What Makes the Perfect Pizza? Making Perfect: Prologue
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Date: 2019-10-25
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Comments and reviews: 10
fakecubed
Learning to make a pizza from scratch is a great thing for every great chef (or aspiring home cook) to do. I started my own pizza journey almost two years ago, now, and it's taught me so many things, and taken me down so many cooking tangents, that I've really become a much better cook overall because of it. Pizza is both easy and complicated at the same time. It's both harder and easier than you think it is to do at home. It has a very high skill ceiling, but if you're able to learn a few basic techniques and apply some specific knowledge in a consistent, precise way, you can get great results without needing to truly master it. Then, you can spend the rest of your life happily working to perfect the craft, making each pie better than the last one. The dough is a highly technical part of it. Learning how to make a good pizza dough is really different from learning how to make a great bread dough. That's lesson #1. But there's so many different variables involved in the doughmaking process, and how you work with that dough (physically) can lead to some dramatically different results. That can be both terrifying or exciting, depending on how adventurous you want to be, but the good news is once you've got an understanding of what all those variables are (and the ingredients people always seem to forget about are time and temperature) you can really work on creating exactly the sort of crust you want. You learn a lot from the dough. You learn a lot about just flour, alone, from learning about pizza dough. When it comes to sauce, obviously the tomatoes are a huge part of it. That is of course assuming you're using a tomato-based pizza sauce. Learning how to get the results you want from the tomatoes you use (and using the right tomatoes, will teach you a lot about things like flavor balance, texture, and just simply how you work with your tools. It will also teach you things like simplicity and ingredient choice, and not over-thinking things. The tomato is already a wonderful ingredient, and it should shine. I prefer a very simple sauce, just whole peeled tomatoes, ideally with a Brix of around 6, maybe 6. 5, and just a bit of salt, put through a food processor until the desired consistency. You have to be careful to keep the thickness where you want it. Too much processing and you get a thin, watery sauce. It seems to me that the people who add other things to their pizza sauces are either trying to compensate for a failure of technique or a failure to use quality tomatoes. Start with the best ingredients and you don't need anything else. The mozzarella is a whole other thing. It might not seem like it, but there's a TON of choices in the world of mozzarella. They pretty much all have their uses, but a smart chef needs to be choosing well. Again this is one of those variables you can tweak, and knowing what sort of pizza you want to make determines what mozzarella you should use. Knowing what the options are just opens up a world of possibilities. Again you can get pretty deep into balancing of flavors, and planning out your toppings and how they will interact with both your cheese and your sauce. I'm not even going to talk about toppings. Needless to say, this is where a pizzaiolo can really get creative. Personally, they now know me quite well at my local salumeria, and I'm doing some things with some veggies that have really inspired me, flavor-wise, with other meals I cook. A pizza is a great vehicle for experimentation. Then there are the techniques involved in putting a pizza together. It certainly taught me to be better organized, and work faster, in the kitchen. You want as little time on the peel as possible. You want to really have a good mise en place. The actual mechanics of working with the dough and working with the tools and oven are a learning experience all on their own. You can really go down the path of learning how to cook with fire, and get the most out of an wood-fired oven, if you want to, and those skills can apply well to other areas of the culinary world. I hope a lot of people watching this series decide to actually try making pizza at home. It won't just make you a better cook, but a better person who really takes the time to care about their food, and care about the people they're cooking for. Food is love, and maybe the supreme expression of that love is a gorgeous golden handmade saffron gnochetti served in a Campidanese sauce that's been slow-cooking all day, but pizza is the kind of everyday love that people need all the time.
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Learning to make a pizza from scratch is a great thing for every great chef (or aspiring home cook) to do. I started my own pizza journey almost two years ago, now, and it's taught me so many things, and taken me down so many cooking tangents, that I've really become a much better cook overall because of it. Pizza is both easy and complicated at the same time. It's both harder and easier than you think it is to do at home. It has a very high skill ceiling, but if you're able to learn a few basic techniques and apply some specific knowledge in a consistent, precise way, you can get great results without needing to truly master it. Then, you can spend the rest of your life happily working to perfect the craft, making each pie better than the last one. The dough is a highly technical part of it. Learning how to make a good pizza dough is really different from learning how to make a great bread dough. That's lesson #1. But there's so many different variables involved in the doughmaking process, and how you work with that dough (physically) can lead to some dramatically different results. That can be both terrifying or exciting, depending on how adventurous you want to be, but the good news is once you've got an understanding of what all those variables are (and the ingredients people always seem to forget about are time and temperature) you can really work on creating exactly the sort of crust you want. You learn a lot from the dough. You learn a lot about just flour, alone, from learning about pizza dough. When it comes to sauce, obviously the tomatoes are a huge part of it. That is of course assuming you're using a tomato-based pizza sauce. Learning how to get the results you want from the tomatoes you use (and using the right tomatoes, will teach you a lot about things like flavor balance, texture, and just simply how you work with your tools. It will also teach you things like simplicity and ingredient choice, and not over-thinking things. The tomato is already a wonderful ingredient, and it should shine. I prefer a very simple sauce, just whole peeled tomatoes, ideally with a Brix of around 6, maybe 6. 5, and just a bit of salt, put through a food processor until the desired consistency. You have to be careful to keep the thickness where you want it. Too much processing and you get a thin, watery sauce. It seems to me that the people who add other things to their pizza sauces are either trying to compensate for a failure of technique or a failure to use quality tomatoes. Start with the best ingredients and you don't need anything else. The mozzarella is a whole other thing. It might not seem like it, but there's a TON of choices in the world of mozzarella. They pretty much all have their uses, but a smart chef needs to be choosing well. Again this is one of those variables you can tweak, and knowing what sort of pizza you want to make determines what mozzarella you should use. Knowing what the options are just opens up a world of possibilities. Again you can get pretty deep into balancing of flavors, and planning out your toppings and how they will interact with both your cheese and your sauce. I'm not even going to talk about toppings. Needless to say, this is where a pizzaiolo can really get creative. Personally, they now know me quite well at my local salumeria, and I'm doing some things with some veggies that have really inspired me, flavor-wise, with other meals I cook. A pizza is a great vehicle for experimentation. Then there are the techniques involved in putting a pizza together. It certainly taught me to be better organized, and work faster, in the kitchen. You want as little time on the peel as possible. You want to really have a good mise en place. The actual mechanics of working with the dough and working with the tools and oven are a learning experience all on their own. You can really go down the path of learning how to cook with fire, and get the most out of an wood-fired oven, if you want to, and those skills can apply well to other areas of the culinary world. I hope a lot of people watching this series decide to actually try making pizza at home. It won't just make you a better cook, but a better person who really takes the time to care about their food, and care about the people they're cooking for. Food is love, and maybe the supreme expression of that love is a gorgeous golden handmade saffron gnochetti served in a Campidanese sauce that's been slow-cooking all day, but pizza is the kind of everyday love that people need all the time.
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Ruth Gullikson
Not going to lie, freaking love this. not only did I instantly click on the first episode (which I watched and swore that the timestamps were wrong cause it went by so quick, but am genuinely sad that I have to wait for the second. I've learned so much from experts who are truly enthusiastic and united in the mission to work together and create an awesome projectIn addition, it's all the great BA personalities mashed together, highlighting their individual skills and great aptitude to work together as a team member. Just fantastic, all you're missing is Gaby; )
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Not going to lie, freaking love this. not only did I instantly click on the first episode (which I watched and swore that the timestamps were wrong cause it went by so quick, but am genuinely sad that I have to wait for the second. I've learned so much from experts who are truly enthusiastic and united in the mission to work together and create an awesome projectIn addition, it's all the great BA personalities mashed together, highlighting their individual skills and great aptitude to work together as a team member. Just fantastic, all you're missing is Gaby; )
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Randall Randall
I love this idea. Every time on Gourmet makes when Claire has to rein herself in and bring back kind of undesirable qualities in order to achieve the brand loyalty and nostalgia factor for the treat she's recreating I cry a little on the inside, that she's not allowed to be creative and actually make something fantastic and bEtter (unlike the hot pocket episode that just happened (except the sacrifice in folding technique)
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I love this idea. Every time on Gourmet makes when Claire has to rein herself in and bring back kind of undesirable qualities in order to achieve the brand loyalty and nostalgia factor for the treat she's recreating I cry a little on the inside, that she's not allowed to be creative and actually make something fantastic and bEtter (unlike the hot pocket episode that just happened (except the sacrifice in folding technique)
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Cean Okada
I am an avid sourdough home baker and have made pizza for years. Nothing Ive ever made before compared to this recipe. I did not have all the same flours and it was still so delicious I could not stop eating it. Now can you do the same for the perfect cinnamon roll.
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I am an avid sourdough home baker and have made pizza for years. Nothing Ive ever made before compared to this recipe. I did not have all the same flours and it was still so delicious I could not stop eating it. Now can you do the same for the perfect cinnamon roll.
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King Whyvern Dragoon
If you make it too perfect, none of the facets will standout or all of them will standout too much that you can tell what is going on. So there needs to be some faults so other parts can make up for them. For example, burnt crust, sweet sauce.
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If you make it too perfect, none of the facets will standout or all of them will standout too much that you can tell what is going on. So there needs to be some faults so other parts can make up for them. For example, burnt crust, sweet sauce.
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walao eh
Im just wondering who deals with the cooking time, method of cooking etc Maybe Claire? But with the combination of all the different ingredients and toppings especially, it might be slightly different. Im excited to see how this will turn out
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Im just wondering who deals with the cooking time, method of cooking etc Maybe Claire? But with the combination of all the different ingredients and toppings especially, it might be slightly different. Im excited to see how this will turn out
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Harry Potter
This seems like a great idea, and I'm sure it will be entertaining. Unfortunately, all of the pizzas they showed us looked like garbage. How about you make something people actually eat? It's like an art house film winning the Oscars.
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This seems like a great idea, and I'm sure it will be entertaining. Unfortunately, all of the pizzas they showed us looked like garbage. How about you make something people actually eat? It's like an art house film winning the Oscars.
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ABikerLife
Good gravy. Overthinking something sooo simple. BTW, if you do not brush olive oil between the crust and sauce, the crust becomes soggy and never develops properly. Completely missed the cast iron pizza option.
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Good gravy. Overthinking something sooo simple. BTW, if you do not brush olive oil between the crust and sauce, the crust becomes soggy and never develops properly. Completely missed the cast iron pizza option.
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David Pletsch
I'm so happy and excited about this and also terrified that they won't continue the series. I love this series idea so much I hope we get to see these wonderful people collaborate on many dishes
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I'm so happy and excited about this and also terrified that they won't continue the series. I love this series idea so much I hope we get to see these wonderful people collaborate on many dishes
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Carpe Omnia
Swedish Foodie here Lets all Agree on that we wouldnt have dreamed about this kind of food tv a couple of years ago Netflix cries themselves to sleep every night knowing they dont have this gang
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Swedish Foodie here Lets all Agree on that we wouldnt have dreamed about this kind of food tv a couple of years ago Netflix cries themselves to sleep every night knowing they dont have this gang
reply
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