Pizza Stone help required

Savvy_Sue

zippychick wrote: »

sounds interesting. ! I wouldn't have thought about frying a pizza (although have recently learnt the delights of toasties made in the frying pan. DROOL )

tell us more! I hate cleaning my sandwich toaster, but I love toasties!

zippychick

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

tell us more! I hate cleaning my sandwich toaster, but I love toasties!

I didn't think it would work but it does (read about it on here!) . I hate cleaning the breville too.

Just make a toasty as you would to put a machine - don't put butter on the outside (but you can put it in the middle like a sandwich). I put the ring on about 5 and a dry frying pan. It looks like it's never going to cook but after 5 or so minutes it browns. Turn over and press down with a fish slice until that side toasts up too. I squish it quite a bit to make sure the middle melts. I made cheese onion and ham - delicious! Then you only have a dry frying pan to clean

ALso good for strange shaped bread (ie home made :rotfl:)

They are crunchy crispy and the cheese melts deliciously. I had mine with some mayo mixed with smoked paprika! YUMMMEEEEEE!

Savvy_Sue

Did you mean to have a link in that thread?

zippychick

eh? i don't comprehend?

Savvy_Sue

zippychick wrote: »

eh? i don't comprehend?

No, it's me being dense ...

When you said

zippychick wrote: »

(read about it on here!)

I thought maybe you'd intended to put a link to the specific post. But not to worry, I could do a search if I felt that way inclined ... just being lazy really.

And is there anywhere else to pick these tips up from? I don't think so, and if there is I haven't got time for that AS WELL! :rotfl:

zippychick

i SEE!:rotfl: I'm pretty sure it was in the subsistence thread - where people discussed using a frying pan to make toast -so I then tried out the toasties

angeltreats

I've just asked for a pizza stone on Freecycle but I never seem to have much luck with Freecycle so thought I'd ask just in case - does anyone know where I could buy a pizza stone? Preferably not ebay as the postage is extortionate.

houseofpat

Pizza Stone and Serving Set £7.99

Aldi Thursday Special Buy 10th Feb 2011

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_17553.htm

sb44

houseofpat wrote: »

Pizza Stone and Serving Set £7.99

Aldi Thursday Special Buy 10th Feb 2011

http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/special_buys3_17553.htm

I have one of these that I use for homemade pizzas but I don't preheat it.

I brush or wipe the top with veg oil, flatten the dough on it (that I have just taken from the breadmaker), cook it for 5 mins, take it out of the oven and then add my pizza base, cheese, toppings etc and return it back to the oven to continue cooking.

If you put a decent amount of oil on the stone your pizza won't stick.

Herbsman

sb44 wrote: »

I have one of these that I use for homemade pizzas but I don't preheat it.

I brush or wipe the top with veg oil, flatten the dough on it (that I have just taken from the breadmaker), cook it for 5 mins, take it out of the oven and then add my pizza base, cheese, toppings etc and return it back to the oven to continue cooking.

If you put a decent amount of oil on the stone your pizza won't stick.

Bad idea. The whole point of using a pizza stone is to cook the dough thoroughly and evenly by preheating the stone. Also, the reason that it's made of a porous material is so it absorbs moisture from the dough, thus producing a crisp crust.

The oil that you keep adding to your stone will be absorbed into it every time, gradually reducing the stone's moisture absorption capability.

The best way to prepare a pizza is on a pizza peel generously dusted with coarse semolina or cornmeal (I don't have a pizza peel at the moment so I'm using a thin chopping board with a handle). Preheat the stone while the stretched-out dough proves on the peel, then add the toppings and slide the pizza from the peel onto the preheated stone. The dough will rise more, cook more quickly and evenly and will have a better, lighter crust. The cornmeal stops the dough from sticking to either the peel or the stone.

Extra tip... if using bread flour or Italian 00 flour, try substituting up to 1/3 of it for fine semolina / semolina flour. And if using sugar, try using malt extract instead. Much nicer.