we have the what are you eating thread already, but this is more about cooking at home or maybe your professional life as a cook.
share your favorite recipes, gear, philosophies, whatever. wether you're an ambitioned hobbyists, a passionate burger flipper, a line cook, or a top level chef. everyone with a special passion for self made food (and accompanying drink)is welcome to post.
i used to work in kitchens as a line cook, pizzaiola, in a premium local burger chain, as barkeeper and barista and more. this made me into somewhat of a food snob i guess to the point where i feel bad about buying frozen pizza, because i know i can easily make one ten times better myself for probably half the price.
which brings me to my first entry into the topic: homemade pizza. i used to not bother with making the dough myself for the longest time, i would buy this premade pizza dough, which mostly tastes like nothing, and then do the rest myself. after being disappointed time and time again, i started making my own dough again. i usually do the cold ferment with fairly wet dough that is almost 70% hydrated that i have kneaded for about ten minutes until it's smooth and way stretchy so i am sure i developed enough gluten. nothing special about the dough, just yeast, flour, 2% salt to flour, tiny pinch of sugar as an extra for the yeast to feed off. i used to knead the olive oil in after mixing the rest in the kneading process, as it's said to develop more gluten, but i actually haven't found a difference in taste or texture after a few days of cold rising, so i just dump the olive oil into the yeast water mix. gotta let this dough sit in the fridge for at least a day or it tastes rather bland, quick rise only in emergencies or when i want bake bread out of it instead of pizza. it tastes best after 4-5 days to me, after that it starts to smell way too hard like beer already and gets too funky for me.
the real revolution for me was basically frying the bottom first and then finishing it up in the oven with the broiler. this made it possible to bring bottom and top to my desired doneness. before it was very frustrating how the pizza would be inconsistently done. i guess this is because that dough is actually made for real pizza ovens which go way higher in temperature than normal kitchen ovens. ye it's not rocket science exactly, but in favor of comfort i didn't go that route until recently.
it takes a lot of work, but mainly in preparation, and when i make dough i make an amount that lasts for like two or three pizzas that i will use up over the course of the week. keep it portioned and seperated in airtight containers so i can whip something up with it whenever, i usually make one of thes into a bread or breadroll, since i don't need to eat pizza 3 times a week.
another hack i found out in terms of cheese is to dry out your mozzarella if you can only find the full moisture stuff. i tap it off with paper towels and then have it dry out in the fridge for a few hours. this will dehydrate it even further and you end up with something that should melt pretty much like low moisture mozzarella that is mostly used by pizza makers. makes it easier to not have burned or spilled cheese before the rest of the pie is done.
rn trying to find a nice cast iron pan since i've been using a non stick that sometimes gives off this weird taste as if it's been overheated, not stoked on that.