Most important?

[texassourdough]

Re: Most important?

The Easy-Bake Oven left me LOFL. Very funny!

I encountered a good example of BAD oven management last night. Went to a new location of a good Italian restaurant that features a "WFO" in the open kitchen. At first glance it looked legit - wood, flames up the back, etc. We sat where I could see the oven and I quickly noted the "wood" in the oven was fake and the flames were too predictable so it had to be natural gas. Then I saw the pizza cook (I dare not honor him with the term pizzaiola!) reach inside with a towel to retrieve a frypan and I KNEW it was no where near hot enough. We quickly decided to order something OTHER than the pizza. A few minutes later three pale, undercooked, pizzas were delivered to the table next to us and our decision was validated.

Long live hot ovens and open flames! (and down with mediocre pizzas!)
Jay

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Most important?

Yeah, but I think the hearth needs to be "soaked" with heat and hot!

[james]

Re: Most important?

Bob,
Try a hallogen light bulb! That should do it. :-)

It's fun seeing an older thread come back to life. Can I vote for almost all of the above? You need high dome heat, high floor heat, flame lapping in the dome, even temperature top and bottom, great dough and not too many ingredients. Yikes!
James

[Bob C]

Re: Most important?

for some reason i cannot seem to get up to 800 degrees in my "easy bake oven" guess I'll have to change the wattage. LOL

[texassourdough]

Re: Most important?

For me one of the most important facets has been to learn to manage the oven so I tend to put ALL oven related issues first. I.e. proper dome and hearth temps and flames up the dome. The need and benefit of great dough are a given for me. The variable is oven management and keeping the balance of dome, hearth, and flame at the right balance. When I first got my oven the first pizza would typically be a bit on the brown/black side and then I would get two to four or so great pizzas followed by some that were not so nice. Now that I pay much more attention to the balance my pizzas are much more consistent from beginning to end.

[Balthazar]

Re: Most important?

I'll go with the hot chicks too!....probably THE most important aspect;-)

[Dutchoven]

Re: Most important?

Would that be with or without the fancy piece of cardboard so useful for "crisping" the crust while it is "nuked"...

RT someone here told me of childhood pizzas like you mention...except that he liked them...said his mother used to clean out the fridge when she made pizza...
Dutch

[carioca]

Re: Most important?

<snip>
Microwave on high for five minutes. Mangia!

Microwave?! Doesn't seem to appear in the poll choices :-)

Cheers,

LMH

[Inishta]

Re: Most important?

Personally, I think Boboli for the dough. Top it with a little Ragu Genuine Italian Pizza Sauce, some Kraft American Cheese, and Oscar Meyer bologna slices (much cheaper than pepperoni, and you really can't taste the difference), and that's a pizza pie! Microwave on high for five minutes. Mangia!

Hi John............how do you feel about the concept of excommunication............

[RTflorida]

Re: Most important?

Almost forgot.......VELVEETA, we always had what seemed like a ten lb. brick of it on hand...I prefered the american cheese, if we had enough.

[RTflorida]

Re: Most important?

John.....I'm having childhood flashbacks of filling my pizza cravings. My mother would by the Chef Boy Ardee pizza kits but never any of the proper toppings.....I was always stuck with the nasty sauce it came with but I've never been able to stomach the "sawdust" grated parm.....I would actually put american cheese, hot dogs, bologna, sausage or whatever else I could find in the fridge along with the only "fresh" items we had (onions and peppers from our garden). Probably started when I was ten or so...continued right through high school (although over time I was able to convince mom to pick up mozzarella and pepperoni). Kind of makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, thinking of some of the "toppings" I used.....hey, it was pizza...sort of.

RT

[John Fahle]

Re: Most important?

Personally, I think Boboli for the dough. Top it with a little Ragu Genuine Italian Pizza Sauce, some Kraft American Cheese, and Oscar Meyer bologna slices (much cheaper than pepperoni, and you really can't taste the difference), and that's a pizza pie! Microwave on high for five minutes. Mangia!

[Thirties]

Re: Most important?

I chose "toppings" because I believe the dough and baking are absolute requirements to get right -- if they are not done properly, you have no pizza. In other words, they are the elemental ingredients and procedures for all pies.

Obviously, if the dough and baking are awful, you may as well smear tomato sauce on an English muffin and call it a pizza. That is no more pizza than a poorly made dough or improperly baked pie. So I'm assuming here, that one has mastered the process of dough making and oven baking.

After that, it's all about toppings -- specifically, all about using minimal toppings. That is what a pizza pie is. You can ruin a great dough/baking with poor toppings, but all the wonderful toppings in the world will not make a good pie from poor dough/oven technique.

[Xabia Jim]

Re: Most important?

Hearth and Dough around the first turn....neck and neck

[beammeup]

Re: Most important?

For me its the hearth temp is the most important as I can control the dome temp quite easily by adding wood or kindling. As time goes on the hearth temp drops and the bottom of my pizza's start getting lighter. Those are the ones the neighbours usually get. Still yummy though! The flour is also up there. Then cheese, olive oil, tomato's, then toppings. I put a stock of Italian basil into a cup of water a few months ago now its a full grown bush. What a difference fresh basil makes on a pizza