Author Topic: Pizza Stone - recipes??  (Read 8417 times)

Honest Abe

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Pizza Stone - recipes??
« on: December 26, 2012, 04:23:28 PM »
Got a pizza stone when we got married... finally getting the hang of working with pizza dough and caring for the stone. Just finished a BADASS meal:

Tomatoes - $1.00 (got them off the "clearance" rack.. had to cut away some funky parts but got alot of good tomatoes cheap!)
Basil - Free from garden
Mozz Cheese - $3
Pizza Dough - $1.25

We ate half the pizza tonight and are stuffed! Anyone else use a pizza stone or have any tips? I find that my dough tends to stick to the stone.. maybe I need to use more corn meal to prep the stone?

Russ

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2012, 04:52:16 PM »
Sounds tasty!
More corn meal should probably do it. If not, this dough recipe is the favorite at our house. Quick, easy, and doesn't stick (for us, at least)

swiper

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #2 on: December 26, 2012, 05:00:31 PM »
I've found pre-heating the stone and running the oven hot make a great pizza

Recently I've been using  a 1/4" steel plate. I preheat to max oven temp, put pizza in and set on broil. I've attached two pics here are the specifics:

- Simple dough (5:3 flour:water, a bit of olive oil, 1/2 tsp of instant yeast,  2tsp salt) after kneading, slow rise overnight in refrigerator.
- Steel heated to max oven temp for 20 min
- Pizza was cooked by top broiler on max.
- Each pizza took about 3-4min of cooking.

Pizza: home made sauce (onion and garlic olive oil base with crushed tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, lots of oregano, cinnamon, salt and pepper), mozzarella, prosciutto and black olives.



Honest Abe

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2012, 05:04:57 PM »
The last 2 times I heated to 450deg. What temps are you guys using?

Russ

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2012, 05:37:01 PM »
hot. anywhere between 450 and 500 depending on the pizza (higher temp for thinner dough)

pac_NW

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #5 on: December 26, 2012, 07:00:50 PM »
I preheat my oven to 500 and put the stone in for 30 minutes before baking the pizza.  I also prebake just the pizza crust for 4 to 5 minutes, pull out the stone, add the ingredients and bake or another 12 minutes or so.  Favorites in our house are tomato and cheese; tomato sauce, mushrooms, spinach, back olive, and mozzarella. Here is a good link as well.

http://thefoodinista.wordpress.com/2009/05/03/pizza-perfect/

matt_g

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #6 on: December 26, 2012, 08:39:32 PM »
- Sticking to the stone?  more cornmeal.
- Turn your oven as hot as it will go.  (the only downside is that if your stone has any oil or cheese on it, it will smoke up the house)  450/500 is good.
- BJs has the cheapest cheese around me (and it's shredded)
- If you're making your own dough, find a place to get bulk yeast 99 cents should get you enough to make dozens of pizzas
- Any pizza dough recipe will do  I use honey, olive oil, salt, flour, yeast, water.

gooki

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #7 on: December 27, 2012, 02:42:26 AM »
I can't comment on the sticking issue as I've never had it. Our pizza stone is now well seasoned.

But other stuff to try.

Naan bread works well on a pizza stone.
As do cookies.

And if tomatoes are out of season. Canned chopped tomatoes work well. Put it in a pot add salt + dried herbs and reduce it a lot.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2012, 02:45:11 AM by gooki »

Worsted Skeins

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #8 on: December 27, 2012, 04:27:20 AM »
You can use your favorite pizza dough recipe to make calzones.  In fact, calzones are a great vehicle for using up all of your leftovers.  Our favorite calzone filling is a mix of chopped broccoli, chicken sausage, ricotta, onion, and a bit of mozzarella.  But I have also filled them with ratatouille (messy but good), curries, bean/veg mix.  If you bake calzones on a stone, you'll get a nice crunchy crust.

I also use my stone for making naan as gooki suggested as well as focaccia, baguettes, etc.  A paddle is useful for me to slip the dough on to and off the stone although a thin cutting board works too.

By the way, stones work great on the grill as well.  Flat bread sandwiches loaded with grilled veggies are my fav.

TomTX

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #9 on: December 27, 2012, 07:11:51 AM »
Does anyone have a good recipe for whole wheat pizza dough? The ones I have tried have not been good. White flour calzones have worked nicely.

I know it can be done - I've had very good whole wheat pizza in a restaurant.

matt_g

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #10 on: December 27, 2012, 01:37:43 PM »
All the whole wheat recipes I've tried come out crappy.  They don't really rise that much.  My guess is in the restaurant, they used a dash of whole wheat flour for color and regular flour for the rest.

HumanAfterAll

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #11 on: December 27, 2012, 04:40:09 PM »

Recently I've been using  a 1/4" steel plate. I preheat to max oven temp, put pizza in and set on broil.

Nice!  Our pizza stone cracked in two, and I want to try a Pizza Steel next.  Where did you get yours - scrap or metal shop?

swiper

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2012, 05:20:24 PM »

Recently I've been using  a 1/4" steel plate. I preheat to max oven temp, put pizza in and set on broil.

Nice!  Our pizza stone cracked in two, and I want to try a Pizza Steel next.  Where did you get yours - scrap or metal shop?

Actually it was part of a "home brew" forum group buy. The guys bought large 4X8 sheets of black plate steel and one of them cut out plates in the sizes we wanted. Mine fits my oven and cost $11

Asking around at you local metal fab shop would be a good idea.


Nephi

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #13 on: January 02, 2013, 02:01:23 AM »
I use my pizza stone for "artisan bread in five minutes a day" and "artisan pizza in five minutes a day" recipes. I highly recommend checking out both from your local library. :) The base recipe includes only four ingredients: flour, water, yeast, and salt. I don't enjoy cooking so I like the simple methods. No waiting for the yeast, proofing or kneading dough. I don't worry about preheating the stone, just the oven. I make the pizza directly onto the stone. As far as sticking goes my mom told me a trick that has worked wonders. take a stick of butter and rub it over the whole surface of the stone, no cornmeal required. My wife loves little Caesars pizza and while that is pretty cheap, ours is cheaper and can be made faster than going to buy a pizza.

N

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #14 on: January 03, 2013, 12:32:27 AM »
I dont have a stone. Ive been using some unglazed tiles I bought at the home depot. Ive seen a cast iron pizza stone that looks good. it inspired me to cook my last pizza in my cast iron skillet. worked great. :)

N

I second the artisan bread in 5 min a day method. very very easy and inexpensive.
I also love the pizza dough recipe on smittenkitchen.com I double it and make two pies.

gooki

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2013, 02:20:22 AM »
Just made some bagels on our pizza stone. Came put great, and no sticking.

Melissa

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #16 on: January 03, 2013, 01:23:33 PM »
Quote
Does anyone have a good recipe for whole wheat pizza dough? The ones I have tried have not been good. White flour calzones have worked nicely.

I know it can be done - I've had very good whole wheat pizza in a restaurant.

Use any favorite recipe and just swap out half of the white flour for whole wheat flour.  The only different I have noticed is that the pizza is a little 'heavier' 

DCJrMustachian

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #17 on: December 08, 2014, 11:19:24 PM »
See attachments:

1: pita bread: wheat flour, honey, water, salt & yeast

2: Rosemary Ciabatta Bread: Same as above but add olive oil, pepper, and rosemary than cook a few more mins
 (shown as part of a veggie burger)

3: Pizza (obviously)

4: Baked veggies/bean/rice casserole
« Last Edit: December 08, 2014, 11:24:53 PM by DCJrMustachian »

m8547

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #18 on: December 10, 2014, 06:56:43 PM »
Here's the recipe I use, adapted from http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm It's almost 100 pages if you were to print it out, but it's easy to simplify and still get good results.

Makes 3 pizzas, 12-13 inch, each a 330 (or 285?) gram ball of dough

510g bread flour (measuring by weight is important!)
330g water (incompressible, so you can convert to 330ml)
~3/4 Tablespoon salt (10-14g)
1/2 teaspoon Instant yeast (Rapid Rise yeast). Or use 3/4 teaspoon Active Dry yeast

-Mix 75% of flour with everything else and let sit covered for 20 minutes
-With a mixer: Knead for 5 minutes, add the rest of the flour, kneed for about 5 more minutes on low
-If you don't have a mixer: Do the first 5 minutes of "kneading" by mixing with a spoon, then finish kneading by hand. It might take more than 5 min
-Let rest for 20 minutes covered
-Divide dough into 3 equal pieces, shape into balls, place each one in an oiled bowl or tupperware, cover, and put in the fridge for 1-2 days
-Let dough warm up to room temperature for about an hour, or freeze any dough that you will not use
-Sprinkle flour on the counter, stretch out dough
-Move to pizza screen or peel, add toppings
-Baking: 450 for ~10 minutes or 500 for ~8 minutes or 800F for 2-3 minutes

If I need pizza today, premade pizza dough (uncooked dough balls) from the deli counter is better than anything I've made without letting it rest overnight.

I usually use a pizza screen, and the results are almost as good as a stone. For smaller pizzas, I've used a cast iron skillet heated to smoking hot on the stove, then put in the oven with the pizza (maybe on broil?). It made good pizza, but it also set off the fire alarm for 100 units in my apartment complex because the excess flour made a lot of smoke.

A hot gas or charcoal grill works well, too. Preheat the grill so the inside is hot (or the toppings will never melt). Get the sauce and toppings ready, but don't put them on the pizza yet. Cook the dough on one side, then flip it over, add sauce and toppings, and cook the other side. The lid should be closed as much time as possible to heat the toppings. It might take some trial and error to get the temperature and cooking time right.

If you can find unglazed tiles, they might work as a cheap alternative to pizza stones if you aren't concerned about it being food-grade. Spanish style roof tiles would be perfect for baguettes!

I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book has tricks to making good whole wheat breads that can be adapted to pizza dough. I think whole wheat needs more time for enzymes to work to break down the flour. The wet kneading process and overnight rest in the recipe above is a good start. I've had good results using so-called white whole wheat flour in place of normal flour, even in things that are supposed to be soft and sweet like cookies and muffins. I as skeptical at first because it sounds like a weird artificial product, but it's made from a different kind of wheat and milled differently than normal whole wheat flour, so it looks, tastes, and acts more like white flour. If you use 50% or less you probably won't even notice it in most recipes.

socaso

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Re: Pizza Stone - recipes??
« Reply #19 on: December 11, 2014, 02:25:47 PM »
Does anyone have a good recipe for whole wheat pizza dough? The ones I have tried have not been good. White flour calzones have worked nicely.

I know it can be done - I've had very good whole wheat pizza in a restaurant.
See if you can find a book called American Pie at the library. Great dough recipes. I use a variation of one of their doughs to make my whole wheat crust. 3 cups whole wheat flour, 2 cups white flour, 1 tsp yeast, 1 tsp salt, 2 cups water. I make mine in the stand mixer with a dough hook. First mix all the dry ingredients then drizzle in the water with the dough hook going on a low speed. Once the water is incorporated the dough will pull together in a coarse ball. Knead for about 2 min. Then let rest for 5 min (I usually set the timer on my stove) then knead again for 4-5 min and you should see the ball of dough get smoother. After that pull the dough out and form into a ball, drizzle some olive oil into the bowl you are going to use for the rising and put the dough in then turn it around to coat. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm area for about an hour. This is the part that is more of an art. Depending on the temperature I have had the rise take longer, like an hour and a half or so but if you don't see any rise at all after an hour and a half your yeast may well be dead. Anyway, assuming the rise goes well punch down, turn out on a board and knead for a few minutes then let it rise again. I get 4 balls of dough out of this recipe. I tend to use 1, freeze the other 3. They will usually defrost during the day for pizza at night!

 

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