------ Pizza Pics ------

Below are pics of each iteration of pizza's I've made since 2005. Some rocked... some not so much. Everytime I learn something though. Hopefully seeing my fails will help you out.

Win 2011-06-20 - My father's day pizza. Caputo pizzaria, 65% hydration, Pepperoni, fresh mozzerella, basil

Win Win 2011-06-20 The kids as usual get the best pizza of the day. Caputo pizzeria, 65% hydration

WIN!2011-05-28 Caputo, 65% hydration, The "Four Pig Pie" canadian bacon, sausage, pepperoni, bacon, and basil to make it seem healthy. A little undercooked on the far side... But getting closer and closer on my dough.

2011-04-18 - Used fresh mozz and pep from Lazzaroli's, also used LaValle Italian Tomatoes. Note to self... always put olive oil, or sauce or cheese on the basil to keep it from burning to a crisp. First attempt with Caputo 00 Pizzeria. 65% hydration Dough was close to unusable it was so overproofed, however the flavor of the dough was good though.

WIN!! 2011-03-20 - First pies with Supremo Italiano '00' flour (Thanks JConk007!!!). Yes... there is a difference. It's really amazing how much of a difference it was. 2nd best pizza I've ever had (Dough in San Antonio is still #1). 100%(82% 00, 18% KAAP), 66% hydration, 0.54% IDY, 2.2% salt, 25min hand knead, 18h cold bulk, 4.5h bench.

WIN!! 2011-03-20 Crumb shot from first pies with Supremo Italiano '00' flour (Thanks JConk007!!!). Yes... there is a difference. It's really amazing how much of a difference it was. 100%(82% 00, 18% KAAP), 66% hydration, 0.54% IDY, 2.2% salt, 25min hand knead, 18h cold bulk, 4.5h bench.

WIN!! 2011-03-20 First pies with Supremo Italiano '00' flour (Thanks JConk007!!!). Yes... there is a difference. It's really amazing how much of a difference it was. 100%(82% 00, 18% KAAP), 66% hydration, 0.54% IDY, 2.2% salt, 25min hand knead, 18h cold bulk, 4.5h bench.

WIN!!!WIN!! WIN!! 2011-02-13 Recipe Testing. Pizza Bianca - Super Fresh Mozzarella(Thanks Scott!), olive oil, basil, Parmigiano-Reggiano. Inspired by Una Pizza Napoletana's. This is one of the top 5 pizzas I've ever eaten.
Dough Notes: 67% Hydration, fresh yeast, KAAP, 20m hand knead, 14h fridge rise, 4h bench rise. 8oz portions instead of 6oz. Going to go with 7oz next time

So So2011-02-13 Recipe testing: This is what happens when you enjoy a Founder's Breakfast Stout while cooking. A mediocre 1/2 overcooked, 1/2 undercooked pie.

WIN!! 2011-02-13 Recipe testing. Yes... this is a Smores Pizza. Yes, it was delicious. And yes... putting whipped cream on it made it more deliciouser.
Here's where I stole it from: Pizza Quest Smores Pizza

2010-10-10- Camden making a pizza under the watchful eye of his big sister.

WIN! 2011-01-16 Wood Fired First Firing of the year and my Birthday Firing. Caramelized Onions, Gruyere Cheese, Ham (No tomato sauce) Got the idea from this My Pie Monday (http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2011/01/my-pie-monday-20110110-homemade-pizza.html)Dough Notes: 67% hydration, 1.3% fresh yeast, KAAP, 16h bulk, 4h bench. Though it doesn't look it and there is room for improvement, this is my best tasting dough to date. For next time, plan on going to 65% hydration and lowering the amount of yeast by a third. Also went from 6oz dough balls to 8oz

WIN. 2010-12-26 Christmas Firing w/ the Halls. There was about 4" of snow on the ground. Dough Notes: 68% Hydration, fresh yeast, KAAP, 6m knead, 14h fridge rise, 6h bench rise.

2010-11-14 - Small firing w/ no pics. Dough was 50/50 KAAP/KABF w/ 67% hydration, 4day fridge rise and 8 hour bench rise. Crust was very tasty. I overcooked a couple of pies due to the light for my patio being out. Also tried some fresh mozzerella that was packed in brine instead of vacum

Win 2010-10-23 Chicago Deep Dish. We hadn't cooked a deep dish since Election Night '08, and I had some cheese I needed to use before going to San Antonio, so I dusted off the ol' deep dish pans. After cooking pizzas in under two minutes, it was absolute torture waiting 40 minutes. Heather's had Peperoni, olives, mushrooms, and artichoke hearts. Mine was Aaron Standard pepperoni and jalapeno. These are quite tasty, but WFO pizzas are better.

WIN! 2010-10-10 The making of the Mediterranean pizza. Today I used a 72% hydration with , and 8oz dough balls instead of the previous 69% and 6oz. Not going to do that again. WOOT! Pizzablogger.com mentioned this pizza on their inagural "Home Made Pizza: Weekly Wrap-Up". Thanks fellow pizza nuts!

SUPER WIN 2010-10-10 The Best cheesey sticks ever!! A layer of dough with olive oil, garlic salt, and mozzerella cheese with another layer of pizza dough with more garlic salt brushed with olive oil.

2010-10-10 - White sauce, bacon, chicken.

2010-10-10 - The Aaron Special

SUPER WIN!!!2010-08-29 - Heather "My first attempt at a Mediterranean pizza - pesto, Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, fresh mozzarella, shrimp, spring mix, and a balsamic vinegarette. Yum!!!"

SUPER WIN!!!2010-08-29 - Heather "Extreme close up of the Mediterranean pizza. It's so pretty!"

Dunno... 2010-08-15 Reinhart 18 hour fridge rise and 8 hour room temp rise (otherwise known as after everybody left). Note the HUGE bubble on the right hand side which is where flavor doesn't live. Also this was a 9 oz dough ball instead of the 6oz that I usually do. I thought it thicker crust tasted much better, but my 2 official taste testers told me the thin was much better. Also made a batch that was 10% King Arthur Whole Wheat and 90% King Arthur Bread, and some sadly no photos exist. Therefore it didn't happen.

WIN!2010-08-01 VPN-esque pizza - Reinhart dough w/ King Arthur Bread Flour, San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzerella, basil. Video is of this pizza. I made 24 pizzas this day.

FAIL 2010-08-01 - This is what happens when you don't do a good job cleaning the ash out. It's fugly, but was really good. It's got a 50/50 blend of fresh and Boar's Head dry mozzerella.

Double Win... maybe a triple WIN!2010-08-01 OMJ this was hot!! San Marzano, Fresh Mozzerella, Boars Head Pepperoni, Fatted Calf sausage, and some wicked hot Jalapeno's from the farmer's market.

Win 2010-08-01 San Marzano, Fresh Mozzerella, Boar's Head Low Moisture Mozzerella, Olive, Pepperoni, Canadian Bacon, Italian Sausage. A 50/50 blend of fresh and low moisture mozzerella is really tasty.

Win! 2010-07-23 My first attempt at a VPN inspired pizza (Used King Arthur Bread flour instead of '00'). I didn't let the oven get hot enough before cooking... it's probably around 650 or so which caused some issues. KABF, Cento San Marzano Tomatos w/ Salt&Pepper, Fresh Mozzerella slices.

2010-07-10 Veggie pizza.. I made 33 pizzas this day so I didn't really have time to take pics.

Getting Closer 2010-07-03 Sams Club Flour & Cheese & Pepperoni and local jalepenos&banana peppers&sausage.

1/2 WIN 2010-06-27 - I have no idea what's on this... but this was the second pizza out of the oven and I hadn't mastered the art of turning the pizza at the right time yet. Used cheap cheese on this one.

Win
2010-06-27 By the time I finally got to cook mine, there was only 5 slices of Pepperoni left, now I have a secret stash to make sure I get some. Used cheap cheese on this one.

Partial Win/Partial Fail
2010-06-27 - OOOPS!! A log rolled on this one. Also out of all the pizzas we made, this is the only one I managed to get a pic of the bottom. Note no leopard spotting... still working on that. Used cheap cheese on this one.

Win
2010-06-27 - The FIRST pizza out of my pizza oven... the test pizza if you will. It wasn't the best I've ever had... but it was the most satisfying pizza of my entire life. Made 18 pizzas this day.

All of the following pizzas were cooked before the oven was finished and were cooked using an electric oven or gas grill.

WIN!
2010-05-21 The Aaron Standard. Cast Iron pan on the grill. Differences from last time: King Arthur Bread Flour(instead of King Arthur All-Purpose), no salt in dough, fresh herbs in the sauce. I prefered the dried herbs honestly.

WIN!
2010-05-21 Cast Iron pan on the grill. Switched from King Arthur All Purpose to King Arthur Bread Flour... 70% hydration+10% olive oil. 2 day fridge rise. Note the oven spring over the last times cracker crust.

WIN!
2010-05-21 Cast Iron pan on the grill. Canadian Bacon, Spinach, Onions, Mushrooms, Olives

WIN! 2010-05-21 Sausage Pepperoni, Spinach, Onions, Mushrooms, Olives

WIN!
2010-05-21 Cast Iron pan on the grill. The Kid's cheese pizza.

WIN!
2010-04-25 - Dough: Peter Reinhart. Sauce: Crushed Tomato based Toppings: Pepperoni, Sweet and Hot Italian Sausage, Jalapeno. Cooked on preheated 16" Cast Iron skillet on the grill at 550° for ~6 min.

WIN!
2010-04-25 Bottom crust of above

WIN!
2010-04-25 Bacon, Sweet Italian Sausage, Onion, Mushroom, spinach, Olive. Cooked on 16" Cast Iron skillet on the grill at 550° for ~6 min

WIN!
2009-09-02 Cast Iron pan on the grill. Spinach, Mushrooms, Kalamata Olives, "Shausage", and some other stuff I don't eat... I'm guessing this is Heather's

WIN!
2009-08-19 Pepperoni, jalapeno, green pepper Cooked on 16" Cast Iron skillet on the grill at 550° for ~6 min. The sauce on this was something I found on the interwebs called "Worlds Greatest Pizza Sauce." It was tomato sauce, tomato paste, and something crazy like 9 different spices and you had to let the sauce simmer for an hour or something dumb. I'm pretty sure we only cooked this sauce once.

WIN!
2009-08-19 Cast Iron pan on the grill. Pepperoni, jalapeno, green pepper on the wooden peel with lots of corn meal before going on the skillet.

Partial fail/partial win
2009-07-26 Electric oven baked @450 °. BBQ sauce, grilled chicken, mozzerella, cheddar. Heather said this one was "really good", however she hasn't made a BBQ pizza since then. It used the same crust as the below, and I know it was terrible.

FAIL!
2009-07-26 This is one that was cooked in the oven on a $15 cold pizza pan with holes. I'm not sure exactly what the holes are supposed to do, but the pan has holes. Note the browning of the cheese before the crust is even close to done. Some have said parbaking will help, but parbaked crust just tastes too much like frozen crust to me. I switched to Cast Iron after this.

WIN!
2008-07-08 - This might have been my first pizza on cast iron pizza pan. I made the pizza on the cold pan and put it on the grill at 500° until it looked good. I used a Weisenberger pan crust mix on this and a popular chunky spaghetti sauce. The sauce recipe below is much much better.

Partial Fail!
2008-05-21- Deep dish with Pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom. Note the cheese fail. That is why the cheese goes on the bottom.

WIN!
2008-03-07 - Deep Dish pre-cut with no cheese on top FTW!!

BAY OF PIGS FAIL!
2008-03-07 - You know how some people say there is no such thing as a "bad pizza." Well besides never getting the pizza at the Olive Garden, they've never eaten a Crustless Pizza. I made this for Heather when she was pregnant with Cam and couldn't have any carbs. It used ground beef as a "crust". No seriously. It was a fail. She thought it was sweet though.

FAIL!
2006-11-24 - An early attempt at non-Chef Boyardee pizza. Finished Grilled pizzas. Didn't realize it at the time... but this was an epic fail. Say it with me... "grill marks do not equal yum"

FAIL!
2006-11-24 - An early attempt at non-Chef Boyardee pizza. Grilled pizzas on the grill. Didn't realize it at the time... but this was an epic fail. The crust burns WAY before the cheese melts.

2005-11-02 - The only type of homemade pizza I knew for 25+ years, and the beginning of my Ultimate Pizza quest. Chef Boyardee Pepperoni with a 1/2lb of sausage and no cheese on a $2 pan. Sure it has 1kg of Sodium, 3 lb of saturated fat, about 8000 calories, and it's gross, but I'll openly admit I still get a craving for it sometimes.