Total novice to pizza making

[learningtomakepizzas]

Hello guys, only as of 4-5 days ago I got into making pizzas. I saw a video of a NY style pizza which I tried to replicate but failed a few times. Now I'm getting closer but learning dough stretching (mine either tears too easily OR doesn't stretch at all!).

Regardless the few times I could get a pizza ready to go in the oven, I found my base not cooking well. I am using an upturned pizza tray, which is heated with the oven for 15-20 mins before baking. My crust will rise well but the base is as flat as it was pre-cooked. Does this suggest an issue with the heating material or an issue with my kneading/yeast or even my dough stretch? I sometimes get areas of the dough that are see through as i am still not proficient in stretch.

I only have a max 250 Celsius fan oven at the moment. Other than a pizza steel do I need anything equipment wise to get a good setup going for weekly pizzas?

I love in particular the NY style and Neapolitan pizzas (as I understand you can't bake these in a 250c oven?)

[wotavidone]

Try a stone mate.

[Yael]

Hi,

With this kind of oven and setting I think you may have better results if you try a "pan pizza" instead: you make your dough, CF overnight, and then you open and spread it on your baking pan, and let it proof a couple hours. When It doubled in size, you bake it (with a sprinkle of olive oil on top or with the sauce), it may take 10-15 min, then when the crust starts to have some color you add the ingredients and bake again 5-ish min.
That's what I would choose.

[Pizza_Not_War]

I think the easiest dough to get started with is a no knead variety. This or similar or so easy that if it doesn't work then your yeast is probably bad. https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/jim-laheys-no-knead-pizza-dough-recipe.html

With a pizza steel in your oven you should still be able to turn out some nice pizza's.

[Iamtheguynoodles]

I’m also new but went from terrible results to great results with a few tweaks. I am a huge fan of the steel/cast iron pans and when loaded with heat you will get the effect of having a greater baking temperature since the steel is essentially a heat battery (it loads up and stores heat). My bro has a stone and the steel seems to be much superior in our home ovens. My oven goes to ~550f(287c) and I’m getting very active and airy crusts with a lot of flavor. The pizzas are cooking in about 3-5 minutes which I believe is thanks to the steel.

I use the pizza dough calc found in link below because it works on mobile as opposed to the one found on this forum (which uses flash player).
https://www.stadlermade.com/pizza-dough-calculator/

I’m happy with the Neapolitan and American pizzas that I have made following that calculator. I have fermented anywhere from 48-144 hours all with great results. The dough always seems to come out great once cooked. I use a high protein flour ~14% and ADY.

Hope this helps but remember I just got serious about this a few weeks ago though I had prior experience with home pizza. Now getting into the science of it

[Iamtheguynoodles]

Also, I highly recommend watching the vids in Stradlers YouTube channel. It’s a total of like 30mins and this seriously upped my game and helped me make better pizza. I don’t follow what he says exactly all the time but def opened my mind a little and gave me confidence:


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwlhNb58jnknouefA_CaJyQ

[Iamtheguynoodles]

Almost forgot... latest trick I learned last weekend was to put the broiler on (high) when drop the pizza in. My pizzas cooked extremely fast (maybe two minutes) and were crispy yet soft like many would describe a good New York style pizza

[Jackitup]

Recipes help, stone or steels help, stone probably best early on, more forgiving, but your best approach is pick a proven formula, stick with it and practice! Repetition and learning dough handling!! Watch videos, lots of reading here, but keep practicing. Learn to do ONE dough very well then start branching out. Modest toppings, wood peel to launch, metal to turn and retrieve. An easy VERY good thin crust is Garvey's Pizza Factory thin crust found here https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=17662.0 
The thumbtack stickies at the top of most topics are a great resource. Shortcuts will only get you so far, the more you make them the better you'll get!

[Iamtheguynoodles]

Recipes help, stone or steels help, stone probably best early on, more forgiving, but your best approach is pick a proven formula, stick with it and practice! Repetition and learning dough handling!! Watch videos, lots of reading here, but keep practicing. Learn to do ONE dough very well then start branching out. Modest toppings, wood peel to launch, metal to turn and retrieve. An easy VERY good thin crust is Garvey's Pizza Factory thin crust found here https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=17662.0 
The thumbtack stickies at the top of most topics are a great resource. Shortcuts will only get you so far, the more you make them the better you'll get!

Agreed! Good advice and thanks for sharing your simple recipe. I want to try it next !

[MadMatt]

My ovens about 250c and I get 5 1/2 min bakes at best I have no broiler either I don't think temp will be an issue. 


Is it a convection fan oven with the heating element at the back of the oven rather than bellow? 

Because when I first came here I had people saying buy a screen, put it at the bottom of the oven above the heating element.. without realising I have no heating element there. 

So its best to know what the inside of your oven is like imo