First attempt at homemade pizza (with pics)

[WDEwg88]

Hello all,
  First, I wanted to say thanks to all the regular posters on this forum.  I've read a ton over the past few weeks, and I gained alot of useful information that made last night a pretty successful first time out.

So- here is a quick run down of what I did, and then some pics.  But first, as you will see in the pics, if someone could point me to a video tutorial of how to make skins from dough balls-- I'd really appreciate it.  I made rectangles, amoebas, etc.- but no real circles!  Whole lot of variation too in the size of the crust.

I made the first pie (no pics) from a premade dough ball from Publix (grocery store), canned pizza sauce (Dei Fratelli), and bagged shredded mozzerella.  It was the very first one and mainly for the kids to snack on as they were getting hungry.  Turned out ok, but a little charred.

OH- my oven set up is a 2Stone Pizza Grill (13.5 inch) on a weber gas grill.

2nd pie of the night was spinach, mushroom, black olive with homemade pizza sauce, and fresh mozz (from publix) that was pressed between paper towels to get most of the water out.  Cooked for about 4.5 minutes with the bottom stone starting at 650, and the top stone at 625.  Here are pics of that pie.

[WDEwg88]

Here are pics of the last pie of the night.

I forgot to mention in the first post, I did the Jerry Mac NY Pizza dough that you start and finish all in one day.  I used Active Dry Yeast from a glass container as the recipe I found (it is here on the site, but I also saw it on Food.com) because it didn't specify.  Is Active the same thing as Instant?

Anyway- this pie was that dough, 1/2 homemade pizza sauce and 1/2 Dei Fratelli (undoctored, and frankly pretty good), Boars Head pepperoni, the last bit of the fresh mozz crumbled up, and finished with the last bit of the shredded bag mozzerella. 

back to my other question on the proper art of making skins- this is the amoeba pizza. 

However, despite the shape- all of these pizzas were as good or better than getting it from restuarants.  I can't see us frequenting them very often in the future, unless the urge for pizza strikes when there is a storm or I'm out of propane. 

Thanks again for all the help!

[parallei]

Those are just "rustic" pies.  Nothing wrong with that! I'm sure the tasted great.

Here's a link you might find helpful. It will come with time....

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuOzvmQkZgs" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuOzvmQkZgs</a>

[moose13]

Looks better than my first. Here is another good video.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYqw1CLZsA" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYqw1CLZsA</a>

[WDEwg88]

Ha!  There you go- -I was just experimenting with "artisan" pies!

Thanks for the links.  I'll check them out now.

[Pete-zza]

Is Active the same thing as Instant?

See the forum's Pizza Glossary at http://www.pizzamaking.com/pizza_glossary.html.

Peter

[WDEwg88]

Thanks Peter-- that makes sense.  In this iteration of Jerry Mac's dough recipe- -which I realize is done by volume and not weight- -it doesn't specify whether to use Active or Instant.  I wonder which one I should have used?

http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recipe/jerrymacs-new-york-style-pizza-dough-453270

[Pete-zza]

Thanks Peter-- that makes sense.  In this iteration of Jerry Mac's dough recipe- -which I realize is done by volume and not weight- -it doesn't specify whether to use Active or Instant.  I wonder which one I should have used?

http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recipe/jerrymacs-new-york-style-pizza-dough-453270

Whoever lifted JerryMac's recipe and put it on the Food.com website neglected to say that the yeast is IDY. See http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5851.0.html.

Peter

[jeffereynelson]

Making your dough round will become easy with time I have found. It's really just practice and will become natural. Also I like IDY much better than ADY. Simple reason, IDY I just stir into the flour and go, the ADY I have to proof first and wait ~10 minutes.

[WDEwg88]

Gotcha on the yeast.  I didn't end up seeing any IDK, only the ADK in the grocery store.  is it perhaps in a different place, or some thing I need to get online?

Thanks again for all the help!

[moose13]

Make sure to store dough in round containers.
Start round, better chance of ending round. I was having a tough time getting a round pizza when using rectangular containers.

[Pete-zza]

Gotcha on the yeast.  I didn't end up seeing any IDK, only the ADK in the grocery store.  is it perhaps in a different place, or some thing I need to get online?

Supermarkets do not use the "instant dry yeast" (IDY) designation. However, the yeast that is sold as bread machine yeast should be IDY, as is the Fleischmann's Rapid Rise yeast. However, if you plan to make a lot of pizzas, I think your best bet is to buy a one-pound package of IDY, such as the SAF Red or the Fleischmann's equivalent. They are usually found at places like Sam's or Costco. Those yeast brands can also be purchased online, but you will incur shipping charges.

Peter

[WDEwg88]

Sorry to keep asking so many questions. All that makes sense.
Would that amount keep in the refrigerator? For how long before it went bad?  Thanks

[Pete-zza]

Sorry to keep asking so many questions. All that makes sense.
Would that amount keep in the refrigerator? For how long before it went bad?  Thanks

Different people have different approaches on this. I keep my IDY in the freezer tightly wrapped and in an airtight container. While I am getting ready to make dough, I measure out the amount of IDY I plan to use, and return the container to the freezer. One pound of the yeast will last me for years. To compensate for some loss of potency over time, I slightly increase the amount of yeast called for by the recipe I am using.

Some people keep a small amount if yeast in the refrigerator for short term use and freeze the rest. If you were a professional, you might keep a fair amount at room temperature and refrigerate the rest.

Peter

[WDEwg88]

Thanks Peter. I really appreciate it.