©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

 

Well, today was a pizza adventure. I made dough this morning thinking that I would not split the dough batch into two balls like I usually would. In fact, I figured I would buy a screen and try to make an 18 inch extra large Buffalo Chicken Pizza. So, we stopped at The Restaurant Store and picked one up. Unfortunately, 18 inch screens don’t fit in my oven, so I went back to using my 15 inch pizza stone.

I was a bit concerned about preparing a 15 inch pizza on my 12 inch peel, but I loaded everything up with cornmeal and began to toss the dough. As usual, the Boli Dough performed wonderfully. I quickly spread the toppings and got ready to make the transfer to the stone. I had to use my hand under one side of the crust to keep the pizza from flopping right off the peel. Despite my concern, the transfer was a success and the pizza was safe behind the oven door!

I increased the bake time to about 15 minutes at 480 as I watched the top of the pie. I could have taken it out about a minute sooner as the bottom was a bit dark for my liking. The pizza tasted wonderful and it was nice having such large slices for a change (I cut it into 12 slices). This Buffalo Chicken Recipe is a real winner and everyone was pleased. I should note that I tried Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce this time instead of Texas Petes Hot Sauce and I definitely noticed that it was milder. I would call this supersized pie a big success, but here are some pictures - see for yourself…

Though I wouldn’t recommend doing it on a Friday night, these are funny ideas for harassing your local pizza shop operator! Some of them are pretty funny. (And, no, this is not a picture of me!)

23. Change your accent every three seconds.

Ok, not all that funny - but its better than some of those junk emails you get, right?

Check out 100 Things to Do When Ordering Pizza …

 

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

 

As a final attempt to use my boli dough for pizza, I let this batch rise for 24 hours in the refridgerator. The last time I used this dough for pizza, I only let it rise an hour and it was too dense. The result of the 24 hour rise…

Perfecto!!!

I made two pies, each was hand tossed then heavily topped with italian sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers and onions. They were baked for 8 minutes at 480 degrees. The pizzas both came out light and airy yet chewy with a crisp outer crust. This batch is my best home made pizza yet! Plus, it’s nice to know that I now have a dough recipe that can be mixed up then used for strombolis or pizzas depending on my mood.

I will keep the Traditional Dough recipe around, especially for heavier toppings and specialty pizzas, but this Boli Dough is a huge winner in my opinion. Here are some photos to make you hungry

Oh, and as a side note - we cooked the onions and green peppers in a splash of oil to soften them before using them on the pizza and this made a big difference in the flavor. We will be doing this from now on when using veggies like that. Also, I went back to cooking the sauce and, in my unscientific opinion, it tasted better.

Those who have been following my experiments will know that I’ve been trying to figure out a way that I can achieve a pizza crust that I like from my boli dough. I’m doing this because I really like the dough recipe and it would be convenient to have one dough that could make bolis and pizza.

Last time I made pizza with this dough, I did not allow it to rise. This time, I let it rise for 45 minutes hoping it would have more developed crumb. Unfortunately, the crust was still dense and had too much bite for my liking. In my next round, I will allow a batch of this dough to rise over night and see what that does. If I can’t get a good developed crumb that is light and chewy by allowing a full rise, then I will give up and use this recipe only for bolis and calzones.

Another twist on this pizza was the sauce. I have been reading about sauce types and one thing I read was that many pizza shop operators do not cook their sauce. There is debate about whether cooking degrades the flavor of concentrate based tomato products (paste or puree) by breaking down the tomatoes and that there could be loss of flavor due to the spices releasing into the air during cooking. I love my Neapolitan sauce, but thought it was worth a shot to try it without cooking it first (being able to eliminate that step in my pizza prep might come in handy). The results were, in my opinion, not as tasty as the cooked sauce. There was a noticeable difference in color and consistency which I did not like. I will continue to cook my sauce at this point.

Here are some pics of this pizza in case you were wondering…

Today I discovered that we have a U.S. Pizza Team! According to the web site, they travel each year to a Worldwide competition in Italy to compete in these 5 categories: Fastest Pizza Maker, Largest Dough Stretch, Freestyle Pizza Tossing, Best Gourmet Pizza and Best Traditional Pizza. It seems the Americans are pretty good too - taking 2nd, 3rd and 5th place wins at the 2003 “World Pizza Championship”. I better start practicing!

Visit the U.S. Pizza Team Web Site …
Watch the U.S. Pizza Team Music Video …
Read about the World Pizza Championship …