1/2 hours then cooks it for about 20 minutes. We have even done pizza on the NG BBQ for a totally different taste. I prefer home made to take out.

 

[CCdaCE]

Yep, make our own.

I'm/we're too picky to pay $10-15+ for delivery. Frozen is OK occasionally, but if I really wanna get things right, I make my own.

Seems like nobody can get the sauce right, the right amount of toppings, etc.

So, buy a couple of boxed crusts and canned sauce, and toppings. Never go totally all-out and make much from scratch. Costs might still end up 2/3 of delivery, but I can get the proportions right.

Make the crust, and pre-cook it 3-5 min. then load up the toppings. Then the crust doesn't turn out as mush. That way I can get enough sauce and cheese and stuff, the way I like it.

-CC

 

[Wheel]

We make our own Pizza all the time. We buy a case of frozen dough balls at Sams Club (sold in the snack bar section), and it is great. You can make thin or thick crust pizza from it. Works great.

 

[Empty Pockets]

I have for many years, mostly because I like to. It's more economical to get a take & bake pizza from a place like Papa Murphy's, especially if you're going to load it up with lots of toppings. It's hard to buy all the ingredients in the grocery stores around here.

Abuot once a year I get to that Cosetta's that Cut-Throat mentioned in St. Paul. If it were closer, I'd throw my pizza pan away.

 

[dex]

Are you talking about the frozen pizzas at TJs or are you talking about the pizza dough (wheat or garlic herb) that they have in the refridgerator section? We make our own pizzas using the pizza dough and marinara sauce. Add sun dried tomatoes, fresh veggies like red/yellow/orange bell peppers and baby brocolli, onions, thinly sliced eggplant and the stuff's awesome! It's better than the stuff at California Pizza Kitchen.

I didn't know Trader Joes had pizza dough - I'll pick some up next time I'm there. I was talking about the frozen pizza they have.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

We make our own Pizza all the time. We buy a case of frozen dough balls at Sams Club (sold in the snack bar section), and it is great. You can make thin or thick crust pizza from it. Works great.

Forgot about that...sams sells all the materials they use to make their snack bar foods by the case, and I think costco does as well. You can buy the pizza dough, sauce, cheese and even the pizza boxes in case lots at a discount.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i used to make my own pizza and every so often one of my friends will still mention my old pizza parties. i'd either make a variety of pizzas or i'd partially cook some plain ones and have a make your own pizza party with all the fixings out for guests to play, everything from garlic to lobster. i even did stuffed crust pizza way before pizza hut.

haven't done a pizza party in a long time. wow, now that i think of it, a very long time. don't even make my own for me anymore. must have gotten lazy. thanx for the reminder. maybe i'll crank up the stone again.

(ps. trick of the pizza stone is to heat the oven to max and have the stone heat up for an extra long time before you use it. also i think i used to lightly sprinkle the stone with seminola wheat before putting the dough on)

 

[Gonzo]

We make our own thin crust pizza about once a week... 500 oven on a pizza pan

Check this link:

http://www.pizzamaking.com/thincrust.php

Gonzo

 

[dex]

Dumb question - I have one of those pizza wheel cutters - do you cut the pizza on the ceramic pizza stone or should you cut it on something else?

 

[justin]

I've made my own including dough from scratch. It's a pain when Sam's Club is so cheap and so good. I can't replicate what sam's produces for $8.61 tax included...

I'd recommend the frozen dough balls from wherever you can get them. I worked at Jersey Mike's during high school and they use long frozen dough for their sub rolls. I'd take a couple of those and turn em into a pizza crust and bake them right in the restaurant after hours with some sauce and toppings of course. Mmmm... bet nobody knew Jersey Mike's made pizza...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My local winco also has fresh pizza dough balls in a chiller near the deli counter. That makes for a pretty quick pizza. Its about a buck for a ball big enough for a 12-14" pizza.

By the way, my half decent nearly instant pizza sauce recipe:

Can of tomato paste
Add water until it gets to approximately sauce consistency
Add garlic powder to taste (fresh is better, but more work)
Add oregano to taste (fresh is best, but dried works)
Add salt to taste
Some basil if you feel like it

Allow to stand a bit while you form the crust and shred the cheese or whatever else you're putting on the pizza.

Lots of oregano is the secret ingredient for good pizza sauce.

Using this sauce, the dollar ball of dough, and some preshredded cheese, you can knock out a pizza in about 10 minutes for about $3-4.

 

[TromboneAl]

It took a long time, but we can finally make pizza that is as good or better than restaurant pizza. Last night was olive-oil sauteed mondo onion and garlic with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, ham, mushrooms, and more.

Here are the two secrets:

1. Make the dough in your bread machine. I use white flour with some whole wheat if I'm feeling like being healthy-minded. Last night I put in a third of a cup of Bob's Red Mill seven grain cereal. Don't use "better for bread" flour or add gluten, or you'll have more trouble spreading it out. I make a full loaf (three cups flour), cut it in half and make bread in the oven with the other half.

2. Forget the pizza stone! Buy a pizza pan that is an open grate. This does not give a super crispy crust.

I slide the pizza on to a large round cutting board when done, and cut it with a pizza slicer. Be careful not to roll past the edge, and slice your table.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

...and one of the weirdest, yet best pizzas I ever had was on whole wheat crust, cheeseless, with sauce, shredded carrots and raisins...

Lets also pay homage to the unlikely sounding yet equally tasty clam pizza.