I'm not sure how many other amateur pizza chefs there are here besides me, but one thing I'm still having trouble with after my many years of cooking pizzas at home is getting the darn things reasonable round. Seems like, more often than not, they come out in some amoeba-like shape and not even close to circular. One of my email threads today had a link to how to make round pizzas. This is one of those slap your forehead with your hand kind of things. Had to share: How to Make A Round Pizza | Pizza Therapy Hope it helps someone. Feel free to share. Kajun
Rotate the dough as you roll it out. Roll out the dough, turn it about an eighth of a turn, roll it out and repeat.
Then put a round pizza pan over the dough and cut it in a round shape. Or, just leave it irregular like I do....
I'll have to try the bowl method. I don't toss and spin it anymore since the ceiling fan incident.....
Wow I'm so impressed! I just do semi square pizza dough. Put on pan press it out however it goes. anyone have a good dough recipe for thin crispy crusts? I've tried yeast bread and pastry dough.
I you want to make a super-tasty crust, use sour milk (or store-bought buttermilk) for the slightly sourdough flavor. Mostly, for a thin crispy crust that will also be a little flakey, mix the dough up a little bit wet, with a little mixing as possible. Then roll it out with as little rolling as possible. The more the dough is worked, the tougher it gets, generally speaking. Think of it like making a pie crust, and then slightly over-baking it to make it crisper.
I used to be a crew trainer for Godfather's Pizza, (many years ago) and have worked several positions from front end through delivery. The best crust is cooked on seasoned stone, in a pizza oven Conveyers are convient, and timed delivery, but nothing beats the taste off stone, and provolone cheese. Mozzarella is more common, because it's cheaper, but provolone has a much better flavor and consistency. In the shop, we would use the dough roller, which worked alot like the old time clothing wringer. And squeezed it even and smoother between wooden rollers and a hand crank. (It would not be hard to set up two rolling pins with one cranked and one passive. Or two geared together and make your own. ) hand tossing is to thin it, or streach it a bit to fit the pan. Pizza shops have high ceilings for a reason. (Both to vent heat, and allow for tossing. They also do NOT have fans right above the work space.)
