ingredients

[Lloyd Lande]

Hi, wondering what ingredients everyone prefers for crust, sauce, cheese and toppings, yeast and starters, etc..

I use KA all purpose flour most of the time and Paul Reinhart's dough recipe which has 69% hydration.
I use SAF instant yeast which is very potent
I use POMI crushed tomatoes ... they come in a carton instead of a can.
I use Belgioiso mozzarella
favorite toppings are eggplant, red onion, roasted peppers red or green, italian salami (sopressata), mushroom, sausage.
Sometimes I make homemade pesto and combine with home smoked salmon (made on a primo oval smoker)
Curious to hear other members favorites especially cheese, flour and yeast

[Willard]

Hey Lloyd,

I'm not sure I will ever leave the experimental phase of pizza making, so I'm not locked in completely yet. My wife makes a good wholewheat crust that we use rolled out (not stretched) that ends up having some cracker characteristics and is very good. We use that same one to make pita bread, by just rolling it out the same way but cut it into four with the pizza cutter (wheel) before it is baked.

Crust
I have sort of settled in on "Caputo" and "King Arthurs All Purpose" as the two favorites (but am looking and trying out other AP's.) I have pretty much abandoned high gluten (but I haven't tried that many yet so it's still up for grabs) as well as bread flour. I find both high gluten and bread flour tend to come out a little more tough than I want (but haven't ruled out that my standard procedure may need to be altered for those two) I use SAF yeast too but am still looking at others I hear about. My hydration levels vary a little between 60 and 65 % and I add just a little EVO (not much)

Sauce
My favourite is 6 in 1 with a little Hunts paste added with just a little seasoning. I got some Penzy's seasoning from Mark (a guy with a 2stone in Chicago that I had the pleasure of meeting) that has some fennel seed in it that I also like as well as a simple bend of basil / kosher salt / and some garlic.

Cheese
Grande Whole Milk Diced. - a shredded blend of Mozzarella and Provolone that I get a good price on from a local food distributor and Belgioiso fresh mozzarella (but would like to try some other brands because it seems to come out a little rubbery)

Toppings
Haven't really gotten into hard core work on that yet, so that is going to be one of my next areas to focus on. I do agree with the "CPK" idea that the crust is the delivery system for the toppings.

[Lloyd Lande]

I agree, the crust is the work of art and the key to great pizza. All purpose makes for a more tender crust. Bread flour is more tough. I've not tried Caputo. No one carries it around my way so would have to do mail order and the shipping is prohibitive.

I've only been making pizza for a short while and unfortunately not that often (too many carbs and calories).. inspite of the fact that I love good pizza. Hey I even love not so good pizza. The 2 stone has made a major improvement in my pies and after 3 or 4 cookings are getting consistent. My wife says my pizzas are better than some of our favorite local pizza places like Bianco's, Grimaldi's, Cibo.
I grew up in NY and really love good NY street pizza too. I've not tried to make it. I guess it requires lower heat, a drier dough and a longer cook and at least bread flour, if not high gluten. I'd like to start experimenting with wild yeasts but don't know if I have the time or patience to maintain one.