Anyone make there own Pizzas ?

[Domestic_Ginger]

Baking tray and a little flour is fine. If the pizaa base can be 'slid' across the baking tray it shouldn't stick.

These things just sit in kitchen cupboards and get in the way in my experience.

[scaryjim]

For baking trays, go to your local supermarket, hardware store or market, and buy something that looks like this. You can probably get them cheaper than £2.50 if you shop around. A light brush with oil is all it needs, then slap your rolled dough onto it and you're away

Room temperature should be fine for proving dough unless you keep your house unusually cold (like I do). If your radiators are still on then I'd say your room will be more than warm enough anyway

A cup (as in the measurement) is exactly 8 fl. oz. You can buy measuring cups from the same kinds of places you buy baking trays, and if you plan to do a lot of baking - particularly if you use the internet to find recipes - I think they're a worthwhile investment (I have some I got from Ikea that have various fractions of cup on one end and various "spoons" on the other end). Measuring finely ground solids by volume actually makes a lot of sense. That said, most of the recipes you'll find in English recipe books or on flour / yeast packets will be by weight, so if you don't plan to cook very often it's probably not worth bothering with cups. You should be able to find some comversion tables on the interwebs somewhere

[TAKTAK]

We just make a bread dough for the base, usually wholemeal with some olive oil added in.
Fry some garlic off and throw some pasata in to thicken up a bit, adding chilli powder/flakes/sauce (We always forget tomato puree...)
Spread with a spoon
Throw a decent chedder on as well as mozarella etc, sprinkling of oregano.
A handfull of orange pepper.

Then just put a blob of oil on a baking sheet, rub it in with your hand, and shove in the oven

[Spud1]

As has been said it's very easy..but please please stay away from those ready made bases, they are horrible and will make your pizza just taste like a supermarket one with a different set of toppings.

Making your own dough has already been covered and its really simple so long as you have a warm room to let it rise. Topping wise it's up to you - but I generally get a tin of chopped tomatoes, add in some salt, pepper, basil and oregano, mix together and then blend to a puree. For the cheese a mixture of mozerella and mature chedder (stay away from the plastic stuff AkA mild), preferably montory jack (dry jack is even better), and red leicster can also work quite well.

Once you get a basic pizza going (and it really will be better than ANY supermarket pizza, even the stuipidly expensive ones) you can start to vary it - I'm currently experimenting with Deep Dish (aka chicago style) pizzas which are a different beast - think pizza hut style. I've not managed to beat that amazing pizza hut taste yet but i've come quite close.

It's a fun simple meal that is ideal to do with your daughter - she'll love getting her hands all messy when kneeding the dough

[Lucio]

The trick to making it taste like PizzaHut is chemicals! Lots and lots of lovely MSG

[MadduckUK]

The trick to making it taste like PizzaHut is chemicals! Lots and lots of lovely MSG

I purposefully buy soy sauce high in MSG for my Chinese cooking for the this very reason sod you Blue Dragon - Gold Plum in the dodgy looking foreign food section is where it is at

[Spud1]

The trick to making it taste like PizzaHut is chemicals! Lots and lots of lovely MSG

Aha! You could well be right..may well be worth a try, I do love my MSG hehe

[zulander]

another vote for jamie oliver his 30 minute cookbook has a pizza recipe in it thats very very good.

[MadduckUK]

another vote for jamie oliver his 30 minute cookbook has a pizza recipe in it thats very very good.

yeah, its the one that me and circuitmonkey put up i think, never really follow the sauce recipe exactly, but the base is what it is all about with that try it with chili/garlic infused olive oil in the dough rather than plain for a little bit extra mmmm

[^SwITcH^]

I use the Jamie Oliver pizza dough recipe
Along with the Jame Oliver tomato sauce recipe

Another vote for these Jamie recipies, I've made them many times and the dough keeps really well in the freezer so you can make a batch and split it into 6 ready for when you need it.

Only things worth noting are not to use too hot water - you will kill the yeast and the dough wont rise.

Give the dough time to prove and knock it back afterwards ... it does make a difference.

As for the sauce, the longer and slower you can cook it the more flavour you will get ... and let it reduce down so you get a nice thick almost paste like consistency - it will help stop the base getting too soggy when you cook it. Again - I make a batch and freeze it into ice cube trays, so I can defrost just enough.

[Saracen]

.... I make a batch and freeze it into ice cube trays, so I can defrost just enough.

That is so mindbogglingly obvious I'm typing this standing up, having just kicked my own butt twice round the kitchen for not thinking of it. Doh!

[fuddam]

just came upstairs after making some pizza from scratch and saw this thread - HAD to post

[GoNz0]

well after reading this the dough is in the car rising (its warm in there)

[oolon]

Personally I make the dough the night before seperate it into pizza loads and leave it in the fridge, the balls flatten which helps too. Get it out and let it settle for 30 minutes, then roll it out. The trick is not to work it after it has risen, just roll it and use it.

A metal baking tray is a must, i tried a silicone one once at it did let the middle cook right. I have some nice trays from LakeLand 13" round with holes in them. Good and heavy, the holes let the heat in the base well.

Pizza last night was great, cheese needs some optimisation other than that perfect. (Flesh mozzarella was a bit to watery).

[Barakka]

Made a stunner last week.... from Vegetarian Living Magazine

Usual base and tomato layer then..

Tofu (marinated in balsalmic vinegar, o/oil, garlic, rosemary, basil, oregano, and chilli flakes overnight)
Asparagus (pre-seared)
Courgette
Red Onion
some remaining marinade drizzled over it

No cheese as we're vegan but it could take a little

WOW

[GoNz0]

just done chorizo, mushroom, red pepper, finger chilli's, sweetcorn on mine, the Mrs had ham and pineapple, bloody great