Here is an exchange PizzaMan had with a friend:
What about your pizza needs improvement?
May your dough rise,
PizzaMan
The goal is to mix the right amount of the proper ingredients together to create uniform dough. Good dough has all the ingredients evenly distributed throughout the dough. There are two basic methods – the dry mix and wet mix methods. Both work well, so use the method that suits your fancy. I generally use the wet mix method because it gives me a chance to see that the yeast is active.
Here is another consultation between PizzaMan and a friend:
One buyer of my book just made her first pizza. Check it out at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=307053&id=1053367080&ref=mf#/photo.php?pid=307053&id=1053367080&ref=mf.
Have you tried making pizza before, but were unsatisfied with the outcome? Do you have trouble achieving that wonderful, chewy-crunchy crust that you get at a pizzeria? Have you made good pizza, but find that you are unable to do it consistently? Have you looked at pizza cookbooks and baking stones in the store, but did not have the guts to try making pizza, yourself? Worse yet, do you have a pizza pan or a pizza stone that is sitting in your cupboard gathering dust because you have never made a pizza that is good enough to justify all the effort. Passionate About Pizza: Making Great Homemade Pizza is what you need! With a little practice and a little guidance from this book, you can make pizza better than any pizza you have made before. It will be better than any store-bought or restaurant pizza you will ever find. Moreover, your homemade pizza will be great, every time.
Spiedies are cubes of marinated meat that are cooked over a grill on skewers. Spiedies originated in the "Southern Tier" of New York near Binghamton. For those individuals who grew up in that area, Spiedies are food of the Gods. The marinade gives the meat a flavorful moistness that is unique and wonderful.
Pizza Ingredients
The most important thing you can know about the ingredients for making pizza is that you should use the highest quality ingredients you can. Higher quality usually does not cost much more, and you will notice the difference in taste. Beyond that tip, I want to pass on to you some of the things I have learned about various ingredients.
Yeast is amazing stuff. It is a single-cell organism. It gives off carbon dioxide gas and alcohol as it multiplies. When allowed to grow inside dough that has gluten in it (as most pizza dough does), the gas is trapped in the gluten and the dough "rises." Yeast exists in many different strains. Some are wild and others are cultivated for specific purposes and sold commercially. Brewer’s yeast and baker’s yeast are two such strains. Sourdough starters capture and cultivate wild yeast. Both baker’s yeast and sourdough starter are excellent sources of yeast for making pizza.
Pizza Pans
Pizza Screens
Baking Stone
Your home oven is all you need to make great pizza. Using pizza pans, pizza screens, or a baking stone will turn your oven into a fine pizza-baking machine!
Kamodo style barbecue grills have become popular over the last decade. One of the most commonly known versions is the Big Green Egg. Kamodo cookers are made of thick ceramic material and can cook at low, medium, or very high temperatures.
Kamodos can be used to make pizza if you prepare it properly. Here are some tips:
Remember that pizza cooks from both the top and bottom at the same time. Therefore, to bake pizza properly in a Kamodo, you need to move the pizza up toward the top of the cooker so that radiated heat from the Kamodo’s top cooks the top of the pizza. Most people do this using the "plate setter" accessory that comes with the grill (or is purchased separately). The plate setter has three legs and a flat surface. Place the plate setter on the grill’s cooking grate and then put a round pizza stone on top of the plate setter. You can adjust the height of the pizza stone by putting plates, fire bricks, or other spacers under the stone until you get even cooking on the top and bottom of the pizza.
Pizza Making Equipment
You might think that flour is just flour; however, not all flours are created equal. You can use almost any type of flour to make a pizza, but the type of flour you use can make a difference.
Different flours have different amounts of gluten. This is the protein in wheat that helps hold in the bubbles of gas produced by the yeast. It also allows the dough to stretch as you shape the pizza. Different flours with varying amounts of gluten will behave differently; you can see and feel the difference in the dough as you mix it.
My favorite flour to use for making pizza is a mix of half All Purpose Unbleached Flour and Bread Flour. This mix provides a good balance between the extra strength of the Bread Flour with the ease of use that comes from All Purpose Unbleached Flour.
Focaccia Flatbread is a great accompaniment to any meal. You can suit the toppings to your taste or menu plan and have fresh bread with your meal with almost no fuss. The sky and your imagination are the limits as far as what you put on top.
Cracker Crust Sausage Pizza
Cracker Crust Pizza is very thin and crispy with little tiny air bubbles throughout the crust just like saltine crackers.
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The Magic of Sourdough
Sourdough is wonderful! It’s an adventure that harkens back to the days before commercial bakers yeast was available. Sourdough starter is a wild yeast culture that imparts a distinctive sour flavor to the dough. You can purchase a sourdough starter or you can let a sponge made with rye flour and some pineapple juice go “wild” for a few days. The conditions in which the starter grows such as the amount of sugar, the strain of yeast that thrives locally, and the other starter ingredients a can influence the starter’s flavor.