Cooking with Phil: Home made Pizza!

oli collett said:
The best way I've seen to cook a pizza at home is the Heston Blumenthal method - and it's actually the quickest!

Get a wide pan, pref cast iron and put on a high heat with nothing in it. Place your oven up to maximum and if you have a grill combo oven, put it on fan assisted and on maximum.

Once the pan is very hot, flip it over, carefully slide the dough on with topping and immediately place under the grill with as little a gap as possible whilst leaving 1-2 inches.

It should cook in approx 90 seconds - if not the oven isn't hot enough. This will essentailly cook like a wood fired oven that they use in proper pizza places and will give that bubbled, light crust which is nice and crisp on the outside and really light in the middle.

Try it next time - trust me it produces awesome results!
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Good man, I've never heard of that before, I'll definitely give it a try
 
oli collett said:
The best way I've seen to cook a pizza at home is the Heston Blumenthal method - and it's actually the quickest!

Get a wide pan, pref cast iron and put on a high heat with nothing in it. Place your oven up to maximum and if you have a grill combo oven, put it on fan assisted and on maximum.

Once the pan is very hot, flip it over, carefully slide the dough on with topping and immediately place under the grill with as little a gap as possible whilst leaving 1-2 inches.

It should cook in approx 90 seconds - if not the oven isn't hot enough. This will essentailly cook like a wood fired oven that they use in proper pizza places and will give that bubbled, light crust which is nice and crisp on the outside and really light in the middle.

Try it next time - trust me it produces awesome results!
Click to expand...

I'm confused, why do you put the oven on if you are putting it under the grill?
 
cheechm said:
Make it as hot as possible.. Pretty much more heat is better pizza base.
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this. It's why I cheat and part bake them, a conventional oven cannot get hot enough to properly cook pizza (I remember reading about one nutter who broke the lock clasp off his oven so he could cook pizza when it was doing a cleaning cycle which was much hotter than the normal top temperature).
 
My pizza's:

Shop bought base
tomato puree
half teaspoon of mixed herds mixed into the puree
mixture of grated red leicester and mild cheddar
topping just depends what mood i'm in
 
Looks really good.

I like to add Oregano on top or in the sauce: gives it an awesome flavour that just basil can't quite match.
 
My Pizza (that I make pretty much once a week)...

Base -
125ml Water
185g Flour

Mix to a dough consistency and roll out on a tray to about 5-8mm thick (should end up around 12" round), fold up edges slightly (to stop burning).

Topping-
Tomato Puree
Mild Cheese (lots)
Ham
Small tin of Pineapple (half a normal tin)

Squirt about half the tomato puree onto base and use the back of a spoon to even it out flat all over the pizza.
Grate cheese evenly all over puree so only ~25% puree visible
Rip ham slices up and drop over cheese, same with Pineapple (pre chunked pinepple is perfect)
Add more grated cheese over the top

Put in pre heated oven at ~200 degrees for 15-18 minutes

Eat on your own.

Tasty, cheap and reasonably quick. :p

I made the base like that as I'm lazy and the flour I use is rubbish for rising (doesn't.. at all).

Probably super unhealthy though as I probably use about a third of a medium (~13cm long) sized cheese chunk...
 
Hxc said:
I'm confused, why do you put the oven on if you are putting it under the grill?
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As cheechm says - heat. Conventional wood fired pizza ovens are about 450-500C. Fan-assisted electric ovens usually go up to about 250C max, but if you stick the grill on with fan assisted on max you can get it up a lot further.
 
Great thread, makes a nice change from the dominos vs pizza hut type arguments. Reminds me I've got some mozzarella in the freezer and it's been a while since I've had pizza.
dangerstat said:
Just tried to cost that up and it looks about £10, seems a bit step when I can pop to my local pizza place and get two pizzas for £6?
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Very much depends on the topping, for a couple basic pizzas, mostly stuff you'd have in cupboard perhaps
Tin of tomatos 50p
Mozzarella ~£1.50 (Or as cheap as 50p for basics type)
500g flour ~70p
Yeast/salt/herbs/oil ~20p?

So <£3 before any expensive toppings, though I'm no fan of meat on pizzas so I'd just throw some slow roasted tomatoes on or something.
cheechm said:
Make it as hot as possible.. Pretty much more heat is better pizza base.
Click to expand...
If you make it often enough, a pizza/oven stone might be worthwhile.
 
We love homemade pizza

Dough:
3470781553_9bbcdde20e.jpg


The finished product:
3473100072_486d71aa3f.jpg


To make 2 stuffed crust pizzas I use 1 block of halloumi (~£2.50) 1 ball of mozzarella (~£1
The other ingredients are store cupboard basics, cheap as anything!

We still occasionally have dominos - but fresh pizza > everything else
 
Phil! i followed your ingredients and sauce recipe and it was fantastic!! I also tried the 'heston' suggestion and put the pizza on the reverse side of a really hot pan and then put it in the grill, the dough was amazing! surely this will impress my mates next time they come round. Forget take aways!
 
Im seriously tempted to get the flour out of the cuboard and use some of my homemade bolognase as a topping
 
serious, do it, i was just sitting here and i thought, hell with it, let me try it before I have a night out. amazing. Now i got 2 big slices for later.
 
goldilocks said:
We love homemade pizza

Dough:
3470781553_9bbcdde20e.jpg


The finished product:
3473100072_486d71aa3f.jpg


To make 2 stuffed crust pizzas I use 1 block of halloumi (~£2.50) 1 ball of mozzarella (~£1
The other ingredients are store cupboard basics, cheap as anything!

We still occasionally have dominos - but fresh pizza > everything else
Click to expand...

That looks awesome, please post up instructions and I'll violate my diet and make one!
 
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