Pizza is stupid cheap to make at home. Domino’s is currently offering Minecraft pizzas that are less than twice the size for more than twice the cost. But making it at home means no grease soaked collectable box.
Cost per person before toppings: $2.77 It is very hard to fit even a dollar worth of toppings on a pizza.
Yes, and calzones! I made with canned dough and they were super good. The filling was pulled chicken, pepperoni, sauteed onion, peppers and garlic, basil, oregano and a few cheeses. I made a sauce from tomatoes, peppers and garlic but any sauce you like it great and get some on each bite. It might be slightly better the next day reheated in the microwave on low power to gently warm, then finish heating in a toaster oven on the rack and it gets a light crust all over and fresh baked bread smell again!
Edit: I’m going to try a better dough and make my own sometime too. I should try no-knead bread again
Reccomendation: If someone is having problems getting the dough to cooperate and feel like it’s just a big horrible mess, buy “00 pizza flour” it’s finely milled and has extra protien in it, it’s closer to working with playdough, makes the whole process far more enjoyable. Also, a nice low-moisture mozzarella like Galbani gives youa nice cheese pull that’s not greasy.
I have made hundreds of pizzas at home. 3-4 day fermented dough, 500 degree cast iron skillet, finish in the mother of all air fryers.
I found I don’t like low moisture mozzarella because it doesn’t brown right. Now I haven’t tried a low moisture whole milk and that might change things.
https://galbanicheese.com/our-cheeses/dairy-aisle-cheeses-mozzarella/mozzarella-great-for-shredding
These round ones. pass 'em through a grater with large holes. It browns at 450f in about 10 minutes.
Shred in some Edam if you can find it.
Of couse, with 50% 00 flour, whole milk moz and edam, it’s not a cheap pie anymore, but it’s on par with the best stuff you can get at restaurants for flavor.
Oath comrade, picked up a pizza stone during COVID and my local grocery often has 2 for $1 fresh pizza dough, plus a dollar of sauce for whatever pizza you want versus some greasy, average shit from the pizza place. The no box to deal with is a huge plus as well!
I have a great recipe for cast iron skillet pizza. It is mainly just the effort of rolling out the dough. I happen to have a pizza stone too which works just as well but you can assembly line it with two and feed a lot of people.
Make 'em all the time using naan bread. Easy and tasty.
My favorite part about naan crust is that you can have the crust ready in no time.
It’s the prepackaged tortilla of the pizza world.
Well, not here. I make my own naan.
Does getting a cheap $4 unfrozen Aldi Pizza, adding grilled chicken tossed in buffalo sauce, covering it with more cheese, and cooking it in the smoker you found on the side of the road, count?
I’m sure that’s allowed
The judges say they’ll allow it in the modified category. 👍
We doctor up pizzas all the time. Our current fav is the costco Detroit pies with more cheese, onions, olives and whatever else we have lying around.
I used to doctor pizza. I’d grab a $5 freezer cheese pizza and add my own toppings. But these days that’s almost twice as much as it costs me to make from scratch.
Agreed. Really the only time we use ever frozen is if it’s been a busy day and we failed to plan dinner.
We just got a Costco, we’ll have to check that out.
To be honest, the Aldi Pizza… Wasn’t that good. It’s the second time we’ve gotten it, the first time we were really rushed and didn’t doctor it at all, it wasn’t great.
I thought maybe doctoring it and smoking it would help, and it did, but not enough to make it worth it.
Really we should just make pizza from scratch like OP intended.
Scratch is the best way for sure, but those square Detroit pies are like crack. Very tasty…and salty!
Much appreciated 😊
Aldi fridge pizzas punch so far above their weight.
What’s wrong with the gravity at Aldi?
I mean…. If you go that route, you just gotta upgrade it with more toppings.
Got Costco’s 4 pepperoni pizzas for $15. Good deal there
I’ve been doing it for years!Yoo how did you do that crust??
I actually put remarkably little effort into it rofl. It’s 3 cups flour, 2 1/4 tsp yeast, 1 tsp sugar, (EDIT 1 cup water) 1 tsp salt, and 2 tbsp olive oil, and I only let it rise for about 5 minutes while I’m getting other stuff ready. Pizza stone in the oven set to 425F and I roll out the dough and make the pizza on a paddle using corn meal to keep it from sticking. The crust on the first one uses a crimping technique which is handy to keep everything in, but I don’t always do it. It’s easy though, you place your left index on top of the crust, then pinch a little bit with your right hand and fold it over your index finger. Put your left index on that fold, and pinch another bit over that, spin and repeat.
How much water?
NONE OBVISOULY BECAUSE I DIDN’T LIST IT (1 cup of hot tap water mixed immediately with the yeast and sugar)
Yesss saving this comment lol
I splurged for a pizza steel, which pretty much means you’re cooking with the same tools the takeout is, so you can satisfy even very picky eaters who want it to look like the restaurant.
One thing that I’ve found really matters is making the dough well ahead of time. A lot of people say the day before, I age it in the fridge for usually 5 days, but between 3 and 11 have all worked great.
The longer it goes the less bready and more crusty it gets, but it also gets stickier which eventually becomes too much of a pita to deal with.
If I’m baking bread that week I will make enough to be pizza crust and it might age between two and 14 days. If I’m not making bread then it’s usually a day to hours ahead of time and a different recipe.
it also gets stickier which eventually becomes too much of a pita to deal with
Oil your hands and/or roll the dough ball in flour. You’ll still have to wash your hands after but oil is way easier to wash off than stuck-on dough
Aged dough is the best but even 1-2 hours ahead is gonna be great. I’m parital to Adam Ragusea‘s pan pizza recipes.
Charlie Anderson is also great.
I ended up using 12:7:1 bread flour:water:olive oil. 1.5mL fine salt and 1mL of instant yeast per 100 total grams.
So, 720g flour, 420g water, 60g olive oil + 1.5 tsp salt and 1.5 tsp yeast gives you 4 300g crusts.
That yields a crust firm enough that you can eat the whole pizza out of your hand if you want, which I usually want because then I don’t have to wash a cutting board.
Working in a pizza shop:
Dough was made the day before for tomorrow.
Dough made in the morning could be ready for the evening if it was real busy.
Made pan pizza a few weeks ago and it beats the pants off of delivery for a fraction of the cost. Gotta love home made
Cast iron makes a great pizza crust.
One tip I like, is to sprinkle corn meal on the pan to lift the dough ever so slightly. It makes the crust just that bit more crispy on the bottom and chewy on top.
I have to try this. I have an Ooni and I am not really happy with how it cooks pizza. Too hot so constant turning and if you’re too generous with toppings, it never cooks in the middle. Always needs an oven finish. I have a 12” pan that should work a treat for next time.
Ooni is amazing but you have to make the dough “alla napoletana” and it will Cook in 1-2 minutes max at 350 °c. Search a video of italian people preparing it
It wont make a great “pinsa” or “NY style” but the napoletana is on his own league
I’ll try it, thanks for the tip!
I’ve always been told to coat pan heavily in olive oil. Do you put corn meal in top of the olive oil?
I coat the pan very lightly in olive oil. Thinner the better. Also very little cornmeal.
Last weeks pie.
I don’t follow any particular recipe for the dough. I only rough measure, don’t weigh anything. I started with a pretty standard no knead bread dough and messed with it until it worked well for pizza. 3+ day cold ferment.
Toppings are whatever I have.
I frequently use a no knead dough myself. It lasts for about 14 days in the fridge. Days 3 to 10 are the best for pizza.
Bought a pizza oven a month ago. A bit expensive, but we’re gonna break even in no time.
You can’t not include a photo of the oven itself.
It’s an Ooni Koda 2. Nothing special, really. I didn’t think it would interest anyone.
Anywho, here’s a pic.
It looks like you’re on the fast track to recovering your investment.
So say we all.
You got a lot going on there. What are your toppings?
Ok so this one is kinda out there: The A&A, which is artichoke and avocado, also with carmalized onion, goat cheese, mozzarella and sharp white cheddar.
I mostly stick to the classics, but I’ve made some crazy (good) pizzas in my day.
Sounds great.
Full disclosure: I’ve made many crazy pizzas, including an entire Thanksgiving dinner where each main and side and dessert was a different pizza, for example. This one was first inspired by a mission in cyberpunk 2077 where you can choose A&A as an option for pizza delivery, and I was like, well shit, yer goddamn right.
When I looked at the photo I was " is that avocado?" I wasn’t sure. But having grown up in San Diego it was totally a possibility in my mind. And I can make out a little bit of artichoke. Growing up Italian that was totally an option as well. If I showed an artichoke and avocado pizza to my wife she would demand I make it that day. Even if the avocados weren’t ripe yet.
The key point is that the avocados go on top of the sauce layer but underneath everything else. That way they stay soft and green and good. If you can pull it off it’s a really amazing pizza.
Good to know
Got a bread machine for a wedding present. Wife makes bread from scratch so what would I need that for. Turns out it also makes just dough. It has made approximately one pizza crust dough a week for 32 years. No exaggeration.
I do the same and even make it a few days ahead now. Resting the dough in the refrigerator makes it even better for me.
This is my goto recipe
Pizza dough
Makes 5 x 200g balls
200ml warm water 175ml beer, at room temperature 7g (1 sachet) fast-action yeast 50ml olive oil 600g Italian “00” flour, or strong white flour 2 tsp salt Tomato sauce Your choice of toppings
Recently upgraded from steel to a proper gas oven and let me tell you the result speaks for itself
Coming over, save me a slice.
Been working on perfecting dough in my bread maker off and on this year.
It’s kinda amazing how long it can take to dial in pizza crust for ones exact needs.
