The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Frist pizza in ages. First in new oven. Christmas eve pizza party, test

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Frist pizza in ages. First in new oven. Christmas eve pizza party, test

It seems to me no matter how long, The pie king never has trouble shaping an N.Y. style pie! 

alfanso's picture
alfanso

you can open up a window and they'll be queuing around the block in a jiffy.  But word of caution - stay away from the 99₵ guys up the street ?. There's a reason that The Pie King is the pie king! 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

You know after a long break from pizza, this pie made me think of what you always tell me. Muscle memory! It took me a long time and thousands of videos to get the N.Y. style skin stretch down pat! Looks like I have it dialed in now! 

 Funny you mentioned Joe's, over at the pizza club there is a discussion about recreating Joe's pie. I remember you said Joe's sauce was too sweet for your liking. Boy, you were spot on! According to a Joe's insider, they are using 5 tsp sugar per 28oz of sauce! That's a heck of a lot of sugar! 

Benito's picture
Benito

That is Pizza Perfect Will, wouldn’t change a thing, you still got it.

Merry Christmas 

Benny

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

How do you defrost your baguettes? These last two I made, I purposely shaved a couple of minutes off the bake for a softer sandwich friendly crust. I am thinking a slow room temperature defrost is best to keep the crust a bit softer? Thanks. Wishing you and yours a safe, healthy, and most of all joyous Christmas season! 

Benito's picture
Benito

Because I like mine crispy rather than soft, I defrost and crisp them up by placing them in a 325ºF oven for about 10 mins or so.  I’m going to be doing this at dinner time, we’ve only eaten 1 of the three semolina sesame baguettes I last made so still have two in the freezer.

Isn’t it nice to be able to eat a hot from the oven baguette whenever you feel?

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Your pizza's making me hungry!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

That looks wonderful!

I am making pizza tonight for the first time in a while as well - a simple tomato, red onion, mozzarella and mushroom pie. 

Is the topping of yours a meat sauce? Please describe. It looks delicious but different from any pizza I've seen.

David

 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

The base of all my pizza pies is simply Stanaslus 7/11 ground tomatoes with some fresh basil and a couple of anchovies added. That's it, uncooked simple tomato sauce. The basil for the natural sweetness and the anchovies for a salty depth of flavor. on top of that is a grating of pecorino or Parmigiano hard cheese, (not a whole lot.) Next, for this particular pie, we have 8oz, of fresh cooked, loose sausage meat crumble. For the cheese, we have 16oz. of cubed Grande whole milk mozzarella. Lastly some roasted red peppers and black olives. 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

 

We had a way cool meat lovers pie when Matt (secondo) finally rolled in. (Waiting on photo documentation) Alas, no photo documentation of the pies consumed with Valeries (prima) family. 

 Today's lunch, the last of the Christmas eve dough balls. Welcome to Margaritaville! I have to blot the fresh tomatoes better next time. However, the skin held up!

 Number 1 Grandson

Introducing Scuderia Ferrari's newest apprentice drive Nate Langan.

 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

kendalm's picture
kendalm

Is really a lot of fun.  They fet to build their own and see food getting food made for real.  I completely share you sentiments. 

kendalm's picture
kendalm

These pies cook up in about 3 mins at 650F with top element at full blast.  btw for sauce I am lazy and buy contadina in a can.  add a pinch of salt - done - 

 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Dare I ask what oven do you have that reaches 650F? Amazing! Really appetizing looking pie!

kendalm's picture
kendalm

I decided to take a chance at a cheap oven from china originally advertised as a pizza oven which I promptly modified to seal and trap steam with a rofco steam tray.  originally it leaked badly but nothing a that a bit of high temp silicone and advice from dan ayo couldnt fix.  So yeah been using it as my primary bread oven but on pizza nights its a lot of fun - btw I used to sling pies at pizzaria back in the good ole days before the internet ruined the world !  Full oven details here - http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/64961/new-oven-just-arrived then trials and tribulations of learning the ropes here - http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/65316/new-oven-build-preliminary-results

Glad to see your pizza posts they look great ! 

 

kendalm's picture
kendalm

The top element is your worst enemy for bread but your best friend for pizza.  Gives a bit of that wood fire burned crust and makes for super fast family dinner provided the dough is ready to go ;) 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

That was very cool, your insulating work! I Only have this gas oven for a short time, and only baked bread/pizza in it a few times. I have to tell you what a difference a well-insulated oven makes! With only the bottom burner and baking on a 16" round steel, I am getting nice char! I even trimmed off one minute from the pizza bakes. From 5 turn/5 to 5 turn/4. 

Will.

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

Will,  what is the broiler setup of your current oven?  Is it at the top of the main oven chamber?  Or is there a special "broiler drawer" below the main lower burner?

Is the broiler element/burner  gas or electric?

I like gas range-tops for the instant heat, but I'm not so hot on gas ovens.

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Merry Christmas, Dave.

 The oven setup is, a two-temperature gas broiler, high/low, in the main oven. (High broiler) That is what it is called nowadays. With any luck and God's help, I will retire from my current resident manager position and be in a position to design a "perfect" kitchen. I have zero experience with electric ovens. That being said all roads are leading me to duel fuel as you described. This midrange G.E. oven has an interesting air-fry mode that is quite interesting. It utilizes both the bottom burner and the top broiler alternating from one to the other. I saw going to experiment with that mode for bread. However, I am so happy with the baking results with just the standard bake mode (no fan) I am not going to mess with a good thing!  I always preheat the oven in broil/air-fry mode, which doesn't call for a preheat. 

Will F. 

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy

I've been browsing cast iron pan pizza making online. One of the photos or videos showed an oven with the upper element gas broiler doo-hicky.  I forget where I saw it. But it was new to me.

The broiler element/burner can be used for pizza on a stone, or on a steel, or in a cast iron pan.  Tony Gemignani, Jim Lahey, and Adam Ragusea all recommend it.  It simulates or approximates a pizza oven when you get the pizza on the top rack under the broiler and get that hot radiant heat shining down.

Right now, I'm doing the Ragusea method in a cast iron fry pan. A few minutes on the electric range top to brown the bottom of the crust, and then a couple minutes under the electric broiler to finish the top.

My latest pizza dough batch is sourdough. And as much as I want to love sourdough, I have to admit that dry-commercial yeasted pizza crust tastes better. It must be all that conditioning of a lifetime of pizza-eating.  My taste-buds and brain and heart just ain't going to sourdough pizza crust like they do to sourdough bread.