Trying my hand at a homemade Margherita Pizza

kwdickert

I took it upon myself to try a really close version of the Margherita by making all the ingredients myself.

The dough -
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001199.html



The sauce -
Cento San Marzanos in a can. Not sure if they were real or not but had good flavor. I drained them, cut out the hard stems , then hand crushed with salt and pepper and stored for later that day in the fridge to merry.



The cheese -
I used a  mixture of both thekitchn.com recipe and @RRP 's recipe for mozz. I kind of got distracted and didn't follow the recipe well enough and ended up with a funny texture. They tasted the same though once both were cold. Planning for this, I already bought a real mozzarella ball in case I botched this. Pizza one used the homemade, pizza two used the store bought.

Homemade on the left, store bought on the right. Homemade was harder, rubbery, and wouldn't melt well.




ON TO THE COOK



Homemade mozz here with basil and olive oil.

Cooked both at 600.



Result #1 - Good but the cheese didnt melt well. It looks like it did but it's pretty hard here. The crust was too crispy and charry here for me. I went with color on the first cook and that was a problem.

Take 2!




Result #2
This time I used the store bought mozz and I added pepperoni. I went with time here and firmness of the outer crust. Turned out amazing. the sauce and cheese mix so well. The dough was perfect. The pepperoni were a nice addition although no longer a true margherita. The only issue here was that the dough was so thin that the pizza was floppy. Didn't care. Pizza tasted awesome and I was very happy. 

EDIT:

The thin crust plus fresh mozzarella (not low moisture like shredded) equally a soggy, easy to rip center, so theres something to concern yourself with if you try this. 

blasting

Great post, great pies!

NDG

nice job.  If you are going to focus on homemade pizza, I found a website/forum that is just loaded with good stuff . . click this forum http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php

kwdickert

NDG said:

nice job.  If you are going to focus on homemade pizza, I found a website/forum that is just loaded with good stuff . . click this forum http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php

I found that quite recently! Haven't really explored a lot yet but that's where I found to make my sauce. 

NDG

Cool . . .Its a deep site, but the posters are very quick/helpful . . very similar to this BGE forum.  

I started with Neapolitan style (using sourdough culture) Pizzas on my blackstone and was amazed how good they were.  Now I am trying NY style.  Just purchased something called "diastatic malt powder" because it supposed to be helpful when making NY style . . always something new to try! 

kwdickert

NDG said:

Cool . . .Its a deep site, but the posters are very quick/helpful . . very similar to this BGE forum.  

I started with Neapolitan style (using sourdough culture) Pizzas on my blackstone and was amazed how good they were.  Now I am trying NY style.  Just purchased something called "diastatic malt powder" because it supposed to be helpful when making NY style . . always something new to try! 

Keep me posted. I wanna know how that turns out. I did a recipe that used molasses instead of sugar and I think that got me closer to my favorite dough recipe. Bread flour so far instead of AP or 00 but i'll get there. So much frozen dough in the freezer for now though!

SPRIGS

Love them.  That looks like a winner to me.

SPRIGS

This one was done in the oven.  Not as good as off the egg.  In the oven, my crust doesn't get as crispy as on the egg.  But my family loves these and didn't complain that it came from the oven.

MitchF

kwdickert said:

The only issue here was that the dough was so thin that the pizza was floppy. Didn't care. Pizza tasted awesome and I was very happy. 

Authentic Neopolitan pizzas made in wood fired ovens are usually floppy, hence why they use a fork and knife usually, so it's part of the experience

The pizzas look great! 

RAC

Nice looking pie!