[0 - 2] - Hi, it's Lisa from America's Test Kitchen Gear Heads,
[2 - 4] and I'm here to answer some of your questions
[4 - 6] about our recent pizza video
[6 - 10] and all the equipment we use to make great pizza at home.
[10 - 11] So let's get started.
[12 - 15] Um okay, we had a couple of comments saying things like
[15 - 18] $30 for four tiles, go to the hardware store
[18 - 22] and get four unglazed tiles for $8 to $10. Um,
[22 - 25] I've seen a lot of suggestions like that and
[25 - 26] it might work out
[26 - 27] but one thing you have to be careful about
[27 - 32] is that the tiles you buy are food safe. Um,
[32 - 34] So some of them have various chemicals
[34 - 37] and things in them that you don't want to put food on
[38 - 41] There's a famous old story, 'bout Julia Child
[42 - 44] she was baking bread at home,
[44 - 46] and Paul Child brought her home these asbestos
[46 - 48] tiles from the hardware store
[48 - 50] and she baked beautiful bread on them.
[50 - 52] Well the tile part worked but you know,
[52 - 55] you don't want asbestos in your bread or pizza.
[55 - 58] So, we're at a caution, I would go for the ones
[58 - 60] that are actually made for food preparation.
[61 - 64] It's great to save a couple of dollars but,
[64 - 67] I'd rather be safe. Um,
[68 - 71] Somewhat, another person said heads up ATK,
[71 - 74] the pizza aficionados in your audience have already switched
[74 - 76] to cooking pizzas on an Ooni pizza oven.
[76 - 77] Yeah, we love those too.
[77 - 80] We tested them and there was a whole review
[80 - 83] of outdoor pizza ovens, those little portable size ones
[83 - 86] they're really awesome. Um,
[86 - 89] and we have a lot of details about those on
[89 - 92] in a review on our website, americastestkitchen.com.
[92 - 96] Another thing we also love is the Breville Pizzaiolo oven
[96 - 99] which is a countertop oven.
[99 - 101] It's pretty expensive it's almost a thousand dollars,
[101 - 102] but boy does it do a good job.
[103 - 105] So, you know there's a lot of different ways
[105 - 106] you make pizza at home.
[106 - 109] We also have a great cast iron pan pizza recipe
[109 - 111] that everybody loves,
[111 - 114] so, like Chicago deep dish pizza,
[114 - 116] you know, when you make them in a cake pan, it's
[116 - 118] So there's billions of kinds of pizza.
[119 - 121] We were clearly looking at the kind that you would
[121 - 123] you know, kind of thin crust style there.
[124 - 129] Have fun however you want to make your pizza. (laughs) Okay.
[130 - 132] Someone pointed out the best feature
[132 - 134] of the tiles is they can make pizza in their toaster oven
[134 - 137] or make smaller personal pizzas in the same oven.
[139 - 139] And that's true.
[140 - 142] That's the great thing about those individual tiles.
[142 - 143] They are easier to store and to use
[143 - 146] but you can like put two of them in your toaster oven,
[146 - 148] you can use them, um
[148 - 150] yeah, you can use them separately and make everybody
[150 - 153] their own little pizza. (laughs)
[153 - 156] It's really nice because you can kind of customize it
[156 - 158] to fit your space and what you're going to make.
[159 - 161] I use them in a countertop oven as well
[161 - 165] and they were very great. Um,
[165 - 167] Okay, someone pointed out they loved their steel
[167 - 171] and making pizza is great but bread is, oh my God, amazing.
[171 - 174] Yeah, I baked bread on all of the stones and steels
[174 - 177] when I was testing them and I agree it makes
[177 - 179] beautiful crust and especially with the steels,
[179 - 182] you get that same kind of oven spring where it's really
[182 - 186] intensely hot and makes this beautiful crisp crust,
[186 - 188] which if you're like me,
[188 - 191] I'm all about the crusty part on the outside. (laughs)
[191 - 193] So, I totally agree.
[193 - 196] We also have a recipe where we put the baking stone
[196 - 200] or steel under a roasting pan and roast a whole turkey
[200 - 202] which is kind of lovely because
[202 - 204] that problem of getting the dark meat and the light meat
[204 - 208] to cook at the same time without over cooking the white meat
[208 - 211] which, you know has to be cooked in 165 °C
[211 - 215] and the dark meat is like 175 °C or 180 °C (clear throats)
[215 - 217] so you run into this problem where the dark meat
[217 - 219] isn't cooked yet and the weight is getting dried out.
[219 - 223] By putting it in the roasting pan on a baking stone
[223 - 225] or steel that you've preheated,
[225 - 227] it accelerates the dark meat
[227 - 228] and it all comes out at the same time.
[228 - 231] It's a recipe on our site, Cook's illustrated- loin lamb,
[231 - 233] it's a recipe and it's great.
[234 - 235] Yeah, I don't know whether you use
[235 - 239] real pizza stone or steel. Um,
[241 - 245] Someone said thank you for this episode of Gear Heads, you're welcome. (laughs)
[245 - 249] They said pizza making videos always show Margherita
[249 - 252] or New York style pizzas which have sauce and cheese
[252 - 254] and sometimes salami.
[254 - 256] But if as a vegetarian or like adding vegetables
[256 - 258] do you have any advice on how to bake it
[258 - 260] so I get as good results as yours?
[260 - 262] One of the things we learned was that
[263 - 265] you don't want to put too much on
[265 - 266] cause you can sock out the crust.
[266 - 270] So for hardy vegetables, aim for a maximum
[270 - 274] of six ounces per pie, spread out in a single layer.
[274 - 277] Yeah, sure get your scale and weigh it.
[277 - 279] But it's not much, you really look at that amount
[279 - 280] and you realize that if you put too much on there
[280 - 282] it's just going to be a big soggy mess
[282 - 284] and they give off a lot of liquid.
[284 - 286] So vegetables like onions, peppers,
[286 - 288] mushrooms should be thinly sliced
[288 - 291] and you can even lightly saute or microwave them
[291 - 294] for a minute or two, along with some olive oil
[294 - 296] before using them to get rid of some of that moisture
[296 - 299] and to start, you know the cooking process.
[299 - 305] Delicate vegetables and herbs like leafy greens, spinach basal.
[305 - 308] Our best place -beneath the cheese to protect them
[308 - 311] or they can be added raw to the fully cooked pizza.
[311 - 312] It tastes really great.
[313 - 315] And you were asking about vegetables.
[315 - 318] We also have a little bit of advice about putting meats on
[318 - 321] no more than four ounces of protein per pie.
[321 - 323] It all should be precooked and drained to
[323 - 324] remove the excess fat.
[326 - 328] We believe in like poach meats, like sausage broken
[328 - 330] up into half inch chunks or pepperoni
[330 - 332] or ground beef for four to five minutes
[332 - 334] in a wide skillet with a quarter cup of water.
[334 - 337] And that helps to render the fat or keeping the meat moist.
[337 - 339] Hopefully that's helpful.
[339 - 341] You know, we actually did those tests
[341 - 342] and we really wanted to know like
[342 - 343] how do you get the best toppings
[343 - 345] on your pizza without just getting a big mess.
[345 - 347] I have gotten pizzas like that
[348 - 351] where the whole middle is just soup. Ugh,
[351 - 352] You don't want that.
[352 - 353] So hope that's helpful
[353 - 356] and I hope we'll see you next time on Gear Heads.