Pizza, pizza, and more pizza

[MikeRocksTheRed]

How do you guys spread your dough out?  Spread by hand or toss?  I do a hand spread then a hold and hang whil rotating kind of deal.  It doesn't make for very even thickness.  The last pepperoni pizza pic I posted in this thread looks round because I trimmed it with a pizza cutter after I laid it out. 

I just googled how to toss pizza and came across this video.  http://youtu.be/VIJlRXMfW50  As I was watching I was saying to myself, ok, I can do that, I can do that, I can do that too, then he explains how to toss it and becomes a Harlem Globetrotter.  Kind of cracks me up how it went from being very informative to me thinking I'll just keep trying to spread my dough on a flat surface.    Let me know how do yours and if you had the same thought on the video as I did.

[jfbincypress]

I spread mine with a roller on a lightly flour-coated countertop. I don't worry about round, just the size.


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[jfbincypress]

...and I sincerely feel that guy is a wizard.


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[MeatAndPotatos]

How do you guys spread your dough out?  Spread by hand or toss?  I do a hand spread then a hold and hang whil rotating kind of deal.  It doesn't make for very even thickness.  The last pepperoni pizza pic I posted in this thread looks round because I trimmed it with a pizza cutter after I laid it out. 

I just googled how to toss pizza and came across this video.  http://youtu.be/VIJlRXMfW50  As I was watching I was saying to myself, ok, I can do that, I can do that, I can do that too, then he explains how to toss it and becomes a Harlem Globetrotter.  Kind of cracks me up how it went from being very informative to me thinking I'll just keep trying to spread my dough on a flat surface.    Let me know how do yours and if you had the same thought on the video as I did.

Tossing dough is pretty easy. Doing it fast... is hard. You can try with a damp wet washcloth (square one).

I do like that guy does... But he seems kinda hard on the dough when he jams his fingers into it. Most things I have read/seen suggest not using your finger tips like that, more kinda your like your first knuckle from the tip/the area between first and second knuckle and not pressing too hard so that you don't squeeze the air out, rather push the dough and air gently out towards the edge to form a rim.

You put the dough over the back of your floured hands, making fists with one fist in front of the other not side by side (as in on fist is further from your chest...)
You then kinda widen your fists, while  using them to rotate the pizza moving them from one in front of the other to side by side while tossing the dough up.
Man... I think I did a bad job explaining, kinda hard, lol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWL__9yDu8I
Notice how he uses his fingers in the first 20 seconds. I wouldn't be that frantic with it to start with.
Using a rolling pin I dissagree with... Kinda seems like after all the fermentation, gluten development, building up of gasses with in the gluten matrix... Just to smash it out with a rolling pin.
I don't do the throw back and forth from this (~35 second mark)  video either.
He also holds his hands differently... But you can see how while he recommends starting with hands side by side, when he goes to toss he dips down and puts one in front of the other like i recommend.
The important part is how he spins his hands around each other while moving upwards.

Tossing dough is kinda a party trick though IMO.
I tend to just rest it over my knuckles like I was going to toss it, but stretch it out gently by gravity and gently pulling my fists apart, repositioning hands after each stretch to rotate the dough and stretch it evenly.

I also like this method, while I have not practice it much.... It helps stretch the dough by its own weight with out squishing it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L06JtWLd5c
Though this guy slaps it more then I think is needed in the beginning, you get the point that your left hand gently stretches the dough and then tosses it over the back of your right hand as you lift it up, then you flip your hand back down slightly rotating the dough and stretching the dough as its flung back onto the table.

[jfbincypress]

I used to work at Little Caesar's and tossed the pizza dough, but it was against company policy. I guess I was definitely a rebel back then. Lol

Maybe I'll try tossing the dough again with my own. I can see what you're saying about the rolling pin, but so far the results have been good. I'll try it this way, and see if the results turn out great.


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[Jason]

I tend to just rest it over my knuckles like I was going to toss it, but stretch it out gently by gravity and gently pulling my fists apart, repositioning hands after each stretch to rotate the dough and stretch it evenly.

^^^ ...this is how I do it.

Tossing dough is kinda a party trick though IMO.

I always do this at least once, friends and family love it!

[MeatAndPotatos]

I can toss really well. Its just that second toss... lol. I gotta like catch, reposition, reset... then toss again. Looses a bit of the effect. Oh well.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

So this happened last night. Apparently I got the lid hot enough to melt the handle on my lid vent.  Didn't get any pics of my pies. Had a friend over who is an executive chef at an Italian restaurant that does wood fired pizzas.  He gave me a few pointers, but nothing ground breaking. 

I haven't tried hitting the melted plastic on the lid with steel wool yet. Not sure if it will come off or if it actually messed up the lid.  I did have the thermometer on the KP pegged out.  Used a lot of KBB as well as a few mesquite logs, so it was really really hot.  I also put a little too much coal under my stone.  The first pizza burned to a crisp on the bottom.  Starting to think 500 is a better cooking temp than the 600+ range.


My handle was gray prior to my cook last night.





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[SixZeroFour]

Razor blade should take that off in no time

[jfbincypress]

I cook pizzas at 725 in the Pizza Que all the time, but no coals under the stone...all coals around the back and sides.


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[MeatAndPotatos]

Thats been the thing that has worried me about getting one. All I have is my performer (well and a 14. WSM and JJ), so I worry about heat damage from getting it up to pizza temp... I like a neapolitan pizza cooked hot and fast, so keeping it to lower temps isn't a realistic option.

[3sSecurity]

Wow, whet did you have the lid vent positioned in relation to the coals?

When I get mine going, if the coals are at 12 o'clock, I usually have the lid vent at 9 o'clock and the thermometer at 3 o'clock.

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[MikeRocksTheRed]

Wow, whet did you have the lid vent positioned in relation to the coals?

When I get mine going, if the coals are at 12 o'clock, I usually have the lid vent at 9 o'clock and the thermometer at 3 o'clock.

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Coals were at 12 o'clock and the vent was at 9 o'clock.  I did three pies the other night....had a really really hot fire at one point then it died down a bit prior to my 3rd pie.   I opened the vent at one point and flames were licking out of it, so that might be what melted it.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

And now my lid handle has a weld that broke loose!  Not 100% sure if it was from high heat the other not when doing pizzas, the little bit of rust at the handles, using my vortex, or most likely a combination of everything.   The strange thing is that it broke off last night while doing a cook where the lid themo never got about 400.  Looks like my SS Performer is now going to be my dedicated high heat grill.  I should be able to bolt the handle back on....there is already a hole worn through in the lid, so I don't even have to worry about drilling that out, just the handles.  Once bolted on with SS bolts, it should hold solid for quite a while.   I think this is why weber has gone to bolt on handles.....so many super high heat after market products out there.  It has to be cutting their warranty lid replacements down by a very large percentage.

[3sSecurity]

Crazy, i'll have to watch the welds on mine over time. Though I haven't be able to get out and cook over the past few days (been away for work). Though I an going to attempt a quick rise dough tomorrow or Saturday to compare to last weeks pizzas. I'll let you guys know how it turns out

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