The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Long Weekend Margherita Pizza

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Long Weekend Margherita Pizza

After taking the summer off of baking bread (too hot in house) I took the opportunity of our recent long weekend to bake up some Neopolitan style pizzas on the grill.  As usual with my pizzas, I used unglazed quarry tiles and a grill flare-up method to re-create that fire hot environment a traditional forno would give.  No shots of the wild mushroom, goat cheese and arugula pizzas I made, but here are the Margheritas.  The very puffed up cornichione makes the pizzas look like the crust was thick and deep, but it was actually about a 1/4 of an inch thick, just the way we like it.

John

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Nice to hear from you John.  Your pizza looks perfect with a great crust.

Regards

Ian

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thanks Ian.  Glad to hear from you.  Been a while and it will take me some time to catch up on your bakes.  Look forward to it.

John

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

would be proud to have these named after her.  Just perfect crust and well topped.  Tough to beat a classic.  Glad to see you back.  We Love pizza on the grill too.  Glad to see you back John and

Happy baking

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thanks dabrowny.  Good to hear from you too.  My few visits to Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix sure kicked me in the butt to perfect my pizzas.  Damn that man is a genius.  Have you been there yet?

John

emkay's picture
emkay

Margherita is my favorite pizza. If it's on the menu I have to order it.  Yours looks just perfect!

:) Mary

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Great Mary thank you.  Then this one shall be called a Marygherita. :)

John

mwilson's picture
mwilson

That's one damn fine looking pizza! Using your grill to bake this really did trick! Can I order a capricciosa for your next pizza bake? Please.

Michael

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thanks Michael.  Having done a few spectacular Panettone, I am sure you know your Italian cuisine quite well.

I have been wanting to play around with some cured meat toppings, so I will have to give that a try soon.

Happy Baking and good to hear from you.

John

baybakin's picture
baybakin

Damn that's a good looking pizza.  Can you describe your grill setup a bit more? I'm intriqued.

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thank you.  It took me a while to get the results I wanted in recreating that super hot forno oven type bake on the crust with just a simple backyard grill.  I would be happy to share.  You can check out some info on my system on previous posts of mine here:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/38127/stone-ground-whole-wheat-margherita-pizza

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34035/shrimp-pesto-pizza-grill

Basically, I just use preheated unglazed quarry tiles (pizza stone would be fine)  I usually preheat them on the highest heat for no less than 30 minutes - and yes, it makes a huge difference to preheat that long:

To recreate the extra hot heat to char up the crust more, I splash some oil onto the grill side opposite the side where the tiles are.  This creates some flames which boosts up the heat and singes the crust.  I just make sure that the flames don't hit the crust directly on the sides or they'll burn.  Also to note, I use parchment paper ALWAYS.  This avoids any sticking and transfer problems.  Before using parchment, I used to screw up the transfer from peel (I also use a large cutting board) to tiles and it would ruin the shape, fall off the tiles, etc.  Once the crust has set, I remove the parchment paper from under the crust and let the pizza finish cooking directly on the tiles.

Hope this helps!

Good luck :)

John

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

It will probably be another month before I am willing to leave the oven hot enough for long enough. 

David

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Great to hear from you David.  Looking forward to baking and your baking.

John

bakingbadly's picture
bakingbadly

Oh man, your margheritas looks sooo damn good! No restaurant or pizzeria in town here makes Neopolitan-style pizzas and I've been cravin' for them.

I look forward to seeing your future bakes. Never fails to make me hungry. :)

Cheers,

Zita

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Hi Zita.  Thank you for the comments.  You are a good baker, so I think you should be the first one to offer this style of pizza in your town :)

Take care

John

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Fabulous Pizza, John . Welcome back :)
Khalid

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thank you Khalid.  Feels too long since baking and posting.  Been busy with the business and finalizing our website, etc.  Looking forward to seeing your posts and catching up on your recent ones.

John

PetraR's picture
PetraR

My word that looks soooooooooo yummy!

Song Of The Baker's picture
Song Of The Baker

Thanks Petra.  It was.  For me, nothing beats this style of pizza with fresh ingredients.

John