Plain Flour??Same as strong bread flour for pizza bases??

HappyIdiotTalk

sunshine6650 wrote: »

i only bought it as im a newby home baker 7 trying money saving ways...didnt do too well with the flour tho hey! just made a mini pizza to see what its like & its ok so goning to make one for tonight & freeze the rest 'in a ball' for another home pizza night!!
Thanks for all your help!

What was the problem with it that made it just 'OK'? Its taken me years of pizza making to get to the point where I think mine are up to a fairly decent standard, but I still think I've got a long way to go yet.

My personal insights are:

• Thin bases! The recipe I got with my panasonic bread maker for 1 pizza makes enough dough for two big pizza's for me and OH, plus a small one for DD1.
• 1 tin of quality tomatos mashed up in a pan and left to reduce down over a low heat for 30 minutes (while you prepare everything else), with a generous splash of olive oil and a little salt and sugar, and maybe a clove of garlic makes a good thick tomato sauce for the topping.
• Dont overload with toppings, this one took me years to accept as I liked to put tons of stuff on. But it really does spoil the end result. Make sure you can still see plenty of base.
• Use buffalo mozzarella if you can, but a regular mozarella will be fine. Lidl are cheapest for this in my experience. Slice it up into rounds (saucer shaped) and arrange on top.
• Use a really hot oven. I get my oven up to its maximum tempreature and cook on a pizza stone for about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Its best to cook one pizza at a time, but if you have to make a few at once, cook them for 5 or 6 minutes, get the next one in, do the same, and then cook two at a time for 2 minutes to finish off. Not ideal, but I've not sussed out how to solve this problem adequately yet.

Hope that helps.

belfastgirl23

HappyIdiotTalk wrote: »

What was the problem with it that made it just 'OK'? Its taken me years of pizza making to get to the point where I think mine are up to a fairly decent standard, but I still think I've got a long way to go yet.

My personal insights are:

• Thin bases! The recipe I got with my panasonic bread maker for 1 pizza makes enough dough for two big pizza's for me and OH, plus a small one for DD1.
• 1 tin of quality tomatos mashed up in a pan and left to reduce down over a low heat for 30 minutes (while you prepare everything else), with a generous splash of olive oil and a little salt and sugar, and maybe a clove of garlic makes a good thick tomato sauce for the topping.
• Dont overload with toppings, this one took me years to accept as I liked to put tons of stuff on. But it really does spoil the end result. Make sure you can still see plenty of base.
• Use buffalo mozzarella if you can, but a regular mozarella will be fine. Lidl are cheapest for this in my experience. Slice it up into rounds (saucer shaped) and arrange on top.
• Use a really hot oven. I get my oven up to its maximum tempreature and cook on a pizza stone for about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Its best to cook one pizza at a time, but if you have to make a few at once, cook them for 5 or 6 minutes, get the next one in, do the same, and then cook two at a time for 2 minutes to finish off. Not ideal, but I've not sussed out how to solve this problem adequately yet.

Hope that helps.

Exactly what she says except I use passata for the sauce (it's a little bit smoother which I prefer)

Also if you use grated mozzarella at the minute sainsbury is cheapest (go figure!). And I have done my research on this!

HappyIdiotTalk

belfastgirl23 wrote: »

Exactly what she says except I use passata for the sauce (it's a little bit smoother which I prefer)

Also if you use grated mozzarella at the minute sainsbury is cheapest (go figure!). And I have done my research on this!

Ahem (said in my deepest manliest voice)! :rotfl:

Nicki

HappyIdiotTalk wrote: »

I've always wondered why my pizza bases weren't quite right, and thought your post have solved my problem. But then I saw BelfastGirl23's post and now I'm wondering if you make thick crusts? If so your tip might not be the answer afterall.

No - I hate deep pan pizzas even from the take away. I roll mine out as thin as I can, although they do puff up again a little in the oven, the end product is about the thickness of a regular supermarket one. Not yet mastered getting them as thin as Pizza Express but keep practising!

HappyIdiotTalk

Nicki wrote: »

No - I hate deep pan pizzas even from the take away. I roll mine out as thin as I can, although they do puff up again a little in the oven, the end product is about the thickness of a regular supermarket one. Not yet mastered getting them as thin as Pizza Express but keep practising!

I agree, deep pan is a gimmick I'm sure.

I'm looking forward to trying half plain to half bread flour now, I'm hoping it'll sort my base out.

Many thanks.

sunshine6650

Thank you all for your help! I hate not knowing things or not getting it right, i made him one last nite & it seemed ok but im going to try the 1/2 & 1/2 as well...after ive used the 2 frozen dough balls that are in the freezer!!!

Thank you all!

HappyIdiotTalk

sunshine6650 wrote: »

Thank you all for your help! I hate not knowing things or not getting it right

Me too! I love cooking, but I find it ever-so frustrating that something so simple can turn out to be such a trial. And what really annoys me is that I can make something over and over again, exactly the same way and get completely different results! How does that happen? Do chefs have that problem?

belfastgirl23

HappyIdiotTalk wrote: »

Ahem (said in my deepest manliest voice)! :rotfl:

oops ......

belfastgirl23

sunshine6650 wrote: »

Thank you all for your help! I hate not knowing things or not getting it right, i made him one last nite & it seemed ok but im going to try the 1/2 & 1/2 as well...after ive used the 2 frozen dough balls that are in the freezer!!!

Thank you all!

Also just to say that practice really does make perfect in pizza creation...and most of the practice goes are edible, it's hard to make a really duff pizza except if you burn it. But it did take a good wee while to perfect it to our tastes I think.

And if you are getting serious about making pizza it is really worthwhile investing in a pizza stone, I think it does make a difference but at about £10 a go you need to be sure that you'll use them. We've def had our moneysworth out of ours.

Finally in the spirit of being truly MS and energy efficient I usually try to cook something else while the stones are heating up in the oven because they do work loads better if they are properly heated through.

Oh I'm in the mood for pizza now and it's only 10.15!!

champys

Have struggled with pizza bases for years, but now can't go wrong anymore. The strong flour/regular flour issue does not really seem to matter much: here in France 'strong flour' does not exist at all so I use the cheapest regular for bread making and pizzas, and that works fine.
But what has really made my pizza bases work is something I read in a pizza book from Italy: if you use tomatoes or tomato sauce on them, put this on the rolled-out pizza base first, let it prove together for 20 mins or so, then pre-bake with just the tomato base for half the baking time before you put the final toppings, cheese etc. on. I take more time now making pizzas, but they always come out with a perfect base and crust. No need for a pizza stone, and my oven does not need to be so excessively hot either.