I realize it's the wrong time of year for this, but have you ever tried grilling pizza? My husband and I often throw the pizza stone on the grill, let it warm up for a while and then put the pizza on. With the lid closed the pizza cooks up nicely and is super yummy. Just a thought. Loved the post!
I do this with the walmart deli pizza, and add a few things, amazing how good they are, thanks for the tip!
I made this last night with very good results. Having a thin crust is imperative--because I didn't stretch it out enough, it was slightly doughy. Still delicious, though. AND quick.
this technique worked great. it took me about 2:30 under the broiler, but emerged with a great crisp, even crust. here are pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodbyeohio/sets/72157603707373936/
I instantly upgraded my pizza with a combination of having visited Luzzo's in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago and coming here.
The cast-iron pan idea wouldn't work for me because I'm too lazy and poor to go out and buy one big enough, but putting the pizza stone one level down from the broiler and pre-broiling the oven for one hour worked like a charm!
I had previously been par-cooking the crust so that the middle wouldn't be soggy (which it always was, in the days when I cooked it 20" away from the broiler) but this time I did just like at Luzzo's--sauce, mozza, toppings on the raw dough--and it turned out brilliantly! I had never been able to get any kind of a char before on the bottom but obviously the broiler heat must have baked the stone beyond 500, because this pizza only took 3.5 minutes where before it was 8 or even 9.
Molto bene!!!
This technique has been my salvation for the past few months. Lots of debate about it on the Pizzamaking.com forums, but the results are undeniable. I found a 15 inch cast iron pan on Amazon, which allows me to make normal 12 inch pies. I've found that if the crust doesn't get crisp enough on the bottom by the time the top is charred, sliding it into a heated skillet on a high flame will take care of it. No matter how good your dough is, short of hacking your oven to bake on the cleaning cycle, nothing else gets close to the true texture of a Neapolitan pie. Nice and puffy, charred, and tender inside. A couple of photos of my results are here.
No -- you did say to make them thin. I just was being lazy -- in part because I didn't let my dough come up to room temp before shaping. The dough wasn't pliable enough, so I just gave up when I stretched it to a certain point. By the time I did the second pie, my second round of dough was nice and warm and workable.
I also made my pies bigger b/c I had the pizza stone to work with -- also because I was being lazy. I wanted to make only 2 bigger pies instead of many little ones.
Adam: your first pie looked an awful lot like the first one I attempted. We should have made this more clear in the entry, but the crust needs to be really thin, almost translucent. There is too thin, which will just flop around and won't sit up straight. But it's worth testing the limit. We tried with such small pies, if one didn't work we simply tossed it and moved on. These big ones mean business!
OK. I tried hacking the Paupers' hack last night. Speculation in the thread above was that you could try a similar technique with a baking stone.
I superheated mine on the gas broiler in my stove. (I should have tried Brian Spangler's trick of keeping the oven door open, though.)
So once I had the stone superheated for an hour or so, I figured I'd transfer it to under the broiler. (I have a gas oven whose broiler is beneath the oven chamber, so I was preheating the stone on the floor of the oven chamber, hence the need to move it.)
So I go to move it into the sliding drawer thing so it will rest beneath the broiler -- and CRAPPO! -- the stone is too wide/long to fit into the broiling pan area. Gargh.
But ... wait ... !! It's just the right size to fit edge to edge across the drawer. It can still fit into the broiler area with about 1.5 to 2 inches clearance. Hmm...
Yes. I think I can fit a pie in there and have it clear the space. So I slide it on there and hope the crust doesn't spring up enough that I can't get the pie back out. Long story short ... my first pie just barely makes it out, getting its far end caught on the overhang of the broiler compartment. I was able to salvage it, though.
Seems that I need to make my crust thinner. There was a noticeable "gumline" in the pie. Sounds just like it is -- a gummy, undercooked area. I adjusted my next pie to make it thinner, and it came out much better. I'm still not absolutely pleased with my result (I never am), but I think this technique has potential.
Pix of the results here: Broiled Pizza
k_d: The Paupers say you ultimately want your pizza to be between 2 and 4 inches from the broiler -- so take into account skillet height and pizza thickness. "You want it to be really hot," Nick says.
I have a 13-14 inch cast-iron crepe griddle my mom brought me back from Paris. It would work great for this. This is one of those "Doh" moments (no pun intended) when I think, why didn't I think of that.
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