Wow Claire, you did a wonderful job with your recipe and instructions. Thanks for the feedback on my sauce.

Oh and I let Moe read the introduction to your recipe and his comment was that you have a very smart husband.

Unfortunately he also asked me why I hadn't made him a homemade pizza lately. LOL!

Ann

Ann, Thanks! (I'm flattered you think so.) You can tell Moe for me that he read that completely right! (My husband is smart enough to know how to butter me up...and the leftovers are good too.) If you'd like to be my first review, feel free. At the very least you know the sauce is excellent!

Claire, I plan to make your pizza sometime early next week and I'll be sure to post. I know it is going to be excellent. I want to try your pizza dough and you even top your pizza with Italian sausage which is a favourite of mine. Sure to make for a happy husband.

Ann

How could I not use the sausage with the fennel in the sauce? It's such a great combination. The dough is an America's Test Kitchens recipe, so it's a well rounded marriage...I'll be looking forward to your "review"!

Luna,
Your pizza recipe looks and sounds scrumptious, I'd love to give it a try this weekend!

Could someone give me a tip for transfering the dough to the hot pizza stone? - my dough always gets REALLY messed up during transfer and I'm sure with a large, thin dough like used in this recipe, I'll have a disaster-LOL

Also Ann, would fennel seeds work instead of the crushed for the sauce?

Thanks!!!

Pauline, I keep fennel seed around and either crush it up in a small coffee grinder or more often than not I just use the mortar and pestle.

Ann

Pauline, the tip for transfering the dough to the pizza stone is in the recipe, but I'll reinforce it! The easiest way I've found is to pull the parchment with the pizza onto the back side of a sheet pan (or a cookie sheet with no edges), then pull the parchment (with the pizza) onto the pizza stone.

I'm so glad you are trying it...please let me know if my instructions need revising. Oh, and I used a mortar and pestle to grind my fennel seeds too...I think I like to mash things!

I should add it was Stacy who inspired me to put, "Do NOT cut parchment larger than your pizza stone, to mimimize risk of the paper catching fire", after she had her entertaining oven flare-up!

Luna,
I apologize for my denseness, but in the recipe it sounds as if you don't cook the pizza with the parchment under-but you do?, right? It's been a horrible week and really, my brain is so befuddled. Here goes -I make dough, shape it on the parchment, slide dough and parchment on to cookie sheet, and then slide dough and parchment to stone.

Talk to me as if I was a kid!!!!!!!!!!!!! and thank you so much!!!!

Pauline, that's right. You slide the whole thing, pizza and parchment, onto the stone. That way you can adjust the pizza/parchment on the stone. It helps to butt the sheet pan (upside down) right up against the stone, then move the whole thing (pizza on the parchment) onto the stone. The pizza is too thin to move it any other way. If you grab the parchment from the top, and move it straight back, it's one easy motion. Be sure to keep your fingers on the parchment while you're moving the pizza to the oven, because the parchment is really SLICK, and can slide right off the pan before you know it. I think that's probably what happened to Stacy when she made her pizza.

I was having trouble with corn meal burning at high temperatures, or having to flour the dough too much and ending up with floury crusts. Baking it on the parchment paper lets the dough crisp, and gives you a way to move the pizza around. I hope this helps...if not, please let me know! (And later on, tell me how to change the recipe so it's not confusing, please.)

You have the patience of a saint, thank you! (ps-no need to change the recipe, it's really fine. On the other hand, perhaps I could blame my problems on menopause?-LOL)

Good idea Pauline. That is what I blame everything on.LOL!

Ann

I've been blaming everything on menopause, pre-kitchen remodel! I wonder how long I can keep doing that?

I'm four years into that lovely event. Have heard it can go on for as long as a decade. LOL

I didn't sign up for a decade of this loveliness!

Luna~
Not only was your parchment paper trick a lifesaver - the pizza was absolutely fabulous! The sauce is just perfect (my family is really picky about sauce and they gave yours rave reviews) and the crust was delish (just the right amount of crisp to it)!!!

Your recipe is definitely a keeper!!! (and thanks again for talking me through it)

Yay!!! Pauline, that's actually Ann's sauce; I really just "borrowed" it for my pizza combination. I'm SO glad you liked it. I guess when you know from whom to "borrow", you can't go wrong!

Ann!!! Thank you for rating my recipe; it's always nice to start with a good review! I'm going to have to try this on the grill in the near future to see how it comes out. We used to use our grill for everything, but with new appliances, it's been hard to break out of the habit of staying in the kitchen. Thank you again!

What did you top your pizza with?

I'm trying to rate your recipe, Luna, but after writing up my little blurb the site required me to open an account, which I did. I still haven't gotten the e-mail necessary to allow my post!

Pauline, Thank You!

I'm still waiting for that e-mail - I've rated twice so far and no e-mail!!!

Claire, your pizza looks gorgeous and makes my mouth water. I'll probably never make pizza dough in my life, but I'm saving your recipe anyway, just in case I have a weak moment and think 'oh maybe flour can be my friend after all'!

Woodie, that made me LOL! If you ever get a bug and decide to try it, making the dough in the food processor couldn't be easier. But then you have to be a place where you really want to handle it!

oh great - my only cooking claim to fame - LOL!

Your pizza looks amazing and the wonderful instructions almost have me convinced to try again. When everyone needs a good laugh, just let me know and I'll pull out the parchment paper again...

Stacy

Stacy, it only takes one oven fire to know where to tweak the directions! You just pull that parchment paper on out...it's a slippery slope, but fun to watch!

OK, I've rated your recipe 4 times, Luna and still don't get the e-mail that evidently I need to click on, so the rating can be made public.

Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for trying, Pauline. I'm glad to know you made the effort, anyway.

Did it work out for you? (The pizza, I mean!)

Oh, it was absolutely wonderful, and your parchment paper trick totally did the job!

I'm resurrecting this thread. It came up when I did a search for pizza. . . . .

Claire - I'm using your recipe tonight. Another use for the new food processor. The toppings are going to be BBQ Chicken. Recipe from my CA Pizza Kitchen cookbook.

I'll report back tomorrow. . .

Oh Yay! I hope you like the crust...I'll be with you in spirit!

Years ago I found an easy way to bake a pizza. Strech out your dough in a lightly greased pizza pan or the BACK of a cookie sheet. You'd be putting your cookie sheet upside down, so the rim of the sheet is on the table. Lightly grease the sheet with cooking spray and spread your dough out on it. If you're making a very thin crust, pull the edges of the dough down over the rim and cut off the excess, leaving a small lip of dough hanging over the sides. You'd put your sauce and toppings on the pizza and bake in a 450 to 500 degree oven til the dough has partially baked, or "stiffened up". Slide your peel under the pizza and then just flip it onto the hot stone and finish baking. You get a crisp perfectly done bottom crust and no accordion pizza.

Well- the crust tasted good, but I must have done something wrong.

First it was hard to get the crust off the cookie sheet onto the hot stone. If I had not had the parchment paper under it, it would have been a disaster. I got it on the stone, after somehow managing to fold the pizza in half. I got that straightened out and redistributed the ingredients and shut the door. The oven was set to 500 degrees convection. After 10 minutes, the outer crust was golden brown and some of the mozzarella cheese was turning black. So, I carefully slid the pizza back on the cookie sheet to take out of the oven.

The flavor was wonderful, but it seemed the dough under the ingredients was not quite done. Also, some of the mozzarella cheese under the chicken chunks did not melt. Hmmmm. . .

I think next time I will pre-bake the crust slightly to "set" it and then add the ingredients and cook on a lower temperature for a longer period of time.

Maybe I had too many ingredients on the pizza? Not sure, but since the flavor was yummy, I am going to try this again!

Doris, one bit of advice. If I'm roasting or baking on high heat I never use the convection setting. It tends to burn.

I slide pizza and breads on to the hot stone using a floured/cornmeal dusted paddle/peel. Never gives me a problem.

Ann

I remove all the stress (and probable mess) by using a perforated pan. Crisp crust every time!

Doris, I'm sorry this turned out to be such a trial. Believe me when I say I had many of these, which is why pizza took me so long to figure out. Like Ann, I don't use the convection cycle to bake pizza. (I will use it to preheat the oven sometimes, but then set it to a regular bake cycle.) I think you might be on to something when you say you may have put on too many ingredients. I find that a thin layer of ingredients allows the pizza to crisp better, and actually tastes better too. Stretching the crust to make it thin should allow it to finish baking in 10 minutes time. I can make three pizzas with one recipe of Ann's sauce.

I hope this doesn't dissuade you from trying again...

Cindy - when you use the perforated pan, it that placed on top of the stone? Or do you use it by its self? I have a pan like that and it does seem like it would be easier to build the pizza in the pan, then place on the stone.

Thanks for the tip about convection. I automatically use it every time.

Claire - I will make this again, probably next time making more of a traditional pizza. To me the best part of the pizza is the crust anyway, so less ingredients is a good thing.

Doris, another option is to use the perforated or screen pan to prebake the crust. Just enough to set it and then add the toppings and slide the crust off the screen on to the stone. I have a friend who had trouble getting her pizzas into the oven and I gave her this advice and this is the way that she does it now. The screen pans are inexpensive and I like them better than the heavier perforated pans.

Ann

Doris, no, I put the perforated pan directly on the oven rack. I have a stone, but don't use it. It sits on my oven floor. I also have a pizza screen, but I find it harder to clean.

Ann, I thought you used a paddle instead of a screen.

Oh I'm so glad this thread was taken TTT. It was in one I had in my To Be Tried file that I lost when my PC crashed.

You're right Cindy, As I mentioned above I just use a paddle to slide pizza as well as breads on to the stone. But I do have both types of pizza pans shoved in one of the cupboards somewhere. Maybe I'll find them when we move and give them to Matt. Probably something he would use. For someone who has problems transferring pizza to a hot stone than a pizza pan is a good alternative.

Ann

Or, for someone who has no desire to do the pizza shuffle. LOL

Matt's a lucky guy ... he gets your wok, and both your pizza pans!

I agree, HanArt, Matt IS a lucky guy. I, however, am not so lucky. Ashley was looking over my shoulder while I was reading this thread and was reminded that she hasn't had pizza in a while. Sigh. Now she wants me to bake pizza.

I do have a pizza stone in the basement, but I always use a pan because I just don't like pizza and Ashley will eat it anyway I make it. Mine doesn't have holes in it, though, and sometimes the very middle is soggy. Does the pan with holes help with that?

Annie

Annie, I can't speak to the perforated pan, since my method is to use parchment paper. If you use my crust, it's easy to make the thinnest crust pizza just using your hands. It's only technique, but for myself, I like the parchment paper on the stone and liken using a stone as a quick sear method to help set the crust. If the pizza is thin enough, and you don't overload it with ingredients, the middle won't be soggy. At the high heat, it also comes out with the browned crust you expect from a pizza parlor.

I always make the outer edge of the crust a little thicker, with the middle as thin as I can make it. Try using half the amount of ingredients you normally would and see if it makes a difference. (I know, it goes against my basic nature to use restraint, but it really makes a difference!) One recipe of my crust will cover the bottom of a half sheet pan (on parchment), which lets you know how much the dough should stretch.

I've tried Ann's method of using an peel and sadly I am obviously not coordinated enough to manage it. It seemed that in order to get them to move, my crusts always had too much flour, and the cornmeal always burned and smoked in my oven. I'd really like to watch her do it, so I figure out a new technique!

My pizza crust also has an olive oil coating (top and bottom), which helps create a crispy exterior and flavor that I like. It's impossible to move anywhere after you oil the dough, spread it out and load it, which is why I like making it on the parchment. This is only a theory on my part, but I think when you make your crust in a pan, the tendency is to overload the toppings since you have a pan to support the crust. The pan will take time to heat up with the pizza in it, which is why the top burns before the bottom gets done.

There are many ways to make pizza, however I know this is the only way I can make mine turn out! Since I'm also a fan of thin and crispy (St. Louis style) pizza, that's the style I wanted to learn to make. I am dismal failure with anything else...

Claire, I don't think the problem is too many toppings. Ashley likes cheese only, no other toppings. LOL

My pizza just gets crunchy on the outside crusts and stays soggy in the middle. The outside will get too hard before the middle is done enough. Not that I care, the only part I'd eat would be the outside crust, but it kind of bums Ashley out.

Annie

Oh! In that case, please forgive me for my bad case of Too Much Information...;)

Sadly, that's one thing I'm really good at!

Claire has some good advice for your pizza trials! Most of us have a tendency to put too heavy sauce and toppings on the home baked pizza, resulting in major spillage and fold over when trying to get it onto a pizza stone.

Doris, there is a new restaurant supply place on South Church St. here in Burlington that should have pizza screens. They are cheap too.

I use parchment paper on a wood pizza peel with some cornmeal as the ball bearings when getting the pizza into the oven. I preheat the oven for about an hour to 475F. My quarry tiles are on the metal rack at its lowest point. I contacted Whirlpool about baking pizza on the oven floor and they said don't do it.

{{!gwi}}

Teresa, Beautiful pizza!