Anyone who makes a lot of pizza has had one of those days – you know when you are out of good toppings and you begin looking around the kitchen for something that might taste good on a pizza. Today was one of those days for me. Having forgotten to go to the deli, I turned to the fridge for leftovers. I got the idea to throw on some ham bbq from the night before.

Our ham bbq is made by frying sliced ham in ketchup, chili powder and some other things in a pan. Putting it on pizza seemed like a good idea. Looking back, I think it probably wasn’t.

The pizza was made with Bill’s Traditional Crust, sauce, bbq ham, a few onion slices, pepperoni for the kids and cheese. It tasted good at first, but then my mouth got a case of tomato overload and I lost interest. I don’t think ham bbq will be making it onto our menu for future pies.

Like I always say – you have to put everything on a pizza at least once!

 

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

 

 

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

 

I have been making pizza from my boli dough recipe for quite a while. A few days ago, I decided to go back to my traditional crust recipe for a pie or two. Unfortunately, after mixing and placing it in the refrigerator for proofing, I wasn’t able to bake it right away. The dough was proofing for about 3 days in there. On the third day, I peered in to see the dough had risen far enough to push itself out of the proofing container and had a strong beer odor.

My pizza addiction took over and I decided to bake the over-proofed pizza anyway. I stretched it, topped it with Neapolitan sauce, cheese and pepperoni and tossed it in the oven. Generally, when I make over-proofed pizza, I stretch it extra thin to avoid having too much dough in any bite (to me it seems that can be a bitter taste). When the slices are thin, the toppings get the attention of my taste buds and the whole meal can be quite enjoyable.

As a general note, I went much lighter than normal on the cheese this time. Partially because I wanted to see what would change about the flavor, but also because I don’t like the way this bag of cheese is performing (someone bought me an 8-cup bag of cheap cheese that I need to use up). When the cheese layer is thin, it seems to blend a bit with the sauce (see photos) and brown alot faster – interesting observations indeed.

After baking for 8 minutes at 480 degrees, it was time to cut and serve. Everyone seemed to eat their normal fill and all was well.