Hi, John here. I've been making pizzas at home for a few years now and am always on the hunt for better techniques.
My favourite recipe at the moment uses the Jeff Varasano dough technique, but I prefer tender crusts over chewy so like to add about 5% olive oil to the dough, which he frowns on. I also put fried onions, herbs and garlic in my sauce, although I don't cook my tomatoes, so am not totally unauthentic.
Current best cooking technique is to slap the grill (Welsh for broiler) on full, put a large round metal tray on the gas ring to pre-heat while I assemble the pizza, then transfer the pizza to the hot tray and immediately transfer the tray to under the grill. Gets all done in about three minutes.
Best pizza I cooked so far oddly enough had no tomato sauce or mozzarella, but did have a smearing of basil pesto, a handful of chopped sundried tomatoes, a sprinkle of oregano, a few slices of chorizo, a light grating of Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil. Puffed up like a monster.
Looking forwards to picking up lots of new tips and advice. Cheers.
