Most important?

[Acoma]

I went with retained heat. Even though it states no fire, we still throw a log in. If our goal is saturated heat for multiple pizzzas then I go with the retained (saturated) concerns. We heat the oven for 2 hours for a reason, correct?

[beammeup]

For me its the hearth temp is the most important as I can control the dome temp quite easily by adding wood or kindling. As time goes on the hearth temp drops and the bottom of my pizza's start getting lighter. Those are the ones the neighbours usually get. Still yummy though! The flour is also up there. Then cheese, olive oil, tomato's, then toppings. I put a stock of Italian basil into a cup of water a few months ago now its a full grown bush. What a difference fresh basil makes on a pizza

[Xabia Jim]

Hearth and Dough around the first turn....neck and neck

[Thirties]

I chose "toppings" because I believe the dough and baking are absolute requirements to get right -- if they are not done properly, you have no pizza. In other words, they are the elemental ingredients and procedures for all pies.

Obviously, if the dough and baking are awful, you may as well smear tomato sauce on an English muffin and call it a pizza. That is no more pizza than a poorly made dough or improperly baked pie. So I'm assuming here, that one has mastered the process of dough making and oven baking.

After that, it's all about toppings -- specifically, all about using minimal toppings. That is what a pizza pie is. You can ruin a great dough/baking with poor toppings, but all the wonderful toppings in the world will not make a good pie from poor dough/oven technique.

[John Fahle]

Personally, I think Boboli for the dough. Top it with a little Ragu Genuine Italian Pizza Sauce, some Kraft American Cheese, and Oscar Meyer bologna slices (much cheaper than pepperoni, and you really can't taste the difference), and that's a pizza pie! Microwave on high for five minutes. Mangia!

[RTflorida]

John.....I'm having childhood flashbacks of filling my pizza cravings. My mother would by the Chef Boy Ardee pizza kits but never any of the proper toppings.....I was always stuck with the nasty sauce it came with but I've never been able to stomach the "sawdust" grated parm.....I would actually put american cheese, hot dogs, bologna, sausage or whatever else I could find in the fridge along with the only "fresh" items we had (onions and peppers from our garden). Probably started when I was ten or so...continued right through high school (although over time I was able to convince mom to pick up mozzarella and pepperoni). Kind of makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, thinking of some of the "toppings" I used.....hey, it was pizza...sort of.

RT

[RTflorida]

Almost forgot.......VELVEETA, we always had what seemed like a ten lb. brick of it on hand...I prefered the american cheese, if we had enough.

[Inishta]

Originally Posted by John Fahle

Personally, I think Boboli for the dough. Top it with a little Ragu Genuine Italian Pizza Sauce, some Kraft American Cheese, and Oscar Meyer bologna slices (much cheaper than pepperoni, and you really can't taste the difference), and that's a pizza pie! Microwave on high for five minutes. Mangia!

Hi John............how do you feel about the concept of excommunication............

[carioca]

Originally Posted by John Fahle

<snip>
Microwave on high for five minutes. Mangia!

Microwave?! Doesn't seem to appear in the poll choices :-)

Cheers,

LMH

[Dutchoven]

Would that be with or without the fancy piece of cardboard so useful for "crisping" the crust while it is "nuked"...

RT someone here told me of childhood pizzas like you mention...except that he liked them...said his mother used to clean out the fridge when she made pizza...
Dutch