long-time reader, first time commenter here to say:
1) huge congrats on your saveur win. I am such a huge fan and was delighted to see the news.
2) I made the bon appetit version of this crust a few weeks ago and I’m here to tell you that if you think it was insane after one day, try letting the dough ripen three or four days (per his do-ahead method). un-freaking-believable. I had a couple of friends over to help me eat the pizza (and thank goodness, because otherwise I would have been sorely tempted to eat it all myself) and one of them nearly cried. I couldn’t believe the difference the “ripening” made. the day one vs. day four pizzas were like amateur vs. professional–the day four I could seriously have been eating at Co. in NYC. the four-day ripening does require a little foresight, but it’s TOTALLY worth it!!
homemade pizza + 30 Rock quote = blogging brilliance. thanks for sharing your fears and foibles with this cooking hurdle; the first time I made homemade pizza i didn’t have a stone or a peel, so used the back of a cookie sheet. it wasn’t pretty, but. the. taste. makes the burned fingers and muttered curses worth it :)
I first made this pizza recipe in February. I have made it no less than six times since. I had almost resorted to trying to make pizza in my fireplace (no kidding) because I was so desperate for wood fired pizza at home. Now, I don’t need to! :) I haven’t used the broiler method just a pizza stone on the bottom rack at 500 degrees. I also had a crusty skin on top of the dough a couple of times, but I just folded it in and never noticed it. Yay!
I love Jim’s pizza recipe. I don’t have a pizza stone, nor do I know how hot my oven gets, but it comes out so well. So well. Can you share your white pizza approach? I always use red sauce. And now that I make pizza every other week I could use some variety.
I also have a ridiculous oven set-up and no pizza stone, but I’ve been making great pizza from Jim Lahey’s first book with it for ages. I turn my oven all the way on broiler setting (500F) with I’m putting the pies together, and then build the pie on the back of a SKILLET. It works the same as a pizza stone. Then just stick the upside-down-skillet-with-pizza in the oven for 7-10 minutes, depending on toppings, and it is SO GOOD.
Seriously, my friend who isn’t much of a cook came over, half expecting frozen pizza, and was blown away. I was happy.
I’d been making pizza dough this way for a while (before I heard of Jim Lahey.) Then I did, and I make his bread all the time, thank you Jim Lahey!
My little tweaks: mix the dough in the food processor–just so much easier. Put it in a an oiled bowl, and flip it around to coat the top with a little oil, cover and refrigerate. Leave it overnight in the fridge (or longer), then take it out the next day, warm it up for about an hour while you preheat oven, prepare toppings, etc. Slide it onto the pizza stone placed on the bottom shelf of the oven. After about 5 minutes, move it to the top shelf. Place it right on the rack (use 2 spatulas or a peel.) The bottom crust will be nice and crispy, the top can finish cooking on the top shelf, and the pizza stone is now free to place the second pizza. Now I’ve talked myself into a pizza dinner tonight….Thanks!
“pizza dough should be quite sticky and wet, so it can bubble up and get crisp.” But “good” is good, so congratulations on what sounded like a delicious success!
what a coincidence–grilled pizza last night, and last weekend. Used the Emile Henry Flame stone directly on my gas grill which gets up to 700F if you believe the thermomometer. Used rimless cookiesheet as a peel. All that cornmeal burned off quickly on the grill and didn’t fill my home with smoke ;) So if you have a grill I would totally recommend this method.
First, congrats on the Saveur award. So exciting! I made two batches of this dough last week and totally agree about allowing the dough to ripen for three or four days. I noticed a HUGE difference in taste and texture with the batch that I made four days before preparing the ‘za. And if you haven’t tried Marcella Hazan’s simple tomato sauce (the one with onion and butter) as the base for a pie with tomato sauce, you must do so ASAP. Nirvana.
I have been making pizzas for a while now and have never really had anywhere near the drama you had! I am a bit of a winger and I have to say that this winging thing does work too!
The simplest pizzas are always the best and yours is superb xx
Hey all, glad to see so many pizza makers!
Valerie- For my white pizza I used a simple bechamel sauce as the base. I topped with a bit of buffalo mozzarella, Parmesan, and a few rosemary leaves. It was simple and delicious!
Elizabeth- White pizza doesn’t use red sauce. They usually use some sort of creamy base, usually bechamel.
My husband & I are lucky enough to have an outdoor pizza oven. (You and your husband should come over and check it out sometime.) We’ve used a variant of Lora Brody’s bread machine pizza dough recipe (which she said was modeled on Al Forno’s). I have Jim Lahey’s book and am looking forward to trying his dough recipe when the weather is a little more dependable.
PS-Congrats on the win; it’s totally deserved! I voted for you.
Tim – You’ve almost calmed all my pizza fears. My oven is ancient and doesn’t even have a broil setting so whenever I see pizza + broil, I immediately back down and stick to my cookie sheet ways. After reading this post I’m going to buy a pizza stone, it only makes sense since we eat it at least once a week at home. My one remaining concern is about the leftover dough…can you freeze it? I generally only make 1 10″ pizza at a time and freeze the other three balls. Do you think this dough would freeze/thaw well? If not, I guess I’ll just have to plan a pizza party. Oh, and I second the Marcella Hazan sauce recipe, it’s perfection. Beautiful pie!
Talley- Lahey says this dough can’t be frozen, but it can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days. Pizza for a couple of days in row? Not a bad idea.
Yes, I love the Hazan sauce recipe too, but it is too sweet for pizza for me! I eat it regularly with pasta. It is a good suggestion.
The first week of December 2011, a friend and I established a weekly “pizza night,” which we have stuck to religiously. (Wednesday is our usual evening.) At first, we tried a different pizza every time, then we started to discover favorites that deserved a second chance.
A few things learned along the way:
— Pizza is like Midwest casserole: a perfect place to use your leftovers. One of our surprises was “pizza puttanesca.” On a Tuesday we made pasta puttanesca (with homemade pasta, another new discovery), but had too much of the puttanesca sauce. The next day, we threw it on a pizza and Oh. Em. Gee. A favorite was born.
— Find a favorite dough recipe (I use the King Arthur Flour recipe from their website as my base dough) and then play, play, play. No matter which recipe or variation you use, time adds flavor. Make it a couple of days (or even weeks) ahead if you can (I always make a double batch, and then throw the extra ball in the freezer for future pizza emergencies). The extra time sitting around — as when making sourdough or other slow-ferment breads — always pays off in complex, delicious flavor.
— Never ever ever expect a specific result. I don’t care how scientific you get about it, how much data you record, how well you document and repeat your techniques, every pizza will be a surprise. Unless you’re planning to open a pizzeria and need predictable results a hundred times a night, I say *relax* and enjoy the element of surprise. I’ve followed recipes or my own notes on procedure to the letter, and had a completely different pizza from the one I made before. And therein lies the joy of cooking (at least for me).
Enjoy! A half a year of weekly pizzas later, I still can’t wait until tomorrow night. And I have absolutely no idea what it’s going to be. (Although last week’s carmelized-fennel-and-onion pizza was a huge hit and bears repeating!)
Thanks Tim! Great to know that you can freeze it. A week o’pizza also sounds hard to pass up, and might be a good opportunity to see on what day (1-4) the dough is best.
I’ve been making this pizza once a week since I saw it on the cover of Bon App mag. My family is hooked. And it is so easy. We make it every thursday after going to the open market and have enough dough left to make a pie for lunch on Sat & Sun. It’s awesome, try it everyone!!
Chopped garlic steeped in quarter cup melted butter makes an amazing “sauce” and then top with ricotta, any other toppings desired for a delicious pizza. Basil or spinach wilted on top, fantastic! This would do two or more pizzas.
hello Tim, what a great blog discovery! I found you through Nikole.
I forgot about the white pizza thing, in Italy is called in that way only in certain regions, to me (being genovese) it’s either focaccia or pizza ai 4 formaggi o focaccia al formaggio! white pizza or pizza bianca is a no no from where I come! ;D The best cheese to top a pizza bianca is stracchino, such an underrated cheese outside Italy ( I live in UK and it’s hard to find), but almost better than mozzarella (especially if is not bufala mozzarella!). Anyway, I love your blog, congrats for the award, well deserved!
PS: Beautiful wedding picture!… patience is a great virtue and in this world we need a lot I’m afraid.
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jenny says:
May 4th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
long-time reader, first time commenter here to say:
1) huge congrats on your saveur win. I am such a huge fan and was delighted to see the news.
2) I made the bon appetit version of this crust a few weeks ago and I’m here to tell you that if you think it was insane after one day, try letting the dough ripen three or four days (per his do-ahead method). un-freaking-believable. I had a couple of friends over to help me eat the pizza (and thank goodness, because otherwise I would have been sorely tempted to eat it all myself) and one of them nearly cried. I couldn’t believe the difference the “ripening” made. the day one vs. day four pizzas were like amateur vs. professional–the day four I could seriously have been eating at Co. in NYC. the four-day ripening does require a little foresight, but it’s TOTALLY worth it!!
Tim says:
May 4th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Jenny- Thanks! and good to hear about the pizza. The future is bright!
Jen says:
May 4th, 2012 at 8:19 pm
homemade pizza + 30 Rock quote = blogging brilliance. thanks for sharing your fears and foibles with this cooking hurdle; the first time I made homemade pizza i didn’t have a stone or a peel, so used the back of a cookie sheet. it wasn’t pretty, but. the. taste. makes the burned fingers and muttered curses worth it :)
jenn says:
May 4th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
I first made this pizza recipe in February. I have made it no less than six times since. I had almost resorted to trying to make pizza in my fireplace (no kidding) because I was so desperate for wood fired pizza at home. Now, I don’t need to! :) I haven’t used the broiler method just a pizza stone on the bottom rack at 500 degrees. I also had a crusty skin on top of the dough a couple of times, but I just folded it in and never noticed it. Yay!
Valerie says:
May 5th, 2012 at 7:38 am
I love Jim’s pizza recipe. I don’t have a pizza stone, nor do I know how hot my oven gets, but it comes out so well. So well. Can you share your white pizza approach? I always use red sauce. And now that I make pizza every other week I could use some variety.
AM says:
May 5th, 2012 at 10:43 am
I also have a ridiculous oven set-up and no pizza stone, but I’ve been making great pizza from Jim Lahey’s first book with it for ages. I turn my oven all the way on broiler setting (500F) with I’m putting the pies together, and then build the pie on the back of a SKILLET. It works the same as a pizza stone. Then just stick the upside-down-skillet-with-pizza in the oven for 7-10 minutes, depending on toppings, and it is SO GOOD.
Seriously, my friend who isn’t much of a cook came over, half expecting frozen pizza, and was blown away. I was happy.
Sally says:
May 5th, 2012 at 11:14 am
I’d been making pizza dough this way for a while (before I heard of Jim Lahey.) Then I did, and I make his bread all the time, thank you Jim Lahey!
My little tweaks: mix the dough in the food processor–just so much easier. Put it in a an oiled bowl, and flip it around to coat the top with a little oil, cover and refrigerate. Leave it overnight in the fridge (or longer), then take it out the next day, warm it up for about an hour while you preheat oven, prepare toppings, etc. Slide it onto the pizza stone placed on the bottom shelf of the oven. After about 5 minutes, move it to the top shelf. Place it right on the rack (use 2 spatulas or a peel.) The bottom crust will be nice and crispy, the top can finish cooking on the top shelf, and the pizza stone is now free to place the second pizza. Now I’ve talked myself into a pizza dinner tonight….Thanks!
Colleen says:
May 5th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
YES, YES, YES, I love this dough! So amazing!
june2 says:
May 5th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
From the internet comments here: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/19307/how-do-i-get-a-chewy-crust-from-homemade-pizza-dough:
“pizza dough should be quite sticky and wet, so it can bubble up and get crisp.” But “good” is good, so congratulations on what sounded like a delicious success!
ginny lee says:
May 6th, 2012 at 6:55 am
what a coincidence–grilled pizza last night, and last weekend. Used the Emile Henry Flame stone directly on my gas grill which gets up to 700F if you believe the thermomometer. Used rimless cookiesheet as a peel. All that cornmeal burned off quickly on the grill and didn’t fill my home with smoke ;) So if you have a grill I would totally recommend this method.
Bryan says:
May 6th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
First, congrats on the Saveur award. So exciting! I made two batches of this dough last week and totally agree about allowing the dough to ripen for three or four days. I noticed a HUGE difference in taste and texture with the batch that I made four days before preparing the ‘za. And if you haven’t tried Marcella Hazan’s simple tomato sauce (the one with onion and butter) as the base for a pie with tomato sauce, you must do so ASAP. Nirvana.
Laura@howtocookgoodfood says:
May 6th, 2012 at 1:23 pm
I have been making pizzas for a while now and have never really had anywhere near the drama you had! I am a bit of a winger and I have to say that this winging thing does work too!
The simplest pizzas are always the best and yours is superb xx
Elizabeth says:
May 6th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
But what IS white pizza?
Tim says:
May 6th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Hey all, glad to see so many pizza makers!
Valerie- For my white pizza I used a simple bechamel sauce as the base. I topped with a bit of buffalo mozzarella, Parmesan, and a few rosemary leaves. It was simple and delicious!
Elizabeth- White pizza doesn’t use red sauce. They usually use some sort of creamy base, usually bechamel.
Carollina says:
May 6th, 2012 at 7:51 pm
My husband & I are lucky enough to have an outdoor pizza oven. (You and your husband should come over and check it out sometime.) We’ve used a variant of Lora Brody’s bread machine pizza dough recipe (which she said was modeled on Al Forno’s). I have Jim Lahey’s book and am looking forward to trying his dough recipe when the weather is a little more dependable.
PS-Congrats on the win; it’s totally deserved! I voted for you.
thelittleloaf says:
May 7th, 2012 at 2:36 am
Your pizza looks gorgeous – lovely pillows and air bubbles in the crust. I really need to get myself a baking stone – makes all the difference.
talley says:
May 7th, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Tim – You’ve almost calmed all my pizza fears. My oven is ancient and doesn’t even have a broil setting so whenever I see pizza + broil, I immediately back down and stick to my cookie sheet ways. After reading this post I’m going to buy a pizza stone, it only makes sense since we eat it at least once a week at home. My one remaining concern is about the leftover dough…can you freeze it? I generally only make 1 10″ pizza at a time and freeze the other three balls. Do you think this dough would freeze/thaw well? If not, I guess I’ll just have to plan a pizza party. Oh, and I second the Marcella Hazan sauce recipe, it’s perfection. Beautiful pie!
Tim says:
May 7th, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Talley- Lahey says this dough can’t be frozen, but it can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days. Pizza for a couple of days in row? Not a bad idea.
Yes, I love the Hazan sauce recipe too, but it is too sweet for pizza for me! I eat it regularly with pasta. It is a good suggestion.
David says:
May 8th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
The first week of December 2011, a friend and I established a weekly “pizza night,” which we have stuck to religiously. (Wednesday is our usual evening.) At first, we tried a different pizza every time, then we started to discover favorites that deserved a second chance.
A few things learned along the way:
— Pizza is like Midwest casserole: a perfect place to use your leftovers. One of our surprises was “pizza puttanesca.” On a Tuesday we made pasta puttanesca (with homemade pasta, another new discovery), but had too much of the puttanesca sauce. The next day, we threw it on a pizza and Oh. Em. Gee. A favorite was born.
— Find a favorite dough recipe (I use the King Arthur Flour recipe from their website as my base dough) and then play, play, play. No matter which recipe or variation you use, time adds flavor. Make it a couple of days (or even weeks) ahead if you can (I always make a double batch, and then throw the extra ball in the freezer for future pizza emergencies). The extra time sitting around — as when making sourdough or other slow-ferment breads — always pays off in complex, delicious flavor.
— Never ever ever expect a specific result. I don’t care how scientific you get about it, how much data you record, how well you document and repeat your techniques, every pizza will be a surprise. Unless you’re planning to open a pizzeria and need predictable results a hundred times a night, I say *relax* and enjoy the element of surprise. I’ve followed recipes or my own notes on procedure to the letter, and had a completely different pizza from the one I made before. And therein lies the joy of cooking (at least for me).
Enjoy! A half a year of weekly pizzas later, I still can’t wait until tomorrow night. And I have absolutely no idea what it’s going to be. (Although last week’s carmelized-fennel-and-onion pizza was a huge hit and bears repeating!)
talley says:
May 9th, 2012 at 3:49 am
Thanks Tim! Great to know that you can freeze it. A week o’pizza also sounds hard to pass up, and might be a good opportunity to see on what day (1-4) the dough is best.
glee says:
May 12th, 2012 at 7:49 pm
I’ve been making this pizza once a week since I saw it on the cover of Bon App mag. My family is hooked. And it is so easy. We make it every thursday after going to the open market and have enough dough left to make a pie for lunch on Sat & Sun. It’s awesome, try it everyone!!
miles says:
May 24th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
this recipe broke my pizza stone during my first pie, and it looks like I’m not the only one: http://www.food52.com/recipes/16641_jim_laheys_noknead_pizza_dough . venture forward at your own risk.
Susan says:
June 2nd, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Chopped garlic steeped in quarter cup melted butter makes an amazing “sauce” and then top with ricotta, any other toppings desired for a delicious pizza. Basil or spinach wilted on top, fantastic! This would do two or more pizzas.
Megan says:
June 25th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I’m so hungry for this.
Alessandra says:
July 16th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
hello Tim, what a great blog discovery! I found you through Nikole.
I forgot about the white pizza thing, in Italy is called in that way only in certain regions, to me (being genovese) it’s either focaccia or pizza ai 4 formaggi o focaccia al formaggio! white pizza or pizza bianca is a no no from where I come! ;D The best cheese to top a pizza bianca is stracchino, such an underrated cheese outside Italy ( I live in UK and it’s hard to find), but almost better than mozzarella (especially if is not bufala mozzarella!). Anyway, I love your blog, congrats for the award, well deserved!
PS: Beautiful wedding picture!… patience is a great virtue and in this world we need a lot I’m afraid.