[Azure]

I've never been able to make a "good" homemade pizza mainly because the pizza sauce and always turns out terrible. I use store-bought pizza sauce (it tastes just fine to me out of the bottle; I'm not ready yet to start making my own sauce). However, the problem is that the sauce seems to "thin" or "melt" or something while cooking the pizza. It loses its volume and it seems to blend right into the dough (there's a thin layer of sauce left, but the rest seems to have been stainted into the dough). The sauce from pizza chains seems to retain its volume and consistency; it appears as if all that happened to it was that they heated the sauce and poured it on. This is the effect I want. I want the sauce to have the same consistency/volume as it does when in the bottle, but I just want it to be hot. When the dough is ready, I pour the sauce on so that I can't see any of the dough (except around the edges of course). I then put on the shredded cheese and other toppings and pop it in the oven. Other times I've tried to cook the pizza with just the sauce on for a few minutes, and then I add more sauce on top of the thin layer and I add toppings. Whatever I do, it still turns out the same. What could I be doing wrong?

The second problem is with the dough. No matter how long I let the dough rise, it always ends up rather thin in the end compared to the pizza from pizza chains. The dough ends up about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch all throughout (I've tried to fold over the edges to have a sort of "handle" to hold the pizza, but the handle also ends up being rather thin, about half an inch thick). I'm hand pounding/mixing the dough. Could this be the problem? I don't have a mixer for this sort of thing -- is there any that you guys particularly recommend?


I'm making another pizza right now. If you guys have a hard time understanding what I'm describing, I'll try to take a picture when this one is done to show you what I'm talking about (unless it turns out good this time

).

 

[Happy Camper]

Boboli & lots of toppings & cheese to keep the sauce thick. Just had one an hour ago.

 

[episiarch]

Azure, my advice is to use a thick homemade sauce. It's not that hard. Then you can either bake the sauce right on the crust or prebake the crust for a couple minutes first if you want it crisper.

My pizzas are all about the sauce, and here's my recipe.

You'll need:
- a big pot (think heavy stewpot)
- a strainer, sieve or (ideally) the forced-straining gizmo known as a food mill
- a couple big cans of whole roma tomatoes (I think I use Muir Glen organic brand). You can use real roma tomatoes instead, but canned gives a more repeatable product
- some cloves of garlic
- a little olive oil
- a little sugar

Put the pot on low heat and pour in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Slice or dice or chop a few cloves of garlic into it.

Cook the garlic until it's softened but not yet browned, then dump in the tomatoes (skins, seeds and all) and raise the heat to medium. You may need to break the first couple tomatoes with your stirring spoon to release their liquid, but don't worry about breaking all of them - they'll take care of themselves. Stir in a teaspoon or so of sugar. I don't know if the sugar's even necessary, but I add it anyway "for luck."

Now cook and stir, cook and stir. Give it an hour, hour and a half, stirring every few minutes. You'll need to turn the heat down when it starts to bubble too aggressively. It's done when it's so thick that it takes a couple seconds to fill in the "holes" that stirring leaves behind.

Take it off the heat, keep stirring for a minute or two so the sauce on the bottom doesn't burn, then let it cool so you won't burn yourself handling it.

Strain the sauce. If you don't have a food mill you'll need to use the back of a spoon, or your hands, to force the sauce through the strainer or sieve: it's much too thick to run through it by itself.

Your sauce is done. Clean up the mess while your pizza bakes, then enjoy.

 

[Azure]

Here's an example from a pizza my mom made (it's kind of hard to see because it was taken with a cell phone camera):

episiarch - Thanks for the recipe! I'll definitely try that next time and see how it turns out.

 

[warrior05]

My wife and I use ready made dough and through trial and error have found one that works quite nicely. After stretching it out we then brush on some olive oil, sprinkle on some kosher salt and chopped up fresh rosemary. Then I prick it all over with a fork and put it on the pizza stone for 10 minutes at 425.

We then put on the sauce, toppings and finally the cheese then back onto the stone for another 10 minutes.

We have yet to make a bad pizza.

 

[Edwood]

Whatever you do, don't try and be healthy and use soy flour. I tried it once, and was the nastiest pizza I ever made.

-Ed

 

[65535]

I had fake pizza once, never again.

 

[DanT]

Try Patrick82 recipes

Youtube Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5dRYKJCNmM
Youtube Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIbi4FdwrfI

Thread
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225293

 

[bellsprout]

some tips:
-make ur own dough. all it requires is flour, water, yeast and extra virgin olive oil.
-put a light sprinkle of mozarella cheese, then ingredients, then top off with more cheese. this keeps the pizza together.
-chicken pizzas taste much better imo. use bbq sauce, minced cooked bbq chicken meat, capsicum, pineapple <--my fav pizza

 

[vagarach]

First you should do is ask your mom; the pics are evidence enough.

I keep things very simple:

Dough is the usual, two cups flour, yeast, sugar, little salt, water, and heat.

The sauce is roma tomatoes that have been hand crushed, with little garlic, olive oil, salt, sugar, and some pepper. This is not cooked but applied liberally to the rolled dough, after which fresh (this is key) whole basil is nicely placed on top of the tomatoes, and thin slices of mozzarella added on top of that. Drizzle a little olive oil on top, and place in oven at its highest possible setting, and in a few minutes pizza should be done!

Also, try to roll the dough as little as possible after it has risen. Man, you are making me want to make pizza, and this is problematic, for I don't have an oven nearby! Please post some pics of your endeavours!

A link to inspire: http://www.think2020.com/jv/recipe.htm, and forum full of true aficionados http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php

 

[meat01]

Yeast is finicky and a) has to not be expired and b) has to be at the right temperature. If it is too hot or too cold, the dough doesn't rise. I don't remember off hand, but I think the magic number is 90 degrees F. If you stir water and yeast first, it should get cloudy and "bloom" (get all foamy).

 

[1911]

i dont get all this...just pick up the phone and all dominos....problem solved

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1911 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i dont get all this...just pick up the phone and all dominos....problem solved

Believe it or not, we don't have a Dominos here in Turlock

Pizza chains charge a lot for their pizzas these days (Except Little Caesars, but their pizza is really nothing special). Plus, it's fun to make it all right in the comfort of your own kitchen

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1911 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i dont get all this...just pick up the phone and all dominos....problem solved

You guys have Dominos in Redding?

-Ed

 

[Azure]

It's cold now, but it turned out like this:

Not very attractive, but tasted good (a bit too much grease/oil though). What kind of cheese should I be using? I used this kind because it was cheap: