Pizza

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mysterio

Pizza

Post by mysterio » Fri Jun 27, 2008 4:15 pm

One of the things I love to cook is pizza, I posted how I make mine on my brew-log: http://hoptopic.wordpress.com/

Not strictly cooking with beer, but they go great together. Good fun to make at the weekends.

Anyone got any other tips or tricks to making a great pizza? Getting the dough just right has been the hardest part.

delboy

Post by delboy » Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:04 pm

Good write up mysty, i have to say though when it comes to pizza toppings im a "more is more" kind of guy.
I'll have to give the dough making process though the next time im making pizzas.
Have you every thought of building a wood fired pizza oven?

ashbyp

Post by ashbyp » Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:30 pm

i find I get the best base if the dough is still a bit sticky when I roll it. I also blind bake for 10mins on it's own, then take it out and put the toppings on.

:boff:

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flytact
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Post by flytact » Fri Jun 27, 2008 6:02 pm

I would never think of making pizza without drinking beer. :D

We've made pizza almost every Friday for about 4 years now. In the summer I move out to the grill to not heat the house up.
Johnny Clueless was there
With his simulated wood grain

johnh

Post by johnh » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:20 pm

Pizza and a nice lager or pale ale truly are a perfect combination. My wife is of italian decent and she uses a sauce recipe passed down through the family. She blends the ingredients raw (quality canned tomatoes, garlic, basil, parsley, oregano and maybe a touch of sugar) and spreads the liquid thinly on the pizza base before going in the oven. Only when almost ready does she put on the cheese and return it to the oven for the time it takes the cheese to melt. I was sceptical at first but the result is superb.

She supplies the pizza, I supply the beer. Everyone's happy.
:D

mysterio

Post by mysterio » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:47 pm

That's interesting, putting the cheese in nearer the end. I sometimes feel the cheese gets a bit over-caramalised in the time it takes for the crust to brown. Might try some oregano too.
Have you every thought of building a wood fired pizza oven?
Oh yeah, I would love to. I've seen the various instructions for making them online. Need a permanent residence first and some cash though :D

jonnyv

Post by jonnyv » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:12 pm

I've only made pizza from scratch a handful of times, but I found a pinch of sugar does wonders for the sauce - it must be the tart taste of the tomatoes that it helps offset.

I've also found a knob of butter in the sauce also helps the body a bit.

Will have to try adding the cheese near the end next time I make one.

I have a friend that tried to use a garden paving slap in his oven to mimic a 'stone baked' effect a while ago. He ended up cleaning the oven for quite a while after the slab split during cooking :shock:

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edit1now
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Post by edit1now » Fri Jun 27, 2008 10:17 pm

I made a couple of pizza "stones" (in my case, rectangular griddles) from 6mm mild steel, with inverted-U handles welded on. Preheat in oven, slide pizza onto stone. It makes up for not having a 300 degree C forno al legno.

Manx Guy

Re: Pizza

Post by Manx Guy » Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:24 am

Hi,
find I get the best base if the dough is still a bit sticky when I roll it. I also blind bake for 10mins on it's own, then take it out and put the toppings on.
+1 on that!

Myself and SWMBO make Pizza on a Friday or Saturday night...

:)

We use a Pizza stone that was bought for us as a gift... But find that a large (flat & round) oven to table 'platter' from Denby is just as good and we bought 3 of them on our last visit to the factory shop for anout £12.00!!
:shock:

They do a great job and are easier to clean than the terracota style one !

:)

Beer and Pizza is a gift from the god(s) :D

My favourite toppin is a simple 'rustic' one - two cheeses (one obviously Mozzarella) onion, olives and artichoke. I then crack an egg onto the centre for the last 2-3 mins of cooking :=P
Enjoy!

Guy

8)

EoinMag

Re: Pizza

Post by EoinMag » Fri Aug 27, 2010 3:44 pm

I made one recently by putting my pizza stone into my gas barbecue and closing the lid. I put a standalone oven thermometer in there too and it got up to about 450C. It made a very nice pizza.

Manx Guy

Re: Pizza

Post by Manx Guy » Fri Aug 27, 2010 3:50 pm

Hey EM!

That sounds delicious!

I find that my wheat beer or an Cascady IPA go particularly well with pizza...

any one else find a specific beer goes with pizza?

I guess a nice hoppy pilsner would be great - but I drank the lagers I had made over winter during the world cup!

:)

Guy
8)

mysterio

Re: Pizza

Post by mysterio » Sat Aug 28, 2010 1:02 am

I like hoppy, homebrewed lagers with pizza.

My latest thing is pitta bread. Much quicker and easier to make than pizza and great for nibbling, fire a wadge of homemade houmous on top and you're rocking.

Subsonic

Re: Pizza

Post by Subsonic » Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:53 pm

I got fed up making pizzas that were never quite right. So I bit the bullet and built a wood fired pizza oven. It can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/subsonic41grain and scroll to pizza oven. Its ok for a first build (I am meaning to render my errr 'brickwork' but can;t be bothered. Downside is the opening is way too big so I need a wooden door to keep some heat in and it ought really to be semi spherical inside, but I had lots of spare bricks and an old oil tank slab to build it on, so made do. it doubles as a barbie if need be. Other downside is it burns a lot of wood! So I only really use it when we have a pizza party. leftover beer yeast is great for the bases. Subsonic

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awalker
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Re: Pizza

Post by awalker » Thu Sep 16, 2010 1:06 pm

I did get annoyed at making pizzas, as it seemed to take too long.

Now when I make them I quadruple the batch and freeze three before they start rising.
Then when I want another one take it out of the freezer before work and it rises while I am at work
Come home roll out, top and chuck it in the hot oven.

Makes them as convenient as the shop bought ones
Fermenter(s): Lambic, Wheat beer, Amrillo/Cascade Beer
Cornys: Hobgoblin clone, Four Shades Stout, Wheat Beer, Amarillo/Cascade Ale, Apple Wine, Cider, Damson Wine, Ginger Beer

leedsbrew

Re: Pizza

Post by leedsbrew » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:25 pm

I recieved the river cottage bread handbook for xmas and have been baking bread every other day finsce new years, going to be getting some pizza dough on the go this weekend1 I was going to go looking for tom base recipe but dont have to now! cheers chaps! :D

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