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Pizza

Chorizo and chicken tikka pizza. Cooked in the Ooni yesterday and just about to go into the normal oven along with oven chips :thumbs:

I’m already getting “you’re eating too much pizza” from my wife. I’m banned from cooking curry indoors because it stinks the kitchen out. Can see an outdoor pizza cooking ban coming next :mad:

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You can't have to much of that surely? It looks amazing.

Maybe you need an outdoor curry oven?

I would quite like a tandoor....
 
The old eat out help out shizzle tonight. Pizza closest in the pic was mine and also had gorgonzola in the cheese mix which was great. Other one had fennel sausage which was delicious.
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I've just had a baking sheet and mozzarella delivered, so will be making pizza tonight

Any sauce recommendations? I have tomato puree and tinned tomatoes, but some other people in my household often complain that these things on their own are too sour. :rolleyes: (I tried searching this thread for discussion of sauces but found lots of mentions of barbecue sauce so gave up :rolleyes:)
 
I've just had a baking sheet and mozzarella delivered, so will be making pizza tonight

Any sauce recommendations? I have tomato puree and tinned tomatoes, but some other people in my household often complain that these things on their own are too sour. :rolleyes: (I tried searching this thread for discussion of sauces but found lots of mentions of barbecue sauce so gave up :rolleyes:)
Keep it simple - save the fancy flavours for the toppings.

I usually braise chopped onions until they're soft - this can give a sweetness to the sauce - and add tomatoes, a good whack of tomato puree, if you want, and minimal (but some) salt. On the strength of a tip from the "Pro Home Cooks" Youtube channel, I rinse the tins with some water, and chuck it in, which allows the sauce to reduce while cooking through. Tinned tomatoes can often be quite sharp, and an old cooking tip is to use a bit of sugar to counter that, though I find with nicely-cooked onions and a slow cook/reduce of the sauce, the richness tends to come out and reduce the sharp taste anyway.
 
I’m going for Margherita tonight possibly with added mushrooms. No fresh basil so will have to make do without.

I contemplated adding chicken and pineapple, but the chicken is frozen and the tinned pineapple in the cupboard turned out to be tinned satsumas. :facepalm:
 
Used one of my half-cooked frozen pizza bases tonight. Topping was previously cooked tomato sauce from the freezer (but crucially, perhaps, not the full shot, just enough to smear the whole base), good quality sausage, chilli and mozzarella. I would have said before that you can never cook pizza at home that lives up to the best restaurant pizza, but after tonight, I don't know. This pizza was mind-blowing. Might have been down to less tomato sauce and therefore a crispier base. (I think too a half-cooked base stops the base absorbing liquid.) The sausage may well also have added to it (I usually go veggie with pizza), but I think I might have cooked one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten..IMG_20200822_181454.jpg
 
I think what I love about making your own pizza is that if ever there was a perfect cross between art and science, pizza making is it. It's all in making a good base, then getting the ratios right - cheese to tomato, toppings, etc. Often less is more. It's a case of gathering up all those little tips, which, combined, take you just that little bit closer to pizza perfection, and hopefully you get better at it each time. There are few foods better than a great pizza!
 
Used one of my half-cooked frozen pizza bases tonight. Topping was previously cooked tomato sauce from the freezer (but crucially, perhaps, not the full shot, just enough to smear the whole base), good quality sausage, chilli and mozzarella. I would have said before that you can never cook pizza at home that lives up to the best restaurant pizza, but after tonight, I don't know. This pizza was mind-blowing. Might have been down to less tomato sauce and therefore a crispier base. (I think too a half-cooked base stops the base absorbing liquid.) The sausage may well also have added to it (I usually go veggie with pizza), but I think I might have cooked one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten..View attachment 227520
I have been using a (cast iron) pizza stone, in an oven at 240C and given plenty of time to warm up, and 10 minutes' cooking time pretty much nails it, with a fairly hefty load on top (sauce, spinach, walnuts, and Quite A Lot of cheese). Letting the stone get really hot (ie wait for a good while after the oven 'stat has clicked out) makes a big difference.

In fact, I'm having to ease back on the cooking time, because the bloody things are coming out a bit too crispy on the bottom! But the pizza stone is an absolute must - makes all the difference.

You can see how they are able to cook a pizza in 2 minutes in those proper Italian pizza ovens, which I think run at 450C or thereabouts.
 
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