Shopping list to prepare for 1st pizza cook

mojo

Tonight will be my 1st attempt at pizza on the large. I already have a plate setter and pizza stone, but that's it. I know I'll need other things, and I don't want to be without something essential when it's time to get started. I'm going to use store-bought dough and sauce for this first attempt, and I also know that I'll need these other things:
peel
corn meal
flower
cheese
toppings
+/- parchment paper
pizza cutter

What else did I forget? I was going to heat the egg to 500* for 30 min before putting on the 1st pie. I'm thinking 2 pies for tonight. Should I wipe down the stone between pies? Any other advice is welcome. I will reward those who are interested with pics, promise! Oh, and how do I add that camera icon to the thread title?

Fidel

If you are going to use parchment paper then you won't need the corn meal. A peel is nice, but you can get by with a flat cookie sheet in a pinch to get the pie on and off the stone.

No reason to wipe down the stone between pies.

The camera icon appears automatically when you add images to the message.

Good luck. Best advice is to let the pizza stone heat up for 30-45 minutes minimum before you cook the pie.

Hotwingking

I got a peel at Costco Busines Center for only
5 bucks and change. Good luck with the pizza!!

Pepper Monkey BBQ

Sounds like you are in business! I do my pies about 500 - 525 for about 13 minutes ... just browns the cheese and we like a thin crispy crust. No need to clean the stone between cooks unless you have her REALLY hot and you'll see the corn meal darkening, but hat hasn't happened to be between cooks at all. The tricky part for us is always transferring from cookie sheet to stone without tearing the dough or making a mess ... A pizza peel would certainly be handy.

TomM24

I use parchement and corn meal. I think the corn meal adds a little extra flavor.

mojo

Thanks for the responses everyone. It seems so easy that I've already invited my neighbors over for dinner. Looks like I'll be making about 5 instead of 2 .

Are there any "no peak" rules with pizza, like when doing a low and slow? I would think a regular interval of peeking would be essential with pizzas. Also, how long should I allow the pizza stone to heat between pies?

mojo

Well, last night's pies were a success. As promised, here they are. Sorry about the photo quality, pics taken with my Palm Pre phone.











And here's the crust on one of the pies.



Overall I would rate this as a success. It was a lot of fun to prepare the pies, especially for the kids who applied all of the sauce and toppings, and I let them flatten out the dough balls as well. I got the dough at Domino's pizza, and the sauce was Ragu pizza sauce purchased at the grocery store. The sauce was very bland and the dough, well, it was from Domino's, so you know how that is. But at least now I have the security to know that I can make pizzas, and I will definitely go to the effort of making my own dough and sauce next time. It truly was quite easy.

mojo

Here's something I was wondering ... So I put corn meal onto the pizza stone to prevent the first pie from sticking. That worked great, there was no stick whatsoever, but the corn meal was black and burnt after the first pizza. I didn't remove it and add new, I just left it there and cooked all 5 pizzas on top of the same charred corn meal. It did not affect the flavor of the pizza at all. Do others scrape it off between pies or do as I did?