Mods: How about making this a sticky? ETA: Thank you!

I know that a good number of ARFCOM members are also homemade pizza bakers and so I thought an ongoing thread on this subject would be of use. ,

Got pics to share? Post them!

All styles of pizza are welcome: Neapolitan, Sicilian/NY Sicilian, New York-style, Long Island Grandma, Chicago Tavern, Deep Dish, Cracker-thin crust, even Ohio Valley-style (DeCarlo's). Or just good old "pizza type pizza".

Got a permanent wood-fired dome oven? Great! Ooni or similar? Cool! Electric range in your studio apartment? No problem!

Do you own any specialized or pressed into service everyday kitchen tools that assist you? Share them!

Do you make any type of pizza or do you specialize in one particular style? Let us know.

Do you have any preferences as far as ingredients (cheese, canned tomatoes, meats, etc.) or have you experiences steered you away from using a particular product? Please share your experiences.

Got a trick, tip, or hack? We want to know.

RESOURCES

http://www.pizzamaking.com

The ARFCOM of pizza-making. I've been a member of this site for quite some time although I find the number of sub-forums to be somewhat overwhelming. Nonetheless, a great source of information if you're willing to sift through a lot of threads/posts.

http://sipandfeast.com
https://www.youtube.com/@SipandFeast

James C. Dalmage's website and Youtube channel of the same name. James' site is primarily based on the cuisine of Italian-American communities in the NE United States. His recipes and videos are straightforward and informative.

http://www.mypizzacorner.com

Tim Rothwell's site features an excellent section that explains in simple terms the in's and out's of using baker's percentages which many beginner's might find intimidating. It isn't.  https://mypizzacorner.com/pizza-dough/bakers-percentage-and-pizza-dough/

Evan Fitz

Evan is a pizzaiolo at Nostra Pizza Napoletana in Daytona Beach FL. His Youtube channel is "Pizza for Two":

https://www.youtube.com/@LevitaNostra/featured

He also has a new blog called BakeSpiration:

https://artisandough.blogspot.com/

This guy knows his stuff and knows how to easily present it in his videos.

Some folks would rather just buy pre-made dough from the store.

There's a video for that!



and another one!

Flour power!


I use King Arthur Bread Flour

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Here's  a pretty good forum for building, using, and maintaining a brick oven, along with other forums with all things pizza and related stuff

Every Thursday night.

Depending how thick/rise I want the dough: 1/2 tsp yeast, 1 tbsp sugar, 3/4 cup warm water (mixed). Let sit 10 minutes.

Kitchenaid stand mixer typically use the bread hook, standard mixer is ok; lowest setting.

1 cup bread flour to start. I like bread flour because it has a consisant rise and contains more protein. Regular flour works well for a thinner pizza and I use that with less rise time.
Add the yeasted water , 1 tbsp olive oil, and flour, mix, then add in an addition 1/3 to 1/2 cup flour to get the dough still just a bit wet. usually before mixing I rub EVOO around the bowl to prevent sticking.

Once dough is solid, I like to pul it out and beat it against the countertop for 2 minutes. You can leave it in the bowl with a bread hook on low to continue activating the yeasted dough mix.

Transfer to new oiled up bowl after you've kneeded the dough. Cover with plastic wrap or bread towel. ** For this I like to have the oven headed up to about 150 degrees and then turn it off and put the covered bowl in to let the dough rise** Don't have to, but the warmer temp will lresult in a better rise. For thinner crust I just leave covered for 20-30 mins. For a warm thick rise, I'll do an hour or so.

After it's risen, you can cut the dough to make 2 pizzas. (you can put the other dough in a container and throw it in the fridge if you don't wanna do both. Usually good for 2 days till it dries out.)

Plenty of local places will sell you a jar of suce if you like 1 particular pizza joint. However, I like to make one that's super easy.

1 small can of tomato sauce. Toss in a stove pot on low. Add basil, oregano, spice to your liking (ghost pepper/jalapeno flakes/etc), salt, 1 bay leaf; bring it till it just starts to bubble.

By now you've pre-heateed the oven to 420F and rolled out your dough(thickness varying).

I've been using a pizza pan, I'm too stupid to figure out how to get my doug onto the pizza stone sitting in my oven.

1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/4 cup warm (105-110) water
1 3/4 tsp yeast
------------------
Put sugar into mixing bowl, pour water over sugar, sprinkle yeast on water.

Put in oven (with oven light on) for 10-15 minutes until bubbly.
------------------
Add:
1 1/2 Tbs EVOO
2 cups bread flour
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
------------------
Mix with dough hook until slightly sticky (add water or flour as needed)
------------------
Oil mixing bowl, roll dough ball in oiled bowl until coated
Cover with plastic wrap or light towel
Place in warm oven (oven with light on) to rise
Allow to rise up to 2 hours depending on how fluffy you want the dough.

Roll or toss as you like.

If making in a sheet pan, I prefer a thick coating of EVOO on the bottom of the pan, put in a preheated 425 oven until the oil is hot, then dump the stretched dough on that and build the pizza (quickly) from there.

Also in on one.  I have a propane pizza oven and want to learn to use it betterer.

In on this.  Don't think I have any pics, but we have been making pizza every other Sunday for a few years.  Usually make a dozen or so and have pizza for 2-3 days.  We make a poolish with 00 dough flour Saturday and let it cold ferment for 24 hours.  Baking on cast iron or pizza stones.  We make sauce from scratch from the garden during the warm months.

Here is my dough recipe if anyone is interested in trying it.
1 16oz bottle of warm, flat beer
1 pack of yeast
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of Italian seaoning (optional)
3-5 cups of general purpose flour

Get your flat beer up to around 80-90 degrees F. Add the yeast and sugar and let it proof for around 10 mins.
Put 3 cups of flour in a mixing bowl and add your salt and olive oil.
Pour your yeast/beer/sugar into the mixing bowl and mix on low till blended and add flour as needed till you get the dough thick enough to no longer be sticky. Add the Italian seasoning if so desired and let mixer go on medium speed for another 8-10 mins. Get a large bowl and wipe the inside down with olive oil and put the dough into the bowl to rise for an hour or two covered with a cloth towel.
Take the risen dough out and punch it down a bit and return it to the oiled bowl to rise another hour or so. Then take out the dough and roll out into the desired size and let it sit for 10 mins before adding sauce and toppings. Bake for around 10-15 mins at 500 degrees until desired browning and your ready to pull it out and let cool and eat.
This recipe makes around two to three large pizzas or more if you want smaller pizzas and will also make a few larger calzones.

Gozney and Solo ovens not reviewed

I like this sauce recipe for cracker crust. You don't cook it.

6 oz tomato paste
15 oz tomato sauce
1-2 Tablespoons dried oregano to taste
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ Tablespoon garlic salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar or honey (optional)

I tend to follow the "less is more" when it comes to pizza sauce. Just tomatoes and (very little) salt. And maybe a grind of pepper and a dash of olive oil.

Recently purchased a can of Hunt's San Marzano-Style peeled tomatoes (in thick juice) and they're very good.

https://www.hunts.com/san-marzano-style/whole-peeled-tomatoes

You can drain off the puree/juice as you desire and either crush them with your hands or use a food processor or immersion blender to break them down to a chunky consistency NOTE: use brief 1-2 second pulses to do this. If you continually run the appliance you will introduce too much air which ruins the flavor and also turns the tomatoes from red to orange.

Save any unused product including the puree/juice for another dish (I saved mine for making minestrone).

It is not necessary to purchase top-of-the-line imported tomatoes (D.O.P.) to make sauce. In fact, if you find them on the bottom shelf of your supermarket I'd avoid them as said product isn't moving. Check expiration date! Dust on top of the cans is a sign they're not selling.

All-purpose crushed tomatoes are perfectly fine for pizza sauce. I get good results using Aldi brand. Most NY Pizzerias use Stanislaus (CA) all purpose crushed tomatoes. Any of the Redpack family of brands (Indiana) are good.

HINT: all purpose crushed tomatoes tend to separate into solids and watery liquid. To keep it thick you can either strain off the liquid using a fine mesh strainer OR just add a Tablespoon of tomato paste to tighten it up. This is why I keep a tube of paste in the fridge although it's ridiculously expensive.

My pizza-fu took a quantum leap when I came to terms with these two factors:

1. Good things come to those who wait.

2. Less yeast results in better dough

THE secret to great dough/crust is a long cold fermentation (48-72 hours) using minimal regular yeast. I use instant yeast (SAF) purchased in the  big brick bag. I do not use "Rapid Rise" yeast or "Pizza Yeast" which is another form of rapid rise.

The beauty in using SAF instant yeast is that you don't have to proof it, salt doesn't affect it, you don't have to use warm water, and you don't have to add it to water. Just add it to your dry ingredients and go. Using baker's percentages the amount of yeast used is tiny: 1%. That's half a teaspoon using 497 grams/4 cups of flour as an example.

Attached File


Let me take this opportunity to address the myth that NY Pizza is as wondrous as it is due to the use of the city's "soft" tap water. This is 100% bullshit. Again, it's the long cold fermentation that gives NY Pizza it's awesome crust. It's not the water...it's the technique.

Agree. I make mine the same way. Make dough on a Wednesday evening for use on Saturday.
Hand mix dough in a bowl, let sit out overnight,  knead it in the morning, then into frig until around noon on Saturday.
I like a little wetter dough as it stretches easily and quickly. Not sticky though.

Redpack Crushed Tomatoes was the content creator's choice with very small amounts of salt and sugar added.

This video also shows how to season a "raw" baking steel using 150-grit wet/dry sandpaper, vinegar, and flax oil (you can also buy them pre-seasoned).


sssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Here's a source for baking steels:

http://www.bakingsteel.com

They sell both unseasoned and pre-seasoned steels.

Personally I don't own a steel. I have a VillaWare baking stone (3/4" x 14" x 16") and have used it for nearly 30 years.

Pizza Peels:

WOOD: (dusted with flour or semolina) for assembling and launching the pizza directly onto a baking steel or baking stone

METAL: for moving and removing pizza from the oven

Would not recommend trying to move/remove pizza using a wood peel. You'll likely end up pushing it further into the oven with disastrous results.

If you use pizza pans/discs/screens to cook your pizza a wooden peel is probably not needed.

This is a newcomer to the home pizza oven market. Made in Slovenia. Three different models. At this time they are not yet available for purchase in the US but the company (small shop) is working on it.

http://glowenoven.com

I have been catering pizzas, and doing events for a while, running upwards of 90 pizzas in a night out of 3 16" propane Oonis. Here are a couple things I've learned.  

1. Dough is way simpler than everyone thinks. Download PizzApp and start at 65% hydration, 3% salt. Mix, knead for 7-8 minutes,  and rest for an hour, make balls, and rest whatever time you put in the app.

2. Cold fermented dough is 1000x better than any same day dough. Plan ahead, and CF some for 48 hours. You'll see. Make sure you have 6 hours or so for the dough balls to come to temp (I did say plan ahead right?)

3. Sauce is easy too. Saute garlic, oregano,  and red pepper flakes for a minute or so, add a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes. Cook on low as long as you want. Too thin,  cook longer. Too thick, add a little water.

4. Toppings can be whatever you want, but if you go too heavy, the pizza may not cook right. My personal favorite is Cuban pizza (leftover pulled pork with some mojo marinade, ham, pickles, Swiss or mozzarella/cheddar blend, with a light mustard drizzle)

5. Semolina flour is your best friend for sliding pizzas on and off the peel and into the oven/on the stone.

6. Rough wood peels for raw dough, thin metal for cooking/cooked dough



My challenges are building pizzas fast enough to keep up with how fast they cook. And estimating how many ingredients I need. Currently have 12# of leftover mozzarella and 8# of leftover pepperoni in my refrigerator from my last event.

That sounds like a good problem to have!

"I'm trying to knead dough and it's too sticky. What do I do?"


If after the initial mixing of dough ingredients you turn out the dough onto the counter/work surface for hand kneading you may find the dough to be sticky to work with even though it feels silky to the touch DON'T PANIC! This is normal and here are some things you can do:

1. As a preemptive, stick with dough recipes have a relatively low hydration ration (60-65%). Sip & Feast's dough recipe for NY Sicilain, Grandma, and NY "round" pizzas all use the same hydration: 64%

2. As a general rule, DO NOT ADD MORE FLOUR!

I know this sounds like the easiest fix but if you do add more flour you'll lower the hydration. Keep adding flour and you'll end up with dough that kneads like a brick...and will be inedible when cooked.

4. WALK AWAY. leave your dough on the counter/work surface, cover with an upside down bowl, and leave it alone for about 45 minutes to allow the flour to continue to absorb water.

5. Try wetting your hands with a small amount of olive oil.

6. Use your dough/counter scraper to assist you. You can wipe the surface with a bit of olive oil.

Earlier today I went up in my parent's attic to retrieve a metal pizza peel I'd stashed up there years and years ago and while I was up there was pleased to have found two Sicilian pizza pans I'd also stashed there at the same time but forgotten. These pans, made by Allied Metal Spinning (Bronx), are made of black 22 gauge cold-rolled steel. Sadly, Allied went out of business in 2020 so these pans are highly prized. The blackened steel develops layers of seasoning with use (12 years in the attic in the humid South didn't faze them) and the blackened steel gives Sicilian and Grandma pizzas that awesome crunch.

Fortunately a metal working shop in NV has stepped up and is making these pans in one size 12" x 12" and they're sold exclusively by Smiling With Hope Enterprises. They're not cheap but these pans will never wear out given proper care.

https://www.swhenterprises.com/

Here's an old photo of one of my early efforts using one of these pans. The pan measures 14" x 14".



ETA: last night I gave both pans a good washing with hot water and bit of Dawn detergent, used a bit of 000 steel wool to gently remove some very small areas of surface rust, and then added a layer of seasoning by wiping them with the barest amount of Crisco and putting them in a 400F oven for an hour.

Last night I made another pizza using a package of Aldi's pizza dough and the same parbake/broil technique as before only this time I used the (Breville) toaster oven instead of the big oven. I also used the "super convection" setting during the parbake.

Pizza turned out fine although it took a bit more time than when using the regular oven.

I also traced the circumference of the pizza pan on the parchment and cut away the excess save a 2" x 3" tab so that prior to broiling all I had to do was grab the tab to pull away the parchment.

Long Island Grandma Pizza (same day dough):



The semi-dry aka "low moisture" mozzarella referred to is the 1 lb. block of whole milk mozzarella NOT the hard rubber "part skim low moisture" common commercial variety which burns easily.

Grandma Pizza (same day dough) - Kitchen & Craft

SHEET PAN PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE (a.k.a. Grandma Style Pizza)
Makes One 600g Doug Ball
Bread Flour (100%), 348g or 12.25 oz.
Tepid Water (70%), 243g or 8.5 oz.
Kosher Salt (2.5%), 9g or 0.33 oz.
Instant Dry Yeast (0.2%), .75g or 1/4 tsp.

NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA SAUCE
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 28g (1 oz. or 1 Tbsp.)
Garlic, 28g (4 cloves or 2 Tbsp.)
Dried Oregano, 1 tsp.
Crushed Fennel Seed, 1/4 tsp.
Crushed Red Chile, 1/4 tsp.
San Marzano Tomatoes, 794g (1-28 ounce can)
White Sugar, 14g (1/2 oz. or 1 Tbsp.)
Fine Sea Salt, 12g (about 1/2 oz. or 1 1/2 tsp.)

OTHER INGREDIENTS
Whole Milk, Semi-Dry Mozzarella, 454g or 16 oz.
Olive Oil, as needed to oil the pan DO NOT USE EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL! You can also use any sort of neutral oil such as canola or grapeseed oil (which has a very high smoking temperature). Or use shortening.

Do you have a different size sheet pan? Here's an easy explanation on how to scale this recipe:

1- Determine the size of your pan in square inches (cm if metric) by multiplying the length and width. For example, a standard 13x18" sheet pan is 234 square inches.

2- I use a 14"x14" pan for this recipe, which is 196 square inches. Divide the 234 by 196 and you'll get 1.19 or 119%. Now you know that the 13x18" sheet pan is 19% larger than my 14x14" pan.

3- In this scenario, just increase the measurement for each ingredient by 19%.

In a stand mixer bowl add flour and yeast and mix together. Add water and salt. Using the dough hook mix together on low to medium-low speed until ingredients form a homogeneous dough. Cover the mixer bowl and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes. Return bowl to mixer and reattach dough hook. Knead the dough on medium speed for 10-15 minutes as much as 20 minutes until the dough is smooth and gives some resistance when poked. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a tight ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let rest for 3-4 hours or until doubled in size.


Generously oil the sides and bottom of the pizza pan with ¼ cup of regular olive oil or neutral oil/shortening of choice.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle lightly with additional flour. Use a rolling pin to gently roll out the dough to a size slightly larger than the pan. Transfer the dough to the pizza pan and press to fit. If dough is resistant, let it rest for 10-30 minutes to allow it to relax. Cover pizza pan with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour. The dough will continue to proof and rise.

Position oven rack to upper third position and preheat oven to 450F convection bake or 475 standard bake

Mix together all ingredients to make the New York-style pizza sauce. Shred/grate the whole milk semi-dry mozzarella.

Cover dough with cheese and dollop the top of the pizza with the pizza sauce as desired NOTE: you may not need to use all of the sauce

Bake in the upper rack of the oven for 10-15 minutes. Transfer the pizza to a cooling rack and allow to cool for a couple of minutes. Transfer to a cutting surface and cut pizza into desired size pieces.

NOTES:

For persons with sensitivity to garlic, reduce or eliminate garlic in the sauce recipe.

Mozzarella cheese is easier to grate when slightly frozen. Place cheese in the freezer for 30-45 minutes prior to shredding/grating.

I just learned something new re: oiling pizza pans when making pizzas such as Sicilian, Detroit-style, and Long Island Grandma pizzas:

Do not use extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). Use regular oil or a neutral oil with a high smoking temperature such as grapeseed oil. Some pizzerias even use shortening.

Other than being a waste of money (EVOO's flavor is destroyed by high heat) it can impart off flavors to the dough when baked.

How about using Ghee or clarified butter. It has a very high burn temp.

but it doesn't have a neutral flavor profile

Ghee shouldn't unless it was caramelized.

You could always try it and post your results.

The Cento San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes at Costco are very good.

I just discovered this YT pizza channel called "Pizza for Two". The pizzeria is Levita Nostra Napoletana in Daytona Beach, FL.

Here's the channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@LevitaNostra

And here's a very informative video on dough-stretching to make NY style pies. This guy's a master. He's making 24" pizzas

A guy on pizzamaking.com who works for Jets Pizza said they use corn oil.

I gave this no knead fool proof pan pizza dough a try. Should have turned the fire on under the skillet and cooked it a couple minutes more.

Another big advantage of doing long cold fermentations is that the finished product is more digestible. Pizza made with "quick" or "same day" room temperature fermentation tends to sit in your stomach like a brick as there's more gluten that hasn't been broken down.

Over this past weekend I made two 14" NY-style pies using a variation of Frank Pinello's basic dough recipe.

NOTE: While one can find Frank's recipe online, it's "wrong", and the video came out first before there was a printed version available. The first error is that in the video Frank says to use "a TBS and a half of salt" when he meant to say "teaspoons". The second "error" is that his hydration ratio is stupid high both in terms of NY-style pizza dough standards (his is 79%) and workability esp. for beginners. He's either using too much water or not enough flour.
Also, the original recipe is a "same day" dough which does not have the flavor, chew, or digestibility of a longer cold ferment although Frank says you can put the dough in the fridge if your not going to make pizza right away.



Scrolling down through the comments I found a re-worked cold ferment version of the recipe by @JustOneBitePlease (Alejandro Ramon). Using his recipe I turned out two damn good pizzas for Sunday's dinner. I would recommend that the dough balls be brought to room temperature before stretching. The dough ball that sat out for an hour was easy to work. The second one was stretched "cold" and was at first somewhat difficult to work.

NOTE: this dough has a hydration ratio of 70% and tends to be sticky. You may wish to reduce the amount of water to 288 grams to achieve a much more workable 60% hydration!

Volume                     Grams              Ingredient                  Baker’s %
1-1/2 cups              340 grams        Water                                   71%
1-1/2 tsp.                    6 grams        Instant Yeast                      1.5%
2 Tbsp.                     28 grams         Extra Virgin Olive Oil            6%
4 cups                    480 grams         All Purpose Flour             100%
1-1/2 tsp.                  12 grams         Sea Salt (fine)                   2.5%

Mixing Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl combine the water, instant yeast, extra virgin olive oil, and half of the flour.
2. Mix with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon to get a thick batter and beat well.
3. Add the sea salt and the remaining flour and stir until the dough is a shaggy mass.
4. Scrape and turn the dough out of the bowl on to the work surface.
5. Knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes or until the dough is strong and elastic. (The dough will be sticky do not add any flour.) Use the plastic scrape to clean your hands while kneading.
6. Round the dough into a ball and place into an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let ferment for 2 hours before dividing into desired weight and forming into tight rounds.
7. Place dough onto oiled sheet tray and cover with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator over night.
8. Form and shape the pizza dough directly from the refrigerator. after bringing to room temperature for one hour.
9. Top and bake the pizza in a 550℉ (288℃) preheated oven with a baking stone.
10. Bake the pizza for 6 to 8 minutes or until the center of the pizza is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.

I prefer to use bread flour vs. all-purpose flour as the higher protein content results in a better crust but still a very good pizza.

Today's family meal:

Italian Wedding Soup and a pizza made the day before one of two using fresh mozzarella and piave fresco (a cow's milk grating cheese similar to parmaggiano-reggiano)

Pizza stone? Or pizza steel?

PIZZA STONE

Pros: less expensive, very good performance

Cons: risk of breakage, once oven preheat reaches desired temperature the oven must run for another hour in order for the stone to fully absorb heat.

PIZZA STEEL

Pros. Excellent performance. Once preheat reaches desired temperature may be used immediately. Oven can be set to 500F vs. higher temps for pizza stones (550F).

Cons: Expensive esp. if a pre-seasoned steel is desired. Unseasoned steels will require seasoning involving sanding edges, soaking in vinegar, then oiling and seasoning requiring several applications.

Let's say I wanted to try making my own pizza, but without buying $8700 worth of gear nor having mozzarella flown in from Italy.  What style of pizza would be the easiest to start with?  Can it be done on a cookie sheet in my oven without a steel, a stone, or the paddle thingy you slide it in the oven with?  I have a cast iron skillet and I think there is a style of pizza cooked in those.  

I know enough to know this is a loaded question.  I was just curious if it could be done with a minimal investment.  I need another expensive hobby like I need a hole in my head

A 'secret weapon' that many NY pizzerias use in their dough recipes is the use of diastatic malt powder as a browning agent. DMP has long been used by bagel makers to impart that hard, shiny sheen you see.

As of now I have not used it (don't have any) and am trying to find out if DMP is used in addition to sugar or in addition to sugar.

In this video the content creator makes two pizzas one using sugar in the dough and the other using DMP instead of sugar and in the same percentage (2%). He says the use of DMP is a game changer (and gets the pants off his girlfriend in the process )



Anyone here use DMP? Let us know!

Yes, you can! You can absolutely do this on a bare bones budget with little more than a 12" pizza pan, some baking parchment, a plastic storage container (I use 1 lb. lunchmeat containers), and your actual ingredients. I've been making some killer NY style pies in my Breville toaster oven and the round black pizza pan that came with it (for reheating frozen pizza).

The easiest style of pizza to make are the NY Sicilian and/or (Long Island) Grandma pizzas as they don't involve hand stretching/tossing dough just pressing the dough ball out into a greased/oiled square/rectangular pan. But you will still have to knead the dough by hand unless you own a stand mixer with a dough hook or a food processor with a dough blade.

But learning to stretch and/or toss dough for round pizza isn't that hard so don't be afraid.

And you can try your hand at making NY style or "neapolitan" pizzas using store-bought dough and if you do this I highly recommend that you watch the two videos I posted at the start of this thread. You'll also want to go to http://www.sipandfeast.com and look at the pizza sections on NY Sicilian, Grandma, and NY style pizzas. LEARN BAKERS PERCENTAGES.

Stick with doughs with a hydration ratio of 60-65% Doughs with higher amounts of water are too sticky for beginners. Trust me.

As a guide, a 1-lb. dough ball will make a 12-14" round thin crust (NY) pizza.

But for making from scratch your needs are few and not particularly expensive. For making all three styles you'll need:


Hardware

A digital kitchen scale that weighs in both American and metric. Not expensive I got mine on Amazon (OXO brand)

A 12-14" round pizza pan (black steel preferred holes or no holes doesn't matter)

Baker's parchment. Our local Ollie's had a shit-ton of it.

A 12" or 14" square or rectangular heavy steel or aluminum pan. Non-stick is fine. You might already have one.

Some plastic food storage containers about 1 quart. These are for fermenting dough balls in the fridge. Think dollar store or lunchmeat containers.

Basic Food ingredients (you probably already have some of this):

Olive oil. Just regular "pure" olive oil. Don't bother with EVOO.

Bread flour. King Arthur in the blue-white bag is GTG. DO NOT BUY cheap store brand flour and don't bother with Caputo flour it's not suitable for home ovens.

Instant Dry Yeast. SAF is best. Fleishmann's or Red Star is GTG too. That's instant.dry.yeast. not "pizza yeast", not "active dry yeast", and not "rapid rise yeast". Instant...Dry...Yeast. I'm serious.

Kosher or coarse grain sea salt. Dollar Tree or Ollies.

Sugar (you got that)

All purpose crushed tomatoes in a 28 oz. can. Pretty much any brand. I use Aldi. Your sauce is going to be this and 1/2 tsp. of salt that's it.

Dried Oregano

Whole milk mozzarella which is "low moisture" compared to fresh mozzarella. Comes in a 1-lb. block. As much as I hate Walmart I buy their Great Value brand it's $3.75 each. Buy several and freeze what you don't use.

Another kick-ass video from Evan Fitz aka Pizza for Two:

@Logan45

If you look at the recipes on Sip & Feast for NY Sicilian, Grandma, and NY-Style pizzas you will notice that the dough is the same for all three..the same in terms of hydration (64%) and the same in terms of percentages of ingredients. The actual amount of ingredients differs in order to produce a certain amount of dough.

Bakers Percentages: 64% hydration*, .4% yeast, 2% salt, 3.4% oil, 1.2% sugar

(this is why pizza makers use a scale, and why using the metric system (grams) makes for easy scaling.

*Flour is always 100% whether you are using 500 grams or 25 kilograms or 100 pounds or whatever. The water is going to be 64% of the weight of the flour. 64% is a good ratio in terms of workability. You're not kneading a brick, and you're not dealing with a super wet sticky mess.

The weight of the dough of course is the sum total of all the ingredients. As a rule of thumb a 12-16 oz. dough ball will easily make a 12" - 14" pizza

Thanks for all of the information!  Watched a few of the Pizza for Two videos today, I like his style.  Going to watch a few more then start picking up ingredients and a pan or two

I tried this dough recipe and it turned out great.  Says it will make 3 pizzas and it might if you went thin crust, but two pizzas is perfect.  The key is the powdered milk and butter flavored cooking spray.  Use the butter spray to coat the pan and top of the dough.

I used half of the dough to make a pizza the same day and saved the other half for a pizza a couple days later (left in fridge).  Both were good.

As for the sauce in the recipe, I didn't try it...yet.  Wife makes a sauce with our canned tomatoes that tastes great.

https://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/525/Pizza_Hut_Original_Pan_Pizza41605.shtml

Last night's pizza I made in a rectangular pan and put bacon around the edge.

Currently doing a parbake on a NY Sicilian. Cold ferment was 100 hours plus another 6 hours stretching to fit pan then initial sauce plus another 2 hours final rise. 100 hours is really too long as I was starting to see some possible signs of overproofing but it appears I got away with it.

I had planned on doing the bake after 48 hours but a family emergency....

The parbake doesn't look too bad although the spring is not even. Lots of "trenches" and "valleys" vs. an even puffy rise. Again, overproofing plus I need to increase the dough ball by 10% to accomodate the pan.

I'm either going to refrigerate this parbake for use later this weekend or freeze it for sometime next week.