Made a few pizzas yesterday

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Once again I used the Bobby Flay recipe for my dough.  This time I let it rise and hour and a half then divided it into thirds then placed the dough balls on a sheet pan, covered with plastic wrap then put it in the oven (turned off) and let us rise again.  I actually did two batches so I had 6 dough balls.  I have three wood peels so I can prep multiple pies so they are all ready to cook one after another.   I'd say the second dough rise was about an hour for the first three pies I made.  The dough was pulling back a bit when we were shaping it, but the second round had another 30 minutes of rise time by the time we made those pies and were much easier to work with.  I think the next time I make pizzas I'll do 1-2 hours on the initial rise and will definitely give the dough at an hour and a half if not two hours on the second rise. 

6 pizzas and I had the grill setup perfectly.  I had to drop in extra wood chunks ever other pizza to make sure I had nice flames in the back to keep the done temp up so that the tops of the pizzas could at the same rate as my stone.  My stone fluctuated between 550-650 and my KP thermometer stayed between 600-725 for the entire cook. 

Big Thanks to Dennis, who took over making the pizzas while I was out cooking them!

Now the pics:





Sauce was a can of Cento San Marzano whole tomatoes quickly pulsed in the blender.  Usually I hand crush but I was happy with the result of a quick blender hit. Fresh and shredded mozzarella for the kids:






Missed the precook pic in this one. Olive oil, ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and minced garlic.  Ended up being topped with prosciutto and arugula.








Italian dry salami and shredded mozzarella.




No precook pics of this traditional margherita. 


Margherita with salami and pepperoni.


Olive oil, minced garlic, salami, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, topped with arugula.  I think I saw a few people add a little prosciutto to their slice which looked delicious!



Then I had a neighbor who is from Chicago pickup a pre made dough from a local place that supposedly has authentic Chicago style deep dish so I could make him on.  I've never even eaten this style of pizza so I had to have him coach me through the build

I started by rubbing my skillet down with a stick of butter then hit it with a little garlic powder.  Put the crust in the pan and trimmed the excess that was hanging over the sides. The first layer was a ton of mozzarella cheese and I think I would use even more on my next attempt.  The left later was a double layer of Italian Dry Salami followed by a single layer of pepperoni.  I then mixed my left over San Marzano sauce from the regular pizzas with some tomato paste to thicken it up a bit.  I was later told that a true Chicago style would have been crushed tomatoes instead of a sauce.  It worked out fine though.   

The skillet went into my 26er on my elevated grate opposite my slow n sear.  The pizza cooked for about 45 minutes.    The pizza went on quite a bit later than I was hoping for so he grill was down to around 350 for the start of the cook.  I added coals when I put it on so around the halfway point it was back up to 450.  I turned the skillet a few times and at 45 minutes I pulled it out

Overall my neighbor said it was pretty damn good especially since I've never had one before.  Next time I'll use more cheese and I'll top with parmesan at the end, something he didn't mention until we were eating it.   I'll also try to figure out how to get the bottom crust to get a little crispier.  It wasn't super soggy, but I think it could be improved on a little bit.   I'll also used crushed tomatoes next time instead of a sauce.














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[Davescprktl]

Nice looking pies!  Esp love the deep dish and the margherita.  Got to wander up to Scottsdale again LOL.

[weldboy]

Those look awesome Mike


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[MacEggs]

Excellent pictorial and breakdown, Mike!  Pies look delicious. 

I do like the Bobby Flay PD recipe.  So far, I have only used it once, and will again.  Thanks for your observations. 
No real need to plan for a pizza cook-up a day in advance with this recipe ... Other than gathering the necessary toppings.

Have you tried the following PD recipe?:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza.html

It does require to be made a day in advance, however it is most excellent.

Great looking deep-dish pie.  I recall having those years ago at a restaurant, but have never made one at home.

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Excellent pictorial and breakdown, Mike!  Pies look delicious. 

I do like the Bobby Flay PD recipe.  So far, I have only used it once, and will again.  Thanks for your observations. 
No real need to plan for a pizza cook-up a day in advance with this recipe ... Other than gathering the necessary toppings.

Have you tried the following PD recipe?:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza.html

It does require to be made a day in advance, however it is most excellent.

Great looking deep-dish pie.  I recall having those years ago at a restaurant, but have never made one at home.

I've only tried the Bobby Flay recipe so far.  My friend Dennis does a dough that takes about 36 hours.  It is good but he has now tried the Bobby Flay dough and is a big fan.   I usually don't have the fridge space to do overnight dough but I may give the recipe you linked a try sometime. 




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[Nate]

Killer pies @MikeRocksTheRed! I'm making dough tonight. Do you have a link to Bobby's dough recipie?

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Killer pies @MikeRocksTheRed! I'm making dough tonight. Do you have a link to Bobby's dough recipie?

Just seeing this now.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe.html

He actually has two recipes. This is the one most people including myself uses.  Let us know how it works out!


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[Jon]

I've tried the B. Flay recipes, Serious Eats, and probably a dozen others. They were all good. It really is worth the effort to make the dough.

[Maxmbob]

Great job Mike.

[swamprb]

Awesome!!