| Best "Secret Ingredient" for Pizza
Posted: 11/12/2007 11:26:43 PM | What is your favorite "secret ingredient" for pizza. This can be either something non-traditional for pizza, or just something you use that people find surprisingly good when they try it.
My example: When making a pizza that has a heavier topping (such as pepperoni with extra cheese), one way to cut through the fat content and sharpen the taste is to very finely chop some green olive. Then lighlty sprinkle it on the pizza, so that any one bite would get only 1 or 2 tiny pieces. Even people who initially turn up their nose at the idea will generally like it if they try it. The secret is very small pieces and not putting too much on. This can be especially effective if you get a home delivery pizza that is a little more greasy than you'd like.
Anybody else have ideas?
   | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/12/2007 11:40:45 PM | Classic pizza tip: A punch of garlic and oregeno in the center of the pie prior to cooking it.
First taste? Bliss! | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/12/2007 11:51:12 PM | I saw a show where they used a tortilla shell for a quick pizza base, so I finally tried it. This was also my first attempt at a home made pizza as well, I was craving one but I had nothing traditional to use. After my stomache growled at me to just try it, I pulled out some left over salsa, spread it on generously, chopped up the last of the montery jack/jaleppeno, some meat slices from a sub package, sliced shrooms, a handfull of radish sprouts and a handfull of bean sprouts (had to use up the last two ingredients somehow), plucked some mozza from a ball and spread over the top the best i could. Cooked for about 20 minutes, untill the cheese melted and tried it out. My buddie wasn't to sure about the sprouts, but after trying a piece said it was quite good.
I think my secret ingredient was "clubhouse garlic plus", it pretty much makes anything taste good. | |
|
| |
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 12:34:25 AM | Dirty gym socks.
I like to buy that terrifically fabulous pepperoni about a week early, bring it home, slide it down into an stinky, dirty gym sock, then hang it up until I'm ready for it.
Mmmmmm Mmmmmm.
No? Well, ok. How about when you have an Hawaiian pizza, you add some itty bitty bits of cream cheese and some red pepper flake before you add the mozzerella. Very yummy. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 6:13:14 AM | Chopped cashews, yummmy!
My all time favorite pizza is spicy salami (very thinly sliced), mushrooms, fresh tomato, jalapeno and of course the cashews. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 7:23:54 AM | Gads.. I don't think what I put on is all that secret rofl..I just like different types of pizzas. with different toppings.
Butter crust, with a cream sauce, shrimp, crab, lobster and extra cheese.
Hawaiian (just the standard CB/ham and pineapple) with green peppers, and beef added.
Then top before eatting with a thin layer or cottage cheese and red pepper flakes.
Local companys has some truely off the wall pizzas..
Garlic pizza. they'll put up to a cup of fresh ground garlic on it then bake. (if anyone ever goes to Enumclaw, WA, its The Mint on Cole. So if you live in the area check them out if you like garlic)
cheese, lemon grass, garlic, beef/chicken
frankies just has really strange ones and yeah I've tried most of them rofl..
white sauce, grilled chicken, mushrooms, black olives, jalapeños xtra cheese.. (ok just for the record, I like extra cheese on everything.. laugh)
I've had green olives on things. we don't get them here I think its probably a more back east thing. But on the west coast you get black unless you do your own. The green is very good though.
I don't normally like pepperoni.. so if I do make one at home or at a friends I fry the pepperoni a bit before adding it to the pizza.
I dunno about other Papa Murphy pizzas, but the one out here and at 4 corners (location in the area not the sw 4 corners) has a absolutely KILLER veggie take and bake.
I use to make mini pizzas garlic, curry, fetta cheese, chicken, whatever was around the house with marinara sauce or no sauce. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 7:39:32 AM | | when I make homemade pizza...I put extra oregano on the crust and extra mozzarella cheese on top just before putting it in the oven then when I take it out I brush olive oil on the crust.........omg it is so good and I have yet to have any left over when my picky teenager eats. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 8:20:13 AM | Before placing the pizza in the oven sprinkle cornstarch on the bottom of the pan to give the dough a slightly crunchy texture when finished. Also prior to cooking lightly brush the outer crust with olive oil too. Quality mozzarella cheese tastes best too. I'd like to build an outdoor brick oven and add some pieces of coal when cooking up some pizza for that 'coal-fired taste'...
The dough prep and method for cooking is a big factor in quality of taste IMO.
Having to shell out about $12 bucks a clip to buy just one large cheese pizza delivered kinda irks me anyway. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 8:41:48 AM | I love homemade pizza too. In fact it's a necessity since I am gluten intolerant, so I buy wheat free pizza crusts or use corn tortilla shells for the base. For the sauce I get Contina Pizza Sauce at Costco, brush the crust with olive oil that I treated with basil and oregano, top with fresh tomato, onions, pepperoni, and a variety of items from the frig. Often I make a double crust pizza, two tortillas or slicing the crust in half; then I use pesto on the inside, tomato sauce on top. And defiantly get good Mozerlla.
To bake it, I use a Pesto Pizza Oven. It's great. The crust gets crisp like I like it, sausage gets cooked through and theres no mess to clean.
For sure I'll make one tonight, before this thread, I wasn't sure. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 8:51:27 AM | Other than breakfast pizzas, I've never made pizza from scratch. I bought pizza pans a few years ago with the intention of making them... but alas... so many recipes, so little time.
My favorite pizza place puts smoked Romas on most of their pizzas, and you can also get things like spinach and smoked tri-tip... Why make them from scratch when I've got a made to order taste of heaven a couple of miles away? | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 9:00:37 AM | By far I love garlic salt instead of regular salt in the dough when I make it. I make a bunch of different kinds and each one has little special things that I feel go better. I can't tolerate those overly greasy delivered pizzas, I get sick to my stomach just thinking about that! I've never ordered delivered pizza.
For regular pizza I like Monterey Jack in with the mozzarella some times. It's a litttle more smooth and buttery but not greasy. Like 1/4 MJ.
Provolone prebaked for five minutes on the crust with deep dish crust keeps the crust from getting soggy -- particularly good when the tomatoes are fresh and a little more watery than the canned stuff.
I give some of my other hints and preferences here:
http://forums.plentyoffish.com/3573654datingPostpage2.aspx | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 9:49:47 AM | I have two favorites that I make
Chicken Pesto Pizza
Cooked diced chicken
Red pesto-I buy it from Sobey's in a bag
red onion
cremini mushrooms
feta cheese
yellow or orange peppers
baby spinach
thin crust pizza shell
brush olive oil on bottom of shell and sprinkle on a little sea salt
then add pesto
spinach
other veggies
chicken and feta...i like to add black olives to it too
Bacon Double Cheeseburger Pizza
Home made crust that has been allowed to rise-all nice and fluffy
sauce is a combo of regular pizza sauce and ketchup-you want to taste the ketchup, but not overpowering
lots of hamburger
onions
chopped dill pickles
crumbled bacon
cheddar cheese | |
|
*Tee*
|
Joined: 9/4/2005
Msg: 14 | |
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 9:57:24 AM | My dough is always made from scratch. Just basic italian bread dough. I'd have to say my best secret ingredient would have to be my sauce, though.
Being italian we can home grown tomatoes, so I usually blend the canned tomatoes with fresh garlic, salt to taste, pepper, oregano, and if I'm feeling fancy, I throw some parmesan cheese in there. I also always make sure any mozzarella I use is made with skim milk, since some that are sold in grocery stores are just way too greasy for my taste. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 10:45:14 AM | | my mother used to make a square one with thick crust and top it with olive oil, black olives and caramelized onions...sprinkled with garlic salt and black pepper...no tomato sauce or cheese...i always picked off the onions when i was little, but it was delicious | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 2:17:05 PM | Deep Dish - Baked in a dutch oven while camping...
Make a basic yeasty type dough, add 2 Tbsp each of oregano, basil, and rosemary direct to the dough. Then add 5 or 6 large cloves of garlic smashed and chopped to the dough. Let it rise 2 times then form it in a deep-dish pan that fits in a large dutch oven, let it proof in the pan for about 1/2 hour while slicing toppings... Add generous layers (in order) of: thin coating of olive oil and a pinch of oregano and red pepper flakes, some tomato sauce, sliced provolone, sliced mushrooms, some tomato sauce, thin layer of shredded mozzarella, pepperoni, italian sausage, some tomato sauce, another thin layer of mozzarella, onions, more garlic, thin sliced hard salami, thin slices of portobello, proscuitto, more tomato sauce over the top, slabs of mozzarella and provolone over the top.
Bake until done- maybe 45 minutes to an hour. Eat yourself and a few friends into a garlic-pizza induced coma. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 2:27:41 PM | | I like to mix pepper juice (jalapeno or other hot pepper) in the red sauce. Gives it a little snap. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 3:41:10 PM | | the cheese mix...not just mozzerella but also swiss, old cheddar, provolone, asiago and either parmesan or romano...all mixed together and a hefty pile on the bottom of the crust. Sprinkle crushed red chilis on top. If it's greasy, mop up the grease with paper towels while the pizza is resting after being removed from the oven. | |
|
| |
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 10:22:07 PM |
My example: When making a pizza that has a heavier topping (such as pepperoni with extra cheese), one way to cut through the fat content and sharpen the taste is to very finely chop some green olive. Then lighlty sprinkle it on the pizza, so that any one bite would get only 1 or 2 tiny pieces. Even people who initially turn up their nose at the idea will generally like it if they try it. The secret is very small pieces and not putting too much on. This can be especially effective if you get a home delivery pizza that is a little more greasy than you'd like.
I'm a bit confused. How does adding olives (which are fatty themselves, a good fat, but still, additional fat) cut the fat content, and how does it negate the grease on an extra greasy pizza? | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/13/2007 11:36:24 PM | piscescoda
I think its the combination of the "zing" in the green olive taste, and the residual salty brine that cuts through the grease. I just know it works.
 | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/14/2007 12:07:58 AM | Healthy Polenta Pizza
Make a pizza base out of polenta mixed with parmessan, fresh chopped basil & cracked black pepper.... mould it to the tray & let it set.
Use napoli sauce as the tomato base.
Top with fresh baby spinach leaves, roasted red capsicum, finely sliced spanish onions, sliced pitted black olives & top with bocconcini cheese.
Bake in oven as normal.
Yummo  | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/14/2007 12:08:28 AM | | I cook my toppings seperately when i make a pizza. And Top it with the parmesian and pepper lightly b4 I present it. | |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/14/2007 10:01:11 AM | Smoked BBQ sauce in lieu of pizza sauce. I am turned off by that tomato stuff but I find BBQ sauce adds this smoky flavour and it compliments my usual toppers:
Chicken
Hot peppers and lots of it
Onions
Also bechamel sauce is good, fattening but so tasty.
But my fave is BBQ sauce.
| |
|
| Best Secret Ingredient for Pizza
Posted: 11/14/2007 3:26:53 PM | Homemade bread dough with your oregeno, garlic..(secret spices) mixed right into the dough...
I cannot disclose a old family secret...lol...also the right type of fresh spices added to the sauce to give it a kick....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Add in fresh mushrooms, steak or whatever meat u like...fresh fresh fresh....sauce....veggies...cheeses......
Tip add a thin layer of cheese above sauce to bind those ingredients of delisusness..(Toppings)
Pizza tastes the best fresh....from scratch.....I did not say exacts as my uncle would kill me for posting his old reciepes...I mixed it up a bit.... | |
|
Home
login 
