Daniel's Pizzeria -- Best pies in LA?

As I've stated in a previous post, pizza making is something in which I take great pride and enjoyment. Having worked at a pizzeria many years ago, I know a few things about this culinary undertaking and I continue to learn new tricks every time I craft pizzas at home.

Firstly, I make the dough from scratch using high quality bread flour such as King Arthur. Sure you can buy prepared dough or even--gasp--Boboli--but with hand-made dough you can control the sugar, salt, rise time, yeast amounts, and everything else involved with making artisinal pizza dough. All of this ultimately leads to a crispy outside with chewy, doughy inside texture that store-bought doughs and crusts strive to achieve.

As for dough recipes, the internet is flooded with all sorts of creations but the one that has never failed me is Tyler Florence's basic dough recipe. It's a perfect balance of saltiness and sweetness, and is relatively easy to handle and stretch. I also employ a two-rise process where I let the dough rise in a 90-degree oven for about two hours, then punch and reshape and let slow rise in the fridge for one or two days. This, combined with a really hot oven and a quality pizza stone, is how the Mozza's of the world achieve that crispy, airy, bubbly texture.

Now this is a critical step in making pizza at home: you need to use a good quality pizza stone to obtain that crispiness found at pizzerias:


I purchased mine from Surfas in Culver City for $50; you can find good stones at any restaurant supply store. Don't be a cheapskate and settle for one of those paper-thin Playskool stones at Bed Bath and Beyond. The thin design can't retain heat very well, leading to a soggy crust, and it's more prone to cracking. I've cracked two of those girlie stones before finally manning up and purchasing the grown-up version.

Speaking of heat, you need to set your oven to its highest heat setting and it needs to preheat for a while. I set my dial to a point just below the "Broil" setting which is probably around 550-degrees, and I let it pre-heat for at least 45 mins. Don't rely on the preheat light to turn off; let the oven continue to heat as this allows the stone to build up to an intensely high temperature, giving you that crispy crust and soft center.

You'll also need a pizza peel; actually you might want to get two:

Why two? If you're making multiple pizzas then you'll need one peel to extract the finished pizza, and the other to hold the next pizza for preparation and insertion, as you'll see the upcoming pictures.

A few pics of the dough and ingredients:

Tyler's dough recipe puts out three 10" pizzas or two 15"s, give or take a few "s. The smaller 10" rounds are easier to handle but require more time since you have to cook three pizzas.

Punched and ready to poke, prod, and stretch.

Organic roma tomatoes, garlic infused olive oil, mushrooms, chopped rosemary.

Assembly:

Dough tossing. What can I say? This takes practice, and yet I still choke under pressure. Oh wait, that's my golf game.

Looks like the cleaning crew has arrived early.

My friends from all the internets, I give you the finished products (click for larger pics):

Mozzarella, mushrooms, yellow peppers, rosemary, olive oil.

Mozzarella, mushrooms, yellow peppers, prosciutto.

Spinach, garlic infused oil, tomatoes, mozzarella, feta, Parmesan, and rosemary (no sauce).

Mozza has nothing on me

Riva who?

I should start my own pizza truck, and I shall name it "Crusty Wheels."

Everyone gets to partake in pizza night:

True story: Pebbles doesn't like PinkBerry, but loves YogurtLand, just like her dad.

As for taste, these pies are far better than any chain pizzeria--in fact they're in a whole different league to be honest. Better than Mozza, Riva, Ortica, Gjelina? What? Are you kidding me? You know you're asking the wrong person! But I will gladly put my creations up against any pie LA or OC has to offer. Keep an eye out for that pizza truck.

Special thanks to my wife for playing the paparazzi part.


Daniel's Pizzeria
West LA

FoodDigger Score: 42 million.