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And even then I have to settle for my oven instead of a good pizza oven with a stone.
I'm a little bit crazy when it comes to home pizza; I've been perfecting my technique for awhile now. I'm not saying this is something for everyone, but if you want to do pizza at home with the limitations of the home oven, this method will get you into very good territory. Special equipment is necessary; unglazed quarry tile and a peel.
The first thing to do is put a rack as low as possible to the floor of the oven, and a rack as high as possible to the broiler.
Then you need unglazed quarry tiles. I got them at Lowe's for something like .39 cents each; my oven will fit 6 (3 across, 2 deep) but I bought a box of 12 just for extras.
You cover the bottom rack with the tiles. These will do 2 things; first they act as a thermal capacitor. It will take longer for your oven to heat up, but you don't loose as much from opening the door - recovery is faster. Second, the stones are porous, so they'll wick away moisture giving you a nice crispness on the crust.
So oven to 500. It'll take awhile to get there. When it does, shut it off and turn on the broiler to high. Pizza goes on a pan with some corn meal under it, so that it will slide around on the pan. You don't need to wait for the broiler to heat up - in fact, you want to do this as quickly as possible. The pizza on the pan goes under the broiler until the cheese browns. Watch it constantly, this happens fast. No more then a minute or 2. When browned, take it out, broiler off, oven back on 500. Hopefully it is already very hot because you just turned it off for the broiling.
I'm not sure if you can have the oven on 500 and the broiler on at the same time; that's why I switch them - my oven apparently lets me do it, but I don't trust it. Maybe that's crazy - but this whole process is kind of crazy, so who cares?
Transfer the pizza from the pan to a peel, (hoping it doesn't stick - this is really the trickiest part because the pan is hot) and use the peel to set the pizza on the stone to cook for another 5 minutes or so.
Like I said; not for everyone, but if you're a pizza fan and you make your own crust, this method is about as close as you can get to a pie from a commercial oven - plus, it goes from dough to done in under 10 minutes.
I figure food should cost the customer at least 4 times what the restaurant paid for it's ingredients.
It's funny, I've always liked Pizza Hut's thin crust cheese pizza. A couple of years ago I discovered something that tasted similar for a lot less: soda crackers with mozzarella, heated in the microwave. It tasted just like Pizza Hut pizza but without the sauce. I'll have to try it again sometime.
I figure food should cost the customer at least 4 times what the restaurant paid for it's ingredients.
It's funny, I've always liked Pizza Hut's thin crust cheese pizza. A couple of years ago I discovered something that tasted similar for a lot less: soda crackers with mozzarella, heated in the microwave. It tasted just like Pizza Hut pizza but without the sauce. I'll have to try it again sometime.
Really!? Just soda crackers with mozz melted on them huh? Might have to give this a snack whirl too.
I pay more at one of the locally owned pizza places but I am glad to because it's a local business and I really like the pizza.
Every now and then I'll go somewhere else but if the pizza is really good, I don't mind paying good money.
There are times I eat the 5.99 for a large 1 topping and other's I will pay about 20-25 for a large meat lover's from one of my VERY favorite pizza places.
How much overhead goes into making a pizza? 25-30 bucks for a large pizza? Is this not the biggest food scam out there.
I live in one of the highest cost of living areas [like you] and only pay 13 bucks for a large pie...so I disagree ,it is one of the cheapest foods out there ! reason being ...you can feed 4-5 people for 13 bucks,,,even at you 25 buck cost it is still a good deal.
I can go to Pappa John's down the block and get a large pepperoni pizza for $5!
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