Pizza Stone/Pizza /Sauce Recipe and Tips?

Ive been making homemade pizza for years, at least 18. I discovered pizza on the grill a few years ago. Once you've made thin crust on the grill, you will never use an oven again :-) I use the recipe from all recipes. It has basil and garlic in the dough. The dough freezes great, so I always make a double batch. If you like crunchy crust, this is the best recipe. It doesn't go soggy, even after 20 minutes!

I can't find my sauce recipe....the one I've finally settled on doesn't require any cooking. You just throw everything in the food processor and you are done a minute later.

The stone will get seasoned as you use it. It's been a long time, so I don't remember if there was as secret to the first use.

Good luck!

Whole Foods, has already made pizza dough pies. Unmade.
You put the toppings on it.
Whatever you want.
You don't have to use a "pizza sauce" on it. That is up to you.
We get the whole wheat one.
Its good.
Easy to make.
We put jarred regular naturally made Marinara sauce on it.
Then we put on whatever toppings we want.
Veggies.
Anything.
Brie cheese is REAL good, on pizza. OMG so good!

Buying a good pre-made pizza dough really cuts down on time. And it is just as good or better, than hand made. I have made it from scratch too. But prefer to just buy it. Less time. I just don't have time to make pizza dough from scratch. And the pre-made ones are real good, and bakes well.
There is really no rules, on what you can or cannot put on a pizza for toppings. Even a teriyaki sauce can be used.
Pesto is good too.
- you don't even have to use a marinara sauce on it. Often times I just brush on EVOO Olive Oil first, then just put on whatever toppings. Cheese, whatever.

Pizza paddle is real easy to use. Just slide it UNDER the pizza and slide it out when done.
We don't use a pizza stone. We just put the pizza directly on the oven rack.

My husband is a dedicated pizza chef! We do homemade pizza all the time. Best tip on the dough- buy it fresh from your local pizzeria! We buy it for $2 for a large-size pizza. Places like Pizza Hut and Domino's won't sell theirs, you need to go to a local place. We tried a million recipes, and the best ones require a lot of kneading and rising to get the perfect stretchy texture. We outsource that part!
We sprinkle the peel (aka paddle) with cornmeal, assemble the pizza on the peel, and slide it onto the stone. Keep the oven very hot, like 450-500, and only cook for a few minutes. You can use the peel to lift the edge of the pizza to be sure the crust is done. Sliding the pizza in and out takes practice, but the cornmeal makes it easier than flour and tastes better, too!
Have fun!

It's not from scratch but Pillsbury has a hot roll mix that makes a really good pizza crust

Here's the dough recipe I use:
Basic Pizza Dough
3 cup warm water
4 tablespoon milk
8 teaspoons active dry yeast
8 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons olive oil

This quantity makes @ least 4 pizzas + breadsticks.
In a large bowl, combine the water, milk, and yeast and stir. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil and mix up until it begins to form a messy sort of ball of dough.
Flour the counter or table, place the dough on the surface and start kneading. Fold the dough on itself and knead that. Fold again and knead that. Keep kneading until it becomes smooth. This might take 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your strength and stamina.
Rub the inside of a large metal bowl with a little olive oil and place the dough ball inside. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel, put it in a warm place and let the dough rise. In about 1.5 hours or so, it will get pretty darnned big.
Here’s the fun part: punch down the middle with your fists. Turn the dough over so it’s a smooth ball, cover again with a kitchen towel, and let it rise another hour. Now you’re ready to cook pizza.

I usually make this recipe as is & it makes a ton of dough so you can do thick crust, thin crust, bread sticks, etc... We usually have some leftover that I either freeze or refrigerate & we make mini pizzas for lunch sometimes.

I don't have a sauce but I will tell you my kiddos have gone white pizza crazy. We have a friend who is allergic to tomatoes & when she visits we make the white pizza (alfredo sauce instead of a tomato based sauce). The kiddos actually prefer that more now.
Happy pizza making!

If you let your pizza dough sit overnight, it will develop more flavor.

This goes for chocolate chip cookie dough as well. Really.

Seasoning is not necessary for a pizza stone.

Pizza on the grill is the best.

I wish I could remember but you need to put it in the over and slowly raise the temperature to believe 550. Tempers the stone so it doesn't crack. If it is a cheap stone it is going to crack anyway.

Flour!! The crust has to slide freely on the peal or it will just make a huge mess.

Oh and if it isn't in the instructions you heat the stone as you preheat the oven, you don't put it in cold with a pizza on it.

If it came with recipes try them and just leave out the salt. The only thing that is needed is the yeast and the sugar, salt doesn't effect the outcome, just the taste.

Pizza Dough

4 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Salt
3 TBSP oil
1 Package Yeast - Square Envelope
Get Regular not Rapid Acting Yeast
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Water
Cheese of your choice

Directions
1. Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water(bath water warm)
2. Grease a large bowl with oil or crisco
3. Mix dry ingredients(Flour Water and Salt) in the large greased bowl
4. Add Canola to dry ingredients
5. Mix well - cut the oil into the flour
6. Add yeast water and mix well
7. Add other water. Use 1/2 cup to start until dough is workable.
Dough should not be gooey or powdery. Sprinkle with water until
you get the right consistency.
8. Knead dough for a few minutes until mixed good.
I put olive oil on the outside of the dough after its shaped to keep a
crust from forming on the outside.
9. Leave dough in bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise 2-3 hours.
I usually cover with a towel and place in a dark place.

To prepare the pizza
Divide the dough in 1/2 - won't be as puffy
you can get 2 pizzas out of this.
I grease my stone with a small amount of olive oil
Spread dough on the pan
Add sauce and toppings
Place in oven and cook until bottom of dough is brown
Add cheese and cook until however done you like it.

Heat oven to 425

I never seasoned mine. It seasoned itself as I used it by cooking higher fat dough/bread items on it.

I take a pound of Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage and cook it in a frying pan. When it's done and out of the pan, If I'm in the mood, I'll dump some frozen chopped onions, frozen chopped bell peppers, fresh mushrooms, etc...and saute them in the slight grease that is left when I dump the sausage out to drain.

I use regular dough, shape it, bake it about halfway, then butter the crust then sprinkle some garlic powder on top. I sprinkle a bit of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the garlic butter.

I put the cooling sausage in a baggie and knead it. It breaks up the large chunks and I can get it really fine. I open the baggie and add the sauted veggies then sprinkle how ever much I want onto the garlic butter covered pizza cruse that has a small amount of shredded cheese on it. That small amount of cheese works sort of like glue, it keeps the meat and stuff in place.

Then I put more shredded cheese on top.

I bake this on 350° for a few minutes, the dough is about half way done so it needs to finish cooking but I don't like burnt cheese.

Once it's hot we take it out and eat it.

I don't know about seasoning the stone but I will say Bon Apetit has a great pizza dough recipe! I'm sure if you googled it or looked on their website you can find it. It came out maybe last summer?? My friend made it and we grilled pizzas and they were SOOO good! The recipe made quite a bit too.

I use corn meal on my pizza stone between that and the dough. It helps so that the dough doesn't stick.

As far as the salt, my mom uses this stuff called No Salt, not sure if you're familiar with it. It's sodium free "salt". It's okay, on it's own you can definitely taste the difference but not really when you mix it in a recipe. you can buy it at the local grocery store in the salt section.