How to Fix the Problem 98% of Pizza Makers Have

[@Alex-tm5oz]

It took me over a decade to make pizza that I love at home. With practically no fancy gadgets except the trusty kitchen aid mixer.. Bought in 1992 FYI... But we live in an era of quick results. So good luck people.

[@Ranchpig67]

I'm really poor, that's one reason I make my own pizzas. Got the cost down to a little over $5/pizza for simple cheese. I will say, Charlies recipe works great. I use a version of it. But you still have to figure how dough "works". Dough is alive and goes thru changes. Learn these and you will know what your dough is telling you. One thing that has really helped my Home Game, is using a 16" pizza screen. My balls are usually bread flour 350g @ 70% hydration w/ 5% spelt or semolina (for texture). I use a slap & fold technique to knead. Let sit over night at min. Take out cold and press into pretty thin pies. I keep my crust fairly small and the center is almost translucent (THIN) I stretch it on the screen because my peel is only 14". This produces a perfect shape, then add sauce and parm, let it cook for a few minutes until the pizza is stiff enough. Take it out, add cheese and toppings then slide the pre-cooked crust onto the peel and slide it onto my 16" steel. Rotate a couple times until crust is slightly burnt. Perfect every time. It's incredible how consistent it's become. It's as good as ANY pizzeria. I'm not bragging because i've just used others work to get it to this level and some New Jersey foodies have confirmed it's just that good. 2 advantages. Perfectly shaped pizzas. Crust is always perfect with the cheese not becoming a total gooey mess by delaying its cook time. You do have to experiment at when to take out your 1st cook. Too long and it's too dry, too early it is difficult to remove from screen. Not hard, just takes a bit of practice. Good luck

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah understanding how dough works is easily the most important thing! If you're looking to save money on your pizzas, I think you'll like my next video! It should be out tomorrow or Friday

[@dpelpal]

I make mine on parchment, never sticks to the peel. After 3 or 4 minutes on a stone/steel, slide the parchment out from under the pizza. Works great!

[@razultull]

not a serious pizza maker's solution

[@mojonojo3]

mmm burnt parchment

[@frmacst108]

@@razultullshe’s making pizza…..in her home…as a beginner. That’s perfectly fine.

[@blakenite]

I do the same, bottoms of my pizzas have all the black pock marks that applying it directly to the steel does, absolutely none of the mess, and the exact same taste since we still apply the cornmeal to the parchment. It is likely wasteful and costly in a commercial environment, but it's exactly the thing for doing it at home.

[@razultull]

@@frmacst108 yes of course, which is why I said serious pizza maker. Bit out of place on a video like this.

[@charleshartig3247]

use a pizza/dough calculator. use a wood peel to launch, a metal peel to remove. parchment definitely, until no more. sauce/cheese, you can do it!

[@taylorbird5238]

Is this ever going back to $50? I had to wait due to holiday expenses and went to buy today and you raised it to $75? Bummer

[@realrasher]

He now has it as a perk on kickstarter for his new restaurant priced at $50… I’m seriously considering it.

[@emptyP687]

Charlie, you've upgraded my pizza game entirely. I jokingly ate pizza once a day for an entire week, then I just kept going, I'm currently on day 40 of eating pizza at least once a day! (I'm kind of testing the theory of "if you love a certain food, will you get tired of it") I don't know when I'll end the pizzagate streak, but I wanted to thank you anyway. So thanks!

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

You're welcome, I'm glad you've found the content helpful! I'm definitely pretty close to eating pizza every day, and still not tired of it!

[@user-od4op6ng9y]

Awesome. So you mind sharing your dough recipe? Im looking to finally take this passion for pizza and start making my own.

[@SalamiCellar]

Dude I followed a Josh weissman recipe and I didn’t realize it’d make 5 doughs so I had to eat pizza 5 days in a row. Day 3 was when I got sick of it

[@marketsmoto3180]

ok papa john

[@modernliving3]

Woohoo, just enrolled in the workshop! Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the Q&A but I'm glad a recording will be available.

[@dirtmike6258]

charlie is the truth ... i followed his recipe and technique and made the best pizza i've ever made in my life, i even took a picture of the pizza because i was so proud of it lol ... prior, i had tried adam's recipe and technique and although it was still good, it tasted like pizza i could get at domino's

[@anthonyjgreene]

$50 USD is a lot. I don't have problems anymore with sticking or dough not spreading, but I've tried everything and still have issues with dough tearing. I've tried everything: high hydration and low hydration dough, long knead times and short knead times, long and short, warm and cold ferments, dough conditioners, high-protein flour, tipo '00' flour, AP flour. And yet still I get the occasional tear or thin, membranous patches. And how pizza-tossers can make doughs that hold so strong is still a mystery to me. If you can teach a few tricks to avoid those tears, it'll be worth the cost. I'll sign up.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah we'll definitely be covering all of that so I'm sure you won't regret it!

[@annettemitchell2485]

I follow and learned a lot from Vito Iacopelli…

[@BrianOfAteionas]

Same. Along with Vito's stretching techniques, making sure I've developed enough strength/gluten in my dough, letting it come up to temp before handling, and using a good amount of semolina are the main things that keep me successful. I am very curious to see what Charlie has to say though.

[@cb5528]

Vito is neapolitan mainly

[@johnnybrix717]

Vito’s a hack and his pizza is average in person. And extremely unhealthy with all the yeast and sugar he uses in his poolish. Might as well eat a bag of raw sugar…..

[@MakeKasprzak]

Congrats Charlie on putting together the class. I really appreciate your deep dives and willingness to test and challenge your peers, then go a bit further. 👍

[@JeffO-]

I fully support you making courses that require people to pay, but I just have a bit of a hard time believing there are secrets that can't be found on the internet that only the pros know. Hopefully I'm wrong or there may be some disappointed people. Love your channel and will continue to watch. Thanks for all the great videos.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah I mean there are really no pro level pizza makers making free in-depth videos about pizza (maybe with the exception of Neapolitan style pizza but that’s sort of its own thing). If you know of any please let me know! Even something as simple as balling the dough properly, I haven’t found any good tutorials on how to do that properly. And you saw how hard I had to work to figure out the proper stretching technique in my NY style pizza series. I just had to decipher it based on a bunch of low quality videos, piecing things together, and I still really didn’t get the full picture. And since then, I’ve learned a lot better techniques but I was only able to do that by spending hundreds of dollars on paid pizza-making classes and getting real world experience and practice. But actually the primary focus of this workshop is managing the fermentation process in order to end up with the final dough texture and consistency that you’re looking for, and I definitely haven’t seen anyone making free videos about that online. Certainly not in the level of depth that I’ll be going into.

[@JeffO-]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking Good points, I admit. I hope you do really well with this. I'd certainly pass it on if I came across anyone who'd be interested.

[@donnagalea]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking have you tried the baking steel pizza recipe. It sounds very close to yours

[@jimmyrrpage]

I think I will be signing up for this, though it'll have to wait 'til my paycheck this Friday. On a separate note... do you have plans to do a series on bagels? I *think* I found my "perfect" NY-style bagel recipe (a recipe I found on Reddit that was slightly adapted from Maggie Glezer's recipe from "A Blessing of Bread"), but I'd love to see you really hone in a perfect NY-style bagel recipe. If you do it, I'm curious... what would you do to make it an egg bagel, and would you also try for a perfect Montreal-style bagel, as well?

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I think you’ll like the content I have coming over the next few weeks! 😉

[@jimmyrrpage]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking Now I'm definitely excited!

[@michaelbean4877]

I’m interested in the information in the workshop but will not be able to attend it live. Will access to the workshop material be available to those who did not purchase previously? Any idea on pricing for that access after the fact? Thanks! We love your NY style pizza!

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yes it's actually not live, so you can purchase any time and follow at your own pace! It will still be available after this week, but you just won't be able to attend the live Q&A on Sunday, December 3rd (although you will get the recording of it). The price will likely remain the same after the first week, at $49.

[@scallen84]

Signed up!! This is exactly what I need! Love your videos, keep up the great work!

[@NekoMMDGTS]

The one thing I CANNOT do right is open the dough correctly. It seems like everything is fine until I go to open the dough ball, and no matter how many different techniques I try I always get a thin spot or a tear and my family HATES it because of how paper thin the pizza comes out. Sometimes the dough ball is way too sticky, so sticky that even if I flour my pizza peel heavily it'll still stick no matter how fast I am. I have about had it, I'm a bit leery of the cost but you know what, I'm willing to go for it

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

We’ll definitely be fixing all of those issues, I know you won’t regret it!

[@KostasG-p5m]

I dont usually comment on videos. I have to say i like you better than everyone on youtube for the stuff you uploaded, but I dont have 50$ to pay and i dont know if I had them if i will pay for the course. You want to open a pizza shop, ok im with you, but you cant make things from one time to another so easy. I watched full videos from you, things that dont do it for others. But now simple.. i dont know. You had options like upload a video for "joiners" on youtube or "patreons" but you prefered to ask ~50$ for 1,5hr video. I'm not complaining for you, you have the right to do what you want, I'm complaining with my self because i cant continue this journey any more. Have a nice time!

[@labx85]

Hello. Where can I download the troubleshooting guide?

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I’ll be sending within the next few days to everyone who has signed up!

[@perotross]

Some of my most angry moments have been when working with pizza dough. It has a way of really making me mad, and I'm a very patient person.

[@razultull]

Would have signed up, but out of town, please do a second date, will sign up for sure.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

It's not live, so you can sign up any time and follow along at your own pace! There will be a live Q&A for those that sign up within the first week however, which will be on Sunday, December 3rd.

[@WarChortle]

Any bts of your pizza pop up plans?

[@cb5528]

where can I find the round wire cooling rack ?

[@vidsvids5378]

Love your pizza deep dives.

[@private7384]

ordered, bro.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I appreciate it, I know you'll get a ton of value from it!

[@kevin-pk6hd]

I love the other content and don't mind chipping in a couple of bucks but bruh for the average home cook, 49$ is pretty steep for pizza lessons....

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah it's moreso meant for the serious home pizza enthusiast rather than the average home cook. I think $49 is actually very cheap for the value provided, but I wanted to make it relatively accessible. If you've ever taken a cooking class, I'm sure it cost way more than that. I've personally spent hundreds on online pizza making courses and would be nowhere near the level I'm at if I hadn't. But I do understand that it's not for everyone! I'll have cheaper workshops down the road that don't cover quite as much material.

[@youssefhamdi95]

What helped me most in handling my pizza is reducing the hydration. I make all my pizza/bread dough with 50-55%. I also live in a country where a high-hydration tolerant flour is pretty expensive. So I do what I can with my bread flour. Also, my oven isn't the best, reaches 270° C, but I've never been able to cook an NY pizza within the time limit I see in a lot of videos, that is, 7 to 8 minutes. It's always 12 to 15 minutes in my case. This leads to the center of the dough getting tougher as it's thinner. It's not the case all the time, but sometimes if I don't pay attention, it becomes really hard and inedible. I'm still testing out a lot of things. I just love making pizzas, and I mostly always love the stretching/handling process.

[@JeffO-]

Even if it's not optimal, it's nice that we can make it how we like it and enjoy the process.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yeah that works but you should never have to modify your recipe to make the dough easier to handle. Because like you said, that leads to other unintended consequences. The recipe is a way to get to the final result (I.e. crust flavor and texture) that you’re looking for. The process is what you should be changing to make the dough easier to handle. And there’s a ton of things you could do, but that’s all what I get into in the workshop.

[@werdnaegni]

I'm not one to complain about people asking for money for their hard work, but anecdotally I can't pay $50 for something when I really don't know what I'm getting. I'd consider putting a part 1 up for free or something at least to give people a taste. Or make it $10 or something. Or you do you, but just telling you that I have disposable income but still can't justify this.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

The link in the description has all of the info! If you have any more specific questions though, let me know. It's a 90-minute workshop where you can follow along with me as a make an entire pizza recipe and explain all of the important tips and tricks along the way. You also get access to my dough troubleshooting guide, which shows you how to fix all of the most common issues in pizza making, and a completely customizable recipe spreadsheet, which you can use to track your results and eventually develop your own ultimate recipe.

[@werdnaegni]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking Thanks for responding. Do you do multiple pizza styles, cooking methods, tips for tweaks based on preference, or is it all in pursuit of one specific pizza? I think we have similar taste in pizza, but would just be curious if it's more about giving you the tools to tweak pizza to your preference or more like "Here's how to make MY favorite pizza".

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yes it's completely about giving you the tools to tweak pizza to your preference! I even provide a completely customizable recipe spreadsheet with different thickness options, so you can customize the recipe exactly to your liking (it's similar to my NY and Detroit style spreadsheets but a lot more customizable, and with a few more features like a cost calculator and testing log). In the demo, I make a NY-Style dough (at least in terms of thickness), but I lay out all of the possible options you can make based on what you equipment you have available to you, and what your preferences are. In fact, the workshop is designed so that anyone can follow along, even with the most basic kitchen setup (all you need is a pan or tray and an oven. Plus flour, water, salt, and yeast). That's a good question, though thanks! I'll add it to the FAQ on the site.

[@Oldmanhenderson12]

I kind of get you on this. I’ll admit a big game changer for me was taking a class, but even after the success wasn’t immediate and took time and practice and that’s basically what the instructor said anyway This seems like a jump the gun moment, but if people want to buy it then who am I to tell them not to.

[@MakeKasprzak]

I think for the most part he did everything right, but one thing that might help is to include a list of chapter markers in the FAQ. That way you can at a glance see what topics are covered, and for roughly how long, in case what you're after is a specific error. Still, there's nothing stopping you from learning independently via trial and error from free videos on KZbin (including Charlie's videos). Me I'm happy with where my pizzas are, but when I woo someone with my pizza, I like knowing that "Charlie went above and beyond" with his material; That I can recommend starting here, on his KZbin channel, and taking that as far as you want.

[@SecondSonsMomHikes]

Purchased. Looking forward to it and easy decision. You’ve easily been one of my favorite people online to learn from.

[@abelbanko5619]

I knew one day he’d charge for something, I just didn’t know the day would come so soon 😔 But sometimes you just gotta get that dough I guess

[@embreedowling]

No pun intended 😂

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

I've been making free youtube videos for over 4 years haha, so I'd say it's about time. It's the best way I know to help people take their pizza to the next level!

[@poppipo1222]

paid course? ez unsub

[@larrybrown1971]

Charlie, now that you're working in a pizza shop, do you desire pizza less?

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Haha I don’t think so! If anything, it makes me want to make my own recipe more often so I can continue to dial it in.

[@larrybrown1971]

@@CharlieAndersonCooking coolcoolcool. I'm made a bunch at home for a while and I'm burned out. But your Detroit style videos are dragging me back in. I even bought the brick cheese. :) Looking forward to baking one this weekend.

[@chefkda]

Good to hear you got some actual experience at a pizzeria. So did you learn how to make dough patches, or do you just order the dough repair kits? Lol.

[@bigbro973]

Im a skeptic I see this all the time someone makes a pizza recipe online, then they combine techniques from different types of pizza, like using the neapolitan slap technique to open a NY style dough or they up the hydration bc everyone on the internet thinks more water always makes a better dough. It reminds me of when we were kids having conversations like if we crossed a Tasmanian devil with a wolf we would the ultimate animal. People do the same with recipes. I’ve watched Charlies videos and of all the cooks on KZbin he is the best I hope he makes me eat my words

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Yep this is definitely not one of those! If you’ve found that I know what I’m talking about in my videos, this is no different. Not sure why it would be haha.

[@kdub175]

you should do a pizza with Vito Iacopelli ☝🏻

[@Hifiwino]

$39 is well worth it, just don’t make me regret it haha.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Haha you won't!

[@k47w]

$74 now lol

[@vladdestroyer7002]

did he forget to add the actual tips

[@jasonbarnes9304]

Is that Citizen pie? Lol

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Haha yeah I used to work there!

[@VinegarAndSaltedFries]

The top is the top, time is key.

[@harald-albert8303]

This made me unsubscribe

[@kdub175]

it’s just a way to support him an get something in return.

[@jacksonfl]

Whoa. That's not right. He deserves to be compensated for this special effort. I'm not far enough along to need this yet, but I'll consider it when I am. I think that a $29 price might work better for him, but he'll figure that out. Good luck, Charlie.

[@lukabrazi86]

Nah. Charlie’s doing the lords work and I’m glad to support him.

[@harald-albert8303]

Take money with info you he found on KZbin. I feel bad for those who got framed by him

[@jacksonfl]

​@@harald-albert8303Don't understand your point.

[@greatmaddyave]

I don't have any of these problems.

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

That’s good!

[@yassel22]

Woohoo cant wait

[@Nesnens]

You the man

[@RIPMrAlwaysFirst]

First

[@CharlieAndersonCooking]

Username checks out