NBR poll: Pizza stone
MrsHughesNC
member
We make homemade pizza once a week, and had been using just Pillsbury dough in the can, on a cookie sheet. I bought TJ's whole wheat dough to try, and also bought a pizza stone--I've always wanted one. We made it tonight, and the pizza turned out ok, but we've got some issues, and I have some questions.
1. The pizza stone directions suggested using a pizza peel. Do you have one of these? If not, how do you transfer your pizza onto the hot stone?
2. What do you sprinkle on your surface to prepare the dough--flour? cornmeal? Fun Dip? Sand? hehe.
3. How do you flatten your dough? Rolling pin? Your hands? Throwing it in the air like a showoff?
4. Our stone directions said to heat it to 450 degrees. The dough directions said to bake it on 350. Should I heat the stone to 450, then decrease the heat to 350 to bake it? I ended up having to turn it up, because 350 didn't seem like enough...after the suggested 10-12 minutes, it definitely wasn't done (to our likeness anyway)
5. Any other tips?
6. What else do you bake on a your stone?
It wasn't a complete pizza fail, but definitely took a lot more effort than our ol' canned dough on a cookie sheet method. The dough was a little too, well, doughy--but was pretty good. With TJ's dough being such a steal at $1 a bag, you really can't beat that.. (I'm not interested in making my own dough, so you ambitious people and your fancy Kitchenaid mixers, don't go showing off telling me about how I should do that. hehe)
TIA!
Re: NBR poll: Pizza stone
We make our own dough from scratch. Ask BacktheBack for the recipe, it is very good. We use our Kitchen Aid mixer with dough hook to knead it, then let rise, then flatten/stretch with our hands. We buy a canned pizza sauce and then add fresh garlic and more spices. I swear, you should try it, I hate working with dough normally!!!
We have one in the oven now. I also have a pizza stone and I don't like using it. We have a non stick pizza pan with holes in it that makes the pizza very good, crispy not soft on the bottom. We used to have a pizza peel bought from a restaurant supply store, but it is long gone and we never really used it! I really like that pan, I got it from BBB.
We sprinkle flour on the surface when working with the dough and use a tiny bit of oil spread in the pan. Right now our pizza is in the over at 375-400, we prebaked the crust for 5-7min, add sauce, cheese, toppings, then bake again for about 15-20 depending on how crispy you like it.
ETA: DH has no idea about what I am typing and I see him over there flipping the dough in the air trying to show off to me. He worked at Pizza Hut when he was 16 and somehow he thinks this makes him "cool" in the world of pizza.
We make our own dough, too (Alex Guarnaschelli's recipe from FoodNetwork.com) - it's really easy, and no mixer required!!
Otherwise, we do have a stone, and a peel. Before we got a peel, we used a cookie sheet. We use cornmeal - gives it a nice little crunch.
I stretch it with my hands, but we usually make 4-5 small pizzas out of a batch of dough. We all have different preferences for pizza, so that just works better for us.
We've found that a light brushing of the dough with olive oil helps it get a nice golden brown tinge
We bake it at 450.
Good luck!!
Mama to William Nathaniel - October 7, 2006
And Natalie Frances - June 24, 2010
1. The pizza stone directions suggested using a pizza peel. Do you have one of these? If not, how do you transfer your pizza onto the hot stone? I use Pampered Chef stoneware- I actually use the large bar pan to make pizza, although they do have a round pizza stone.
2. What do you sprinkle on your surface to prepare the dough--flour? cornmeal? Fun Dip? Sand? hehe.Nada. I've been using my pan for long enough that it's seasoned, so it's pretty much non-stick now. Before it was seasoned I brushed the pan with olive oil.
3. How do you flatten your dough? Rolling pin? Your hands? Throwing it in the air like a showoff? My hands. I use the Martha White pizza crust mix, and usually add a bit of minced garlic.
4. Our stone directions said to heat it to 450 degrees. The dough directions said to bake it on 350. Should I heat the stone to 450, then decrease the heat to 350 to bake it? I make the dough, then put the dough on the room temp stoneware. Then I cook the dough for about 5 minutes at 475 and then add the ingredients and cook for another 7-9 minutes. I like a crispy thin crust.
6. What else do you bake on a your stone? Cookies, bread, roasted potatoes...I love my stoneware, I prefer using it to regular pans for most things.