| PIZZA CHALLENGE
Posted: 4/29/2008 9:38:28 PM | OK. ill 'fess up to watching reality TV for this. Hells Kitchen. They made pizza, and the one that didn't win sounded SCRUMMY.
It was a herb crust pizza with a chevre sauce caramelised red onions, and some fancy sauteed french mushrooms. Sounded so simple yet really delicious. I think even i could make it. Now to be fair, i'm cuisinally challenged. My cooking usually involves the fire department. JK, im not horrible but im no Gordon Ramsey.
Pizza, real simple dish yet they were going "gourmet".
I personally would never have come up with those ingredients as a variation of the traditional tomato and cheese and was wondering if anyone has tried and tested their own pizza creation, what results? | |
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Posted: 4/30/2008 12:48:29 AM | I'm a pizza fanatic! Yes I have tried countless combinations of cheese, toppings, crusts. etc. But one thing I figured out is, that you can't make something thats perfect any better than it is.
Doing all this "stuff" to a pizza is like spending a day riding a exercise bike. You keep trying to do something , but you never get anywhere.
Some things should not be messed with. How can you make a Coney Island or a Chicago dog any better than it already is? You can't! There's nothing you can do to good Louisiana Gumbo, Maryland Crabcakes, North Carolina Ribs, Massachusetts Lobster Rolls, Texas Chili, New Mexico Burritos, Alaskan Salmon, Hawaiian Poi, or even a California Taco Wagon. It just is, what it is! No need to remake, just add some kind of sauce/condiment on the side, eat, and be happy!
It's like that joint in Las Vegas that has a $4800 dollar burger. C'mon... I don't care if your the greatest chef on the planet and fed the damn cow by hand, no burger is worth $4800 bucks! That is just so far into stupid that it doesn't even get an honorable mention.
If you have a really good crust, and a really good oven (wood fired is best) and just do a thin crispy crust, with a spicy sauce, and some really good aged provolone, your done. Why mess with perfection? | |
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| PIZZA CHALLENGE
Posted: 4/30/2008 4:02:40 AM | | Well Seaspot...I guess you have a point. Of course you wouldn't want to eat the same thing every day...and that's where variety comes in. I find some different types of toppings quite refreshing...and enjoy tasting everyone's favourite pizza. | |
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Posted: 4/30/2008 4:43:48 AM | To a large extent I have to agree with the above post (edit: pupdaddy's slipped in there, I mean seaspots) and add people are misconstrueing and misrepresenting the word pizza a trillion differeny ways these days because if it has the word pizza anywhere in it then it sells.
Personally the only time I do white sauce is for chicken pizza. Even I, who love to make things from scratch, use Classico brand alfredo sauce for my chicken pizza.
The one that shocked me the most for working was four cheeses, one being gorgonzola, but it lookd like they don't sell it anymore. If you like real authentic italian food and you're ever in mpls and you don't think olive garden is the bomb you go here:
http://www.bucadibeppo.com/menu/Default.aspx#category-81
That was the place that had it -- the first white pizza that I ever thought was good. Run by an italian family. I just found another one on my downtown bus route so I gotta go there again sometime. The place is great -- they take such pride in their kitchen when you walk in that is where you walk in through so you can witness how clean it is, how fresh the ingredients are and how well they do things, what brands they use....etc...etc.
If every restaurant did things that well I would probably eat out more often but as it is most restaurants, I feel, serve overpriced fare with sanitation and care that leaves me feeling as though I've been through cleaner dairy barns. | |
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Posted: 4/30/2008 4:52:26 AM | | my local pizza spot does a pizza with basic onion/tomato type topping but fresh rocket/arugula and shaved parmesan on top... added after the pizza is cooked.. yummm. my dad loves my pizza with tasty tomato sauce, onions, grilled eggplant and fresh basil and a little mozzarella. He hates fancy foods but loves that. | |
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Posted: 4/30/2008 6:07:52 AM | | Well I'm from NYC, aside from Chicago there is NO such thing as pizza in the country. My question is aside from making it myself where in Atlanta can one find REALLY good pizza? Bob | |
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| PIZZA CHALLENGE
Posted: 4/30/2008 6:25:50 AM | I never realized how personal a realtionship pizza was to people. They type of crust, the sauce, the toppings, the various and endless combinations you could make. Even Richard Blaise amazed me with his Peach deep dish pizza on top chef. I was like HUH?
Since uprooting and changing my diet, I haven't delved into making my own homemade dough because I've cut white flour out and gone to whole grains. I saw this recipe and thought I would share it. I'm gonna try it this weekend and see how it is. It got great reviews.
The only concern I have is trying to find gluten protein in the grocery store and not having to buy online.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon honey
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup soy flour
4 teaspoons gluten
Directions
1. dissolve honey and yeast in warm water, let sit for about 7 minutes.
2. stir in salt, flours, and gluten.
3. knead for 5 minute place dough in bowl sprayed with cooking spray. cover and let rise 45 minutes. punch down and divide in half. roll out and place on 2 12 inch pizza pan sprayed with cooking spray.
4. preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake for 5 minutes. remove from oven and put on selected toppings. bake for 15 minutes. | |
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Posted: 4/30/2008 7:37:02 AM | You can still make pizza -- when I do whole grain I use about 1/3 cup canola or olive oil(this makes it more like focaccio) and double the yeast and let it rise longer. I don't use anything fancy like gluten, just whole wheat flour.
Whenever it fights you let the dough rest 10-20 minutes.
If I use 7 or 12 grain cereal it helps to soak it ahead of time to soften it, then it rises better. Believe me I've tried everything from beans to mashed potatoes in pizza dough.  | |
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| PIZZA CHALLENGE
Posted: 4/30/2008 8:27:53 AM | | Can you post your recipe for me? | |
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Posted: 4/30/2008 10:37:56 AM | i'm cuisinally challenged.
Here's something even you can do.
Go here to find a local store that sells the Boboli Pizza Crusts:
http://boboli.gwbakeries.com/
I live near a BJ's Warehouse Club so I can get the Party Pack of 8 personal sized crusts with tomato sauce for less than $8. Pretty good deal, I think.
Pick up whatever other ingredients you like i.e. shredded pizza cheese, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, pepperoni slices, sausage, Perdue Chicken Short Cuts, etc. If you use sausage, you will have to pre-cook it before adding it to the pizza (just brown it in a fry pan). If you are creatively challenged like I am, just get a list of ingredients off the menu of Dominoes or Papa Johns. 
Top off your pizza with the ingredients, pop it into the toaster oven for about 8 or 9 minutes, and voila!, you've got fresh made pizza. Prep time is less than 10 minutes, total time should be less than 20 minutes. | |
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Posted: 4/30/2008 1:27:47 PM | I've gotten to where I just like to eat a quick and easy meal on a crust--maybe the single person's sandwich ( I mean ..I know I can't use a whole loaf of bread before it molds, so making dough works for me). AND virtually no mess to clean up! Yaaaay!!! I make my own dough (it's super easy) , split it into the number of single servings indicated by the recipe then freeze all but what I'm using. Later I thaw it, and make pizza (which in my vocabulary is whatever savory I want on a crust). I've come up with all kinds of things--No sauces , sometimes no cheese. In the summertime, I really like that Pampered Chef recipe for all sorts of cut up vegetables (a diced salad essentially) spread over a simple cream cheese layer then refrigerated until ready to use. The original is done on rolled out cresent rolls from the grocery store but I don't like the wierd ingredients in them so I just make a think cracker like crust and go from there.
Recently I did pork (already cooked with onions and spices and stored in single serving packages in the freezer) with no cheese. I've done Mexican style with Mexican 4 cheese as the base (no, this one doesn't have Gorgonzola), no sauce, then topped with beef or chicken cooked in Mexican spices and shredded. Except for the salad one, I don't put more than 1 or 2 ingredients total on one. Even when I eat out, like yesterday only cheese and pepperoni. Artichoke hearts and cheese are good. If I could still have them, sun dried tomatoes and black olives. Just about any kind of leftover will work.
I know a lot of people get all passionate about how pizza has to be one specific type of thing and nothing else, but I don't agree. It's great fun to have that quintessential pizza sometimes, but I'd never forgo the pleasure of other types just to wait for only that one. When I have the very best I can recognise it and enjoy it, but enjoy others too.
Well I think pizza is going to be supper tonight! I'll try stretching the dough properly, a skill I haven't really masterd yet. I watched Joanne Weir do it on Saturday, we'll see if watching her technique will help me. (I don't know if she's known nationwide--she's a Napa Valley, CA PBS personality)
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| PIZZA CHALLENGE
Posted: 4/30/2008 2:18:52 PM | First you need really good dough, go to your favorite pizza place, buy their dough, go home turn on your outside grill on, if you have pizza bricks put them on the grill for about twenty minutes, buy a can of Red Pack whole tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, roll out the dough, put on some olive oil on, hand crushed the tomatoes, cut the mozzarella, and basil. Cook for ten minutes on grill, turn once.
Or you could go to DeLorenzo"s in Robbinsville, New Jersey. Like I do.....They are the best in New Jersey and in the World.
Valeri Mariani | |
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Posted: 5/1/2008 5:37:12 AM | A couple of really delicious things I've tried:
Sweet potato chunks on pizza. Really, they bake up buttery soft and taste amazing on pizza. My bf introduced me to it and it was amazing. I don't like it with salami or pepperoni on a pizza but good with a bit of bacon and other veggies.
Bean dip or bean mash instead of red sauce. You put it on the crust thick. Make sure it is VERY garlicky. Top with baby spinach, finely diced tomatoes and thin slices of red onion and then a bit of mozza and lots of parmasan or asiago. Very nice, very different. | |
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Posted: 5/1/2008 6:02:20 AM | I absolutely LOVE pizza....so much so, I could eat it every day for the rest of my life and never get bored...but it's not really good for the ole waistline! So..what I do..is buy these oval flatbread wraps in the deli section of my grocery store (they are about 90 calories), not sure of the brand. They come in different flavors; multi-grain, italian, sundried tomato, etc. If I don't have any homemade pizza or tomato sauce in the freezer, I use a jarred one I buy at a gourmet store in town, and use a mix of mozzerella/provolone, a heavy sprinkling of oregano, some garlic pepper, turkey pepperoni, or veggies..whatever my mood, and after a few minutes in the toaster oven, or on the pizza stone in the oven, I'm in pizza heaven! And it's a little healthier than ordering from my neighborhood pie place. It's actually so satisfying I haven't had pizza any other way in over a year! I don't miss it but my dog misses getting the crust! | |
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Posted: 5/1/2008 3:53:51 PM | some great ideas there for people who make there own dough instead of using water i use warm beer it gives the crust something almost a slight pretzel taste you can experement 80% -20% and it also seems to lighten the crust any how just a suggestion  | |
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Posted: 5/1/2008 8:35:14 PM | I rarely do much by recipe these days... I do it by how the dough feels. After making pizza for quarter of a century I can tell by just touching and tasting the dough how it will come out.
Just trust my advice -- if the dough fights you let it rest 10-29 mins.
if it seems to heavy more yeast and rising time and/or more oil. oil is lighter and less dense than water or flour thus it lightens anything. | |
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Posted: 5/1/2008 8:46:41 PM | My fav pizza involves a basil pesto base with a layer of very thinly sliced peeled potatoes covered with grated parmesan and dotted with capers. Sometimes I put marinated artichokes on as well. Yummy.
I also had a pizza once that was an apple and blue cheese creation that someone else made. Fabulous!
Economical and quick options for the crust include using pita or naan, and these make great individual servings as well. Fun to do with kids as everyone can build their own. | |
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Posted: 5/2/2008 2:30:34 PM | | What a great idea you could also put the flat breads in the toaster and then fill them with your favourite pizza topping and as they are only 90 calories I would be tempted to have 2. I fry a chopped onion and clove of garlic in olive oil, add fresh tomatoes, tomatoe pureau, mushrooms and sometime chopped spinich, pepper, oregano, and finish with mozzeralla. I find it is the herb that is quite adictive I like plenty with my pizza topping. | |
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Posted: 5/3/2008 2:26:06 AM | | On the weekends I use up all our left overs from the week. Well one day the girls felt like pizza, and all we had was left over beef strog, so needless to say we made that into pizza lavash bread basic tom sauce topped with the beef mix sprinled with chesse and I must say it was yummy, now when ever we have stog the left overs are frozen for when we make pizza. | |
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Posted: 5/3/2008 6:01:29 PM | I love pizza so much so that I probably could eat it as my only non-breakfast food...no I can't do the cold pizza for breakfast thing. Anyway, my big stumbling block has been finding a way to replicate the crust of the typical, family-owned corner pizza place. Finally, I found a website that explained the secrets and I've been on a journey toward making authentic neapolitan pizza at home. For those interested, here is a fantastic webpage to read, if you have some time and a love of pizza.
http://slice.seriouseats.com/jvpizza/
Happy pizza eating. | |
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Posted: 5/4/2008 1:05:55 PM | TO me the pizza is ALL about the sauce , but then I was raised in a family who made their own sauce .
The Person who typed how personal pizza is to everyone is true everyone likes a diff type of sauce diff type of crust ..
WHen my kiddo was younger id make a batch of sauce for her and keep in the fridge she would grab a simple flour tortilla sauce and cheese assemble it and pop it in the microwave for a snack afterschool till I got home from work . She's grown now but still loves that snack . | |
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Posted: 5/5/2008 8:39:24 PM | I unfortunately don't have the time to make homemade pizza dough. I find it much easier to go to the local grocery store or local bakery and they sell the pizza dough either white or whole wheat.
Then comes your preferences while stretching the dough and laying it out on the pizza pan, or better yet, the pizza stone. Do you like your pizza with a thick or thin crust? Homemade tomato sauce is the best along with your favorite toppings.
My favorites include the kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, boccocini cheese, grilled chicken and roasted peppers are great.
The trick to making good pizza is if you load your toppings then hold off on the cheese until the dough is cooked. Then add the cheese a few minutes before you want to take it out of the oven. (This way your not stuck eating raw pizza dough if you make a thick crust)
A trick I learned on the food network is if you like prociutto, add it after the pizza is cooked and out of the oven. Place it ontop of the cheese topping....yummm. | |
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Posted: 5/8/2008 9:02:05 PM | | Growing up in the chicago area, i have great passion for pizza.... have been searching kc , but have been disappointed so far. I think all here should order a Lou Malnati's (online) deep dish, as their frozen is better than most(non frozen). I pay more attention to the sauce, and cheeses. I am not a big fan of "gourmet" type pizzas. I have had quite a few thin crusts win me over, but it was usually the sauce, and a hint of ginger in the crust!In the past I experimented with a variety of pizzas, and they were a hit with the kids...don't trust my sauce making abilities , now. .... great, now i'm hungry(and dateless) | |
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Posted: 5/10/2008 12:07:01 PM | RANDOM ENTRY,
Please post your chicken pizza recipe with alfredo sauce that you talked about on April 30th..........sounds yummy !!!! | |
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| PIZZA CHALLENGE
Posted: 5/10/2008 12:18:48 PM | | Also when I am lazy I jsut use English muffins for pizzas.Just put sauce,cheese etc on and put in oven at 400 for about ten minutes.After reading this thread again I think I might try whole grain mufins. | |
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