Enjoy making pizza at home
Pizza and basketball. What a great combination!
The coming game between MSU and Butler is all over the news here, as I’m in Michigan. It probably will be exciting. Teams which make the Final Four have to be good.
Having a game-watching party with family and friends this weekend? Make it a pizza night!
Here’s how you can have your pizza and see the game, too. Continue reading “Celebrate March Madness with Homemade Pizza”
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Another Saturday night, time for homemade pizza. Get out the trusty Hartstone pizza stone and fire up the oven. Cook off some sausage from Hollywood, open a can or two of Pastorelli pizza sauce.
I have my favorite brands which are, in my opinion, the best. This comes from many years of experience, balancing several factors that fit the situation at our house.
Home pizza chefs know that the best homemade pizza is pizza made on an oven pizza stone. Sure, you can use a cookie sheet, or a metal pizza pan, and have a pizza come out tasting “pretty good.” But when you use a pizza stone, you’ll have pizza that comes out great.
The reason that pizza made on a pizza stone is best is because the crust is so important to a good pizza. No matter how awesome your toppings are, if your crust isn’t good, your pizza won’t be good.
For the best crust, you need to have the oven heat distributed evenly across the bottom of the pizza – this is what creates that pizzeria texture – crispy, but somehow a bit chewy, and completely satisfying, and this is accomplished with a pizza stone which retains and distributes the heat.
The pizza stone allows you to bake your pizza at a very high temperature, which is needed for great crust. The stone heats evenly and holds the heat, even when your oven is cycling through its heat up, cool down, heat up, cool down cycles.
Even though you are only baking the pizza for 13 to 15 minutes, this makes a difference.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know I favor the Hartstone pizza stone. This is durable American made stoneware, fired at a very high temperature to make it soap and dishwasher safe. And you can cut the pizza right on the pizza stone. No knife marks.
Planning for company? Or a weekend gathering with family or friends? Pizza is a great food to have, because you can prepare most of it ahead, and bake it fresh right before it’s time to eat.
Pizza is a tradition and for many families – a ritual when it’s time to have a family Monopoly tournament on a chilly winter night, or after a pool party on a warm summer evening.
Wouldn’t you love to share the best homemade pizza with your family and friends? Forget about those frozen pizzas in a box, carryout or delivery, and baking pizza on aluminum pans. Get an oven pizza stone or two, and find out what real homemade pizzeria-style pizza is all about!
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I’ve been baking my sausage ahead of making my pizzas. I’ve been using the oven for roast pork and other things, so it has been easy to add an extra ovenware dish with some sausage in it.
This is very convenient when it comes time to make a pizza and has been working out well.
My favorite Hollywood Markets pizza sausage comes in the large links, and five of them is enough for three pizzas, each with a generous helping of sausage, and room for mushrooms, too.
Again this time I baked the sausages in their casings, and put them in the refrigerator to get cold, so they would be easier to work with.
Instead of slicing the them, however, I just cut chunks off in somewhat smaller pieces than last time. I really like this, because it helps the sausage get a little browner in the oven, and makes it even more tasty for that.
So handy to pull out some sausage from the fridge and cut it while the dough is rising, ready to add to my pizza right after the mushrooms.
This is my third pizza in a week, and it went down very well. I could make thinner round slices of sausage, but this method is less fussy and full of flavor.
Good thing I got 10 pounds of pizza sausage, to last me until my next special order!
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I love the pizza sausage that comes from Hollywood Markets, one of our local grocery store chains. Hollywood is known for its meat, and one of the guys in the meat department mixes this up. The last time I got some, I ordered 10 pounds.
This sausage has a great mix of spices that complement everything on your pizza. It does have some red pepper flake, but not too much. I perceive it as savory, not hot. Kinda like Cinderella eating porridge, this one’s just right.
Usually I take the sausage out of the casing, but this week I left it in the large links, and cooked them in a skillet with a lid on top. Then I let them get cold in the fridge, sliced them and put them on the pizza.
I like this method, because I can cook the sausage ahead and keep it in refrigerator for a few days, then use it when I’m creating my next pizza.
That looks so good, I’m going to have to make another one!
PS… I’ve been making pizza at home now for more than 30 years. I guess I know what I’m talking about, because this week I found another person who liked my articles so much that they wanted to “borrow” one of them. Here’s my original article, Homemade Pizza – Great Food as Close as Your Kitchen, on Ezinearticles, an article directory where I am an expert author.
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One thing leads to another, and so I met Chef Lynn Miller via the Internet. Her new book, Flavor Secrets, has a full spread on pizza.
I’ve been making my own crust for more than 20 years, but there is always something new to learn. I’ve adjusted over the years, and I am currently in favor of a thinner, crispier crust.
I got to ask Chef Lynn about building the flavor of a plain flour crust. I knew that using good quality flour makes a different. And in addition, Chef Lynn says, allow for a long, slow rise.
That makes sense to me. And it’s so easy to make up a crust, cover the bowl and set it aside to rise while doing other tasks. A pizza crust can rise all afternoon, to be enjoyed for a casual supper, or put away in the refrigerator for an even slower rise all day or overnight.
If you make a double batch of pizza dough, one can go into the freezer after it has risen for a half hour or so. Then bring it out to rise a bit more and warm to room temperature, several hours before you plan to use it.
After the sauce, my favorite part of the pizza is the crust. Using local ingredients is important to me as well, because of the quality of local agriculture, and commitment to Michigan as a great place to live.
Resources for local pizza ingredients:
Westwind Milling produces flour locally. Their products are available at the Oakland County Farmers Market. Check website for other locations.
Hampshire Farms is certified organic. Flours and grains available at local farmers markets: Royal Oak, Oakland County and Eastern Market in Detroit.
Plum Market – local means Michigan!
Disclosure: This review is based purchased products. No freebies involved.
by Lunch has been pizza a lot lately. The meal starts early, as soon as the homey smell of yeast-rising dough drifts through the house. My own homemade pizza is a special occasion, even for lunch.
To start a pizza, I get the flour bins out of my antique Hoosier cupboard. The flour is Hoosier, too – from Indiana. I haul artisan flour from two water-powered grist mills – Greenfield and Bonneyville – that have been grinding local wheat for more than 100 years. The flours have names: New Wrinkle and Hard Red Whole Wheat. These flours have more substance than the ordinary store brands, and when you knead a lot of dough, you develop a feel. The silky white bread flour and rough whole wheat will become a hearty pizza crust.
Besides flour, the dough takes salt, dry yeast, olive oil and water. I can almost make pizza dough in my sleep because I’ve practiced the recipe for nearly 30 years. I stir the ingredients together in a heavy crockery bowl, and then turn it out onto the floured counter top for kneading.
Kneading is rhythm. It is art. Kneading done well means you put your whole body into the rhythm of pushing forward with the heal of your hand, leaning gently back, then folding the dough over on itself and pushing forward again, over and over. If it’s too sticky, add more flour. Knead some more.
As soon as I begin kneading, the yeast blooms with that wonderful bread smell, like my grandmother’s special bread drawer. Soon the lump of wet flour turns into the smooth satin stuff of bread. I can tell by feel when the dough has enough flour and when it’s been kneaded long enough. Poke it and it springs back. It feels as alive as it smells.
Homemade pizza is a leisurely lunch. After kneading, the dough rests and rises for at least half an hour. As it rises, more subtle bread aroma drifts through the house.
When the crust finishes rising, I stretch it out on my Hartstone baking stone. The crust is pleasantly warm and bouncy under my fingers, with a mind of its own. I top it quickly with sauce, Parmesan, mushrooms and mozzarella.
The single pizza ingredient I like the best is the sauce. My heart is set on Pastorelli, a Chicago brand. It’s rich red and thick with crushed fresh tomatoes, Italian spices, and a zip of Pecorino Romano cheese. It has twang. If I can’t have this sauce, I’d rather not make pizza.
My pizza bakes in a 500-degree oven to give it a crisp crust and lightly browned cheese. High heat lifts essential oils from the spices. A savory mingling of crust, sauce, cheese and spices inspires my kitchen.
In 13 minutes, it’s done. My pizza rules as good food, alive and energetic, seasoned with satisfaction of making it myself.
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It’s been a long time coming, but now it’s here!
Pizza should be its own food group. Let’s make some tasty pies…
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