Weekend Pizza

Over the weekend, I mentioned I was making pizza and using spelt flour for the crust. It wasn’t amazing and it wasn’t bad. I doubt I’ll do it again. It’s probably just that it isn’t what I’m used to . . a bit different in texture, but the taste was fine. I think I’ll stick with normal pizza crusts from now on and do my experimenting with loaf bread and dinner rolls.

One thing I want to make sure I communicate:  Making pizza is the easiest thing ever! For so many years, I thought it was hard or even impossible to make a good pizza at home but that was only until I tried it. There are places that have excellent pizza but for the most part, we’re used to the chains and some of those are downright not so good, especially once you’ve had your own. And, if you are lucky enough to live where you can get an amazing pizza, chances are . . it’s pretty expensive.

To make a good pizza, you really need the following:

• Pizza Stone – A pizza stone is essential for a good, crispy crust. Check the size before ordering. Some of these are larger than others. The one I have is 16″ x 16″ and thicker than some. Because of storage issues, I mostly leave my stone in the oven. I use when when making crusty bread too.
• Peel – Another essential, though with a little luck, you might manage without a peel but it’s so much easier to have one.  I have both wooden and metal peels and while I feel the pizza slides off the wooden one a bit better, the metal one is much thinner and easier to slide under the pizza. The wooden one will not fit in the outdoor pizza oven. When buying a peel, be sure to check the measurements. Some are way too small if you’re wanting to make a decent sized pizza. On the wooden ones, some are way too thick.
• Crust – I’ve tried a lot of crusts and I almost always go back to Peter Reinhart’s Napoletana Pizza Dough. The dough is best if made at least one day before you plan to use it and allowed to rest and maybe ferment a bit in the fridge overnight.
• Sauce – Not being a fan of red sauce, I don’t find a heck of a lot of difference in storebought pizza sauce and homemade sauce. I usually use homemade but I also keep a few jars of storebought on hand.
• Cheese – Get creative!  We mostly use mozzarella but there are lots of choices that work.
• Toppings – Again, the sky is the limit. We use turkey pepperoni and can’t tell the difference in that and the traditional and the turkey has a whole lot less grease. Try the “normal” toppings but also get creative. Check out some of these toppings.

Several years ago I signed up for Peter Reinhart’s “Perfect Pizza at Home” class at Craftsy and I have become a huge Peter Reinhart fan. One of his books that I love is “American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza“.

We do love our little outdoor pizza oven but if you’re new to pizza baking, definitely try it in  your kitchen oven before investing in the outdoor oven.

Pizza

I love the crunchiness of the crust when it cooks at 700º in the outdoor oven. My kitchen oven goes up to 550º and that will make a decent crust, but not as good as when cooked at 700º. On the pizza shown above, I was out messing with the tractor sprinkler and didn’t turn it so the back side is a bit crunchier than the front side but it was still good.

Unless there’s too much wind, pizza on Saturday has become a tradition around here and I look forward to it. This Saturday we have other plans so I plan to make a pizza on Friday so we don’t miss our pizza!

If you love pizza, and you enjoy cooking, and you’ve never tried making it at home, I encourage you to try it. Even though you may have to buy (or borrow) a few new tools, considering the price of good pizza, it will probably be worth it even if you only make a few pizzas but my guess is . . once you’ve made a couple of pizzas, you won’t be wanting to buy pizza again.