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As soon as I got home I tore into both flour bags and made large dough batches from both brands. From my research, I knew that the Caputo 00 flour was designed for very high temperature ovens. Since I was making this pizza at home, the best I could do was plan to turn it up to 550 degrees and hope for the best (more on this in a future post). I made the Caputo flour blanks into classic Napoletana magherita pizzas using the La Valla tomatoes and some fresh cheese and basil. The results were good, but I clearly need more heat in order to get this dough to perform.

The real surprise was the All Trumps flour. I used the All Trumps to bake a New York Style pizza in all of it’s glory. Since All Trumps is formulated for lower oven temperatures, it is perfectly suited for the home oven. The dough recipe I used was a modified Lehman recipe which had 65% water. Below is the dough recipe I used:

Flour (100%): 337.4 g | 11.9 oz | 0.74 lbs
Water (65%): 219.31 g | 7.74 oz | 0.48 lbs
IDY (1.36%): 4.59 g | 0.16 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.52 tsp | 0.51 tbsp
Salt (1.69%): 5.7 g | 0.2 oz | 0.01 lbs | 1.19 tsp | 0.4 tbsp
Total (168.05%): 567 g | 20 oz | 1.25 lbs

I mixed the IDY into a small amount of the water (water should be around 100 degrees) and let it dissolve for about 10 minutes. Then I mixed that yeast water into the rest of the water in the mixer bowl along with the salt. Next, I added the flour slowly with the mixer on low speed for around 5 minutes until it looked well mixed. Then, I mixed for 5 minutes on second speed. When the dough looked smooth, I removed it and formed 20 oz balls ready for the refrigerator. The dough smelled, looked and felt wonderful after a 48 hour cold rise.

I stretched it onto a pizza screen and topped it with my Traditional Sauce with Escalon 6-in-1 tomatoes for the base. I then layered whole milk mozzerella cheese and chopped pepperoni and baked it for 8 mnutes at 485 degrees.

The pizza had great oven spring, a wonderful chewy crumb and a well darkened crust rim complete with the tiny blisters that are the hallmark of high hydration dough. The flavor and texture of this dough easily matched and probably exceeded that of the pizzas I had made with KASL several months ago. Best of all, I could purchase All Trumps for the same price that I pay for flour at my local grocer. In fact, I think I will change to this flour for all of my traditional style pizza making from now on – it’s that good.

Here are some shots of the various pizzas we made from the dough – Enjoy!

After having success this week with Grandma Pizza, I had leftover San Marzano tomatoes and some remaining fresh basil. When I peeked into the refrigerator and realized that the second dough ball of my double batch remained I was compelled to go another round.

Being somewhat hungry and having no fresh mozzarella I decided to go for a round pie. Since the dough ball was larger than normal, I opted to stretch it for a nice large crust. Next, I coated the dough with olive oil and a healthy heap of shredded mozzarella. I topped the cheese with the last of my chopped basil as well as some salt, oregano and pepper.

I prepped the tomatoes again by squeezing much of the water out and combining them in a large bowl to be crushed. When they were semi-pureed I spread them liberally onto the pizza and placed it in the oven to bake at 480 degrees for 9 minutes.

I was pleasantly surprised by this quick pizza. It had some of the classic flavor from the Grandma Pizza enjoyed the night before even without the classy cheesy and fresh roasted garlic. This pie, however would be much cheaper to make and a bit quicker too. It also had far less olive oil as it was baked on a screen and not fried in a pan.

I’ll keep this little gem in my mind as a great classic tasting option when cost is a consideration. Next time, I’ll try domestic peeled tomatoes and see if that destroys the amazing combination of flavors.

NOTE: I topped the pizza with fresh Parmesan after taking photos and that was a good thing.

The basic approach remained the same. I used my traditional recipe, a bit wet (slightly higher water) for the dough. It was very soft, but not sticky coming out of the bowl. This was allowed to rest in the refrigerator over night in about 22 oz. balls. The next day around noon, I took the ball out of the oven and stretched it into a cookie sheet which was lightly coated with olive oil. Chef Bruno says to use a lot of oil, but I had too much oil on my first attempt, so I cut back this time by simply wiping the pan with an oiled paper towel, rather than allowing puddles to form. I also treated to top of the dough with a very light coat of olive oil in the same way, no puddles. I wrapped the top of the tray with cellophane to keep it from drying out and let it rest at room temperature. Two hours later I came back and stretched the dough gently into the corners of the pan. I could see that it had risen and bubble were forming in the crust. I used care not to flatten or press on the dough, but rather stretch it by gently pulling on it. Two more hours later, the dough had risen just above the tray top and almost completely filled the corners. I pulled very slightly toward the corners and set it aside.

The toppings are very expensive for this pie. I spared no expense this time, but will begin to experiment with slightly less expensive toppings for future trials. It gets topped with mozzarella and Parmesan, whole tomatoes, garlic, rappi (rappini), oregano, basil, salt and pepper.

First up was the roasted garlic and rappi. I roasted this myself while the dough was rising. Simply peel the cloves (I used 1-1/2 small cloves) and place them in aluminum foil with chopped rappi (about 2 TBL). Then place the wrapped ball in the oven at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes until the garlic becomes tender.

I used 1/2 lb fresh (U.S.) mozzarella for one half and a 1/2 lb ball of smoked mozzarella for the other side of the pie. The cheese goes down first, sliced thickly in about 1/4 inch slices. I left about a 1 inch gap between slices for melting.

Once the cheese in in place, I sprinkled the pie with Oregano, salt and pepper. Next I spread about 1/2 cup fresh chopped basil liberally over the cheese.

Up next were the tomatoes. I purchased Cento brand San Marzano tomatoes in cans. The cans were $3.99 each and I used 1 and 1/2 cans (youch). It hurt to spend that much on toms, but they are San Marzanos, after all. I did my best to hand squeeze most of the water out of the tomatoes before slightly crushing them and laying them onto the pizza. I like lots of tomato, so I covered most of the top leaving about 1 inch gaps between tomatoes.

Lastly before baking, I smashed the garlic and rappi and spread it over the pizza as well. I’ll need a better way to spread garlic as doing it by hand was a messy and inefficient affair. Once done, the pie was ready to bake.

I had raised the temperature to its max for my home oven – 550 degrees. This requires caution when using oil and a cookie sheet on the bottom rack as the oil gets close to it’s burn point very quickly. The idea is for the oil to lightly fry the bottom of the crust. If you begin to see smoke, the oil is burning and you might have to lower the temperature. I baked it for just about 10 minutes and it had just began smoking at that time.

When the pizza comes out it will look and smell amazing! However, stop to finish it with 1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese for a little extra texture and flavor.

I noticed immediately the difference that less oil had made this time. Combined with the wetter dough and longer rise time it made for a wonderfully light airy, yet robust crust. I could almost imagine it being healthy for me! The other observation worth noting was that, for me, the fresh mozzarella tasted better than the smoked cheese for this pie. It seemed to have a tang that complimented the tomato perfectly while the smoked cheese was more subtle and seemed to blend in rather than stand out as a distinct flavor. This pizza seems to explode in your mouth and it’s a truly wonderful experience especially right out of the oven. This is one that you can use to impress even the most snobby of your pizza friends because the taste is classy and timeless. I highly recommend this recipe despite it’s higher cost.

Next up – I’ll try to get the cost down by using other tomatoes and shopping around for fresh cheese. Enjoy!

Ever since I first heard about Grandma pizza I’ve been wondering what it would take to make one at home. Tonight, I gave it my best shot and I was very pleased. The pie is baked in a rectangular tray, similar to my tray pizza. The similarity stops there.

For my first attempt, I used my traditional dough recipe and allowed it to raise in a bowl for several hours. Once it had achieved double volume, I stretched it into the well-oiled tray and allowed it to rise again. Once it filled the tray, I placed it in the refrigerator over night.

The next day, I spread olive oil on the top of the dough, then layered slices of fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese. Next was hand crushed San Marzano tomatoes sprinkled with oregano, salt and pepper. Finally, I spread chopped fresh basil and a whole clove of roasted garlic and rappini.

The pizza went into the oven as soon as it was heated to 480 degrees. At that high temperature, however, the oil was smoking pretty badly. I was afraid that the smoke would spoil the flavor, so I turned the temp down until the crust looked light brown. The bottom looked to be starting to burn, so I turned on the broiler to finish the toppings and brown the cheese.

The result was an amazing mix of flavor. My favorite part was the way that each bite was slightly different because of the way the toppings were placed on the pie. The classic ingredients went perfectly together and the crust had a wonderful light, crisp feel.

I need to find a way to get the cost of this pizza down as the fresh ingredients added up quickly. I may also reduce the amount of oil slightly as it seemed a bit greasy. I am hooked on the taste of this pie and I will be baking another one very soon. It even reheated very well the next day.

Tonight I made two pizzas from my recent test batch of Biga dough (dough made with a pre-fermented starter mix). The first was a Napolena, or as close as I could get, with hand crushed San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh buffalo mozzarella, drizzled olive oil, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

For the oven prep, I used two pizza stones (one under and one over) with the oven set at 550 degrees. I wanted to have as much heat as possible in order to get a fast bake. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the pizza to bake any faster than normal. It baked in just under 8 minutes. I also ditched the pizza screen in order to get the best heat reaction on the pizza base. As you can tell by the photos, not using a screen allowed the dough ball (20 oz.) to shrink more than normal while on the peel. This caused the crust to be thicker than I wanted it to be. I’ll fix that next time.

As for taste, I can’t say this any simpler… it was the best tasting pizza crust I’ve ever made. The texture and flavor was very near perfect in my opinion. There was a crisp outer crust with tender elastic inside crust. The flavor added by the pre-fermentation was unmistakable. It added a rich pizza bread flavor which most of my other dough batches were missing. In fact, I generally rely on the toppings and sauce to lead the taste of my pies. This dough recipe will allow me to keep toppings very simple and still have an effective overall taste experience. The Napolena in it’s beautiful simplicity really highlighted the flavor of the new dough recipe. Everyone at the table agreed.

The second pizza was an attempt to serve a typical American pizza on the new (3-day old) dough. For this I used the same sauce that I always use and store brand cheese, pepperoni and mushrooms. The pizza was very good, if not somewhat trumped by the first one. I noticed with this pie the natural sweetness of the biga dough as the overall taste of the pie was far sweeter than my normal dough (despite the fact that this dough had no sugar added). I really liked the taste of a sweet pizza as this is something I’ve been after in sauce for quite a while.

Overall, the first run of pizzas using the pre-fermented dough can be considered a smashing success for me. I learned a few things and I have some ideas for the pizzas I will be making from the rest of the batch. The main frustration was not seeing the quick bake that I was looking for in the oven. I’ve seen all sorts of zany ways to handle this, so stay tuned as I continue to tweak that part of my process. Enjoy the pics!

DiFabio gives details about the preparation of this dough which I started last night and will have to wait until Wednesday to bake. The aroma of the dough is remarkable and I know that the next 3 days are going to be very hard for me.

I learned a bunch from the article about DiFabio and his pizza which you can read here:
http://www.greenwichtime.com/ci_10110833

Here is the pre-fermentation process for reference:

Ingredients for Phase1:
11/2 tsp. dry yeast
2 oz. warm water (exactly 97 degrees)
2 cups of water (room temperature or cool)
2.2 lbs. of high-gluten flour (not all-purpose)

Ingredients for Phase 2:
2.2 lbs. high-gluten flour 2 cups water (49 degrees)
1/2 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1.5g olive oil (by weight, not converted to ounces)

Phase 1:

• Add the dry yeast to the warm water. Stir slightly. Let stand for 2-3 minutes.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the pint of water and the yeast water.
• Add the flour and mix only until the ingredients are blended. The mix will feel slightly dry and lumpy; this is OK.
• Place a dish towel or cheese cloth over the bowl to completely cover it.
• Let stand for 15-18 hours at room temperature. The dough will triple in size and give off an amazing aroma.

Phase 2:

• Uncover your biga and add half the flour and all the water. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated.
• Add sugar and mix until incorporated.
• Add salt and mix until incorporated.
• Add olive oil and mix until incorporated.
• Add the rest of the flour and mix until incorporated.
• Let the biga rest for 10 minutes covered. This should yield about 5 pounds of dough.
• Divide the dough into sections to about a pound each and roll them into balls.

Note: Keep each dough ball in its own container refrigerated and covered for 3-4 days before using.

Well, after spending more on mail order flour than I have on pizzeria pizza this year, I finally had three wonderful dough balls ready to be stretched, topped and baked after a 24 hour rise in the refrigerator. It was time to bake pizzas using the dough made from King Aurthur Sir Lancelot flour rather than the hi-gluten Pillsbury flour that I have been using for almost three years.

The dough blanks looked great out of the containers and still felt like they had a very high water content. In fact, when I began stretching them, it was apparent that they were quite soft. I carefully avoided the crust ring and stretched by hand from the center. When they had reached 16 inches, I placed them on pizza screens.

The oven was pre-heated to 485 degrees. I had placed two pizza stones on the bottom two racks, forming a heat chamber between them. I topped the first pie with sauce and cheese only. The bake took around 10 minutes, which I think was longer than normal because of the two stones. It baked quite well and looked great when it came out. The tiny crust blisters that I love were present and the aroma was wonderful.

The second pizza was topped with extra pepperoni and allowed to bake for the same amount of time.

Both pizzas were cut and served to my hungry family. I have to say that I could tell the flavor difference with the first bite. The crust had a wonderfully soft texture with a crisp outer edge and slightly charred bottom. A friend who was visiting said that it tasted more authentic than other pizzas I’d made for him. I have to agree – the flour brings it’s own unique flavor which adds a great deal to the overall experience.

Now that I know that King Aurthur Sir Lancelot flour has lived up to the hype, it’s time to find a cheaper way to get it. I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve for that, so stay tuned and enjoy the pics…

After much hype from my friends at PizzaMaking.com, I’d decided to bite the bullet and order King Aurthur Sir Lancelot flour directly from their web site and pay what amounts to $5 per bag in order to do a test. Among other home pizza bakers, this is by far one of the most popular flour brands being used. Despite King Aurthur flour being common in my local supermarkets, I had never seen this particular high gluten mix on the shelves. My only choice was to order from the King Aurthur online store.

The flour arrived today with plenty of fanfare. I unpacked the box and noticed all of the auxillary junk mail that they send along (it appears from the marketing that they think I am a retiring woman who bakes constantly when not buying country furniture). The flour bags are small, containing about 7 cups of flour per bag and costing $3.50 each (plus lots of shipping) online.

I couldn’t wait to give this flour a try, so I tore open a bag and got to making a double batch of Bill’s Traditional dough. The aroma of the flour was immediately apparent. It has a very rich smell which made me quite hungry. The mixing process went well. The mix seemed overly wet which I blamed on my use of measuring cups rather than weight measuring the flour. Once it had mixed for 4 minutes I removed the dough and made two 20 and one 13 ounce ball. I placed the balls into the refrigerator for the 24 hour rise. The dough had a great smell while working with it as well.

I have high hopes for this flour based on the opinions of so many of my friends. It will be hard to justify the cost of this flour if we like it though. I am used to getting 50 pounds of the Pillsbury flour for $14 at the local bakery supply store. Stay tuned for the resulting taste test!

UPDATE: Results can be found here

My family and I spent a few days in a rental cabin last week. Since no trip is complete without pizza, I packed my gear and ingredients. As I began preparing to bake, I noticed that the oven was a gas powered one. I hadn’t baked pizza in a gas oven before, but I didn’t think it would be much different. I was wrong! Being lazy while packing, I did not take a pizza stone, so the baking took place on pizza screens. I placed them on the bottom rack at 475 degrees for 8 minutes each. The bottom of the crust cooked much faster than normal and one almost burned (gulp)! The top crust edge remained very light and the cheese hadn’t completely cooked by minute 8. I learned a hard lesson about gas ovens that I won’t soon forget. If you use a gas oven, let me know if your experience is similar. I’ll be taking my stones next time for sure.

We still enjoyed the pies, one cheese, one pepperoni and one buffalo chicken. Yum.

For a long time I’d been wanting to recreate the original style pizza in all of it’s classic glory. One of the experiments I did during my break from blogging was this beauty, the Margherita Pizza! As the story goes, famous “pizzaiolo” Raffaele Esposito was asked by Queen Margherita to present his flatbread delicacy. He created a pizza to represent the colors of the Italian flag, red sauce, green basil leaves and white cheese. It was a great combination then and it still rocks now.

For my variant, I stuck with what I know for the crust – a nice batch of fresh traditional. However, on top I spread blended roma tomatoes very lightly salted and teased with oregano, slices of mozzarella cheese and large fresh basil leaves. After sprinkling the pie with romano cheese, I baked it at 480 degrees for 8 minutes. The result was a quite refreshing change. The simple combination of the fundamental ingredients made for a terrific treat. I will be doing this pizza again – squisito!

I may go back and write about some of the pies that I made in past months, but for tonight I thought I would just post this lovely photo of the Chicago style pie that we enjoyed. The recipe has not changed much, but this time I doubled the recipe. When I did that, I doubled the yeast amount as well. I think that was a bad idea as the dough really seemed to rise more than normal overnight.

The other thing I tried was to press the dough into the pan a bit more to make the crust thin. I tried for about 1/4 inch throughout. I pressed it in and trimmed the edge that hung over the pan sides. I topped her with sliced mozz, sliced provy, pepperoni, Neapolitan sauce and mushrooms on my side. The pizza baked for about 22 minutes at 450 degrees. This photo was taken just before cutting it. Yum.

Hmm, I wonder how long it would take to bake 8 pizzas in my oven…

 

  

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

It was a good day for another tray pizza experiment. Today I wanted to see how it would effect the flavor and texture to allow the pizza to rise in the tray for an hour rather than just 30 or 40 minutes as I had done in other trials. My hope was that more voids would form and that the crust would get taller and lighter.

After mixing, rising once and then spreading it into the tray, I sprayed the top of it with olive oil to ensure that it wouldn’t dry out. Then I placed the whole tray in the oven at about 100 degrees for one hour. The dough rose, but I shouldn’t say there was a noticeable difference from other times. After topping and baking the pizza, there seemed to be even less of a difference. I suppose if I am going to get more lift out of this dough I will have to modify the ingredients. Sounds like a project for another pizza day.

We’ll keep this recipe in the experimental list for now.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

I had some friends over for pizza tonight and decided that it had been a while since we’d done the ol’ buffalo chicken pizza. After stretching a ball of Bill’s Traditional dough, I broke out the Texas Pete’s hot sauce and grilled some chicken so we could toss one. I was out of red onions, so I substituted bits of cooked bacon, naturally.

The flavor of the bacon went very well with the buffalo chicken. Everyone enjoyed the flavor and said it had just the right amount of kick. I’d forgotten how much I like this recipe. I’ll have to make more of these bison cockerel, er, buffalo chicken pies.

Here are the pics …

View the Buffalo Chicken Pizza Recipe …

Good thing I also made a pepperoni pie for the kids – no one went hungry.

 

  

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

Read about my flour counter …

  

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

My parents were visiting this weekend so I decided to give the tray pizza another shot. This time I applied a bit more patience to the process and increased the rise time of both rise periods. I allowed the dough to rise for 25 minutes in the bread machine and 30 minutes in the tray. I also used more oil in the tray (it completely covered the bottom with some thickness) and left it in the oven for a full 20 minutes at 450 degrees. Lastly, I used a mixture of mozzarella cheese and white cheddar cheese based on a recipe I found online. All of these things made a huge improvement in the taste of this pizza!

The crust bottom was much more browned and had great flavor. All of the oil was soaked into the very bottom edge (similar to Pizza Hut pan pizza). The blended cheese went very well with the flavor of the crust as well. There were 6 adults and 2 kids eating this pie and everyone loved it. I will continue to play with this recipe, but I think it’s come a long, long way. Here are the pics…

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

I know that serving a pizza only 3 times really doesn’t seem like enough to call a pizza done, but the Garlic Chicken and Alfredo Spinach pizza has arrived. I served it again for some more people tonight and it was a huge hit. The main adjustment I made this time was to reduce the amount of spinach Alfredo sauce that I used for the base. This made the base much less heavy and made the slice easier to hold and eat.

After round three with this pizza I think it’s time to move it out of the experimental list. Here is the final recipe:

Spinach Alfredo base:
1-1/2 cups light cream
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
1 tsp Oregano
2-3 oz Fresh Leaf Spinach, chopped

The cream is heated to boiling then turned down to a simmer while the other ingredients are mixed in. Remove the mixture from the heat when it begins to thicken.

Lightly coat 2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into slivers, with flour and fry it lightly in Olive Oil and about 2 cloves of minced garlic.

Spread a thin layer of Alfredo spinach sauce onto the base and top with thinly sliced tomatoes, garlic chicken and mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes at 475 degrees.

PS, we also made a nice sized pepperoni and mushroom pizza for the kids which turned out to be quite tasty.

I built the pizza on Bill’s Traditional dough that was aged to 24 hours. While the dough bench rested, I prepped the alfredo sauce in a large sauce pot and the garlic chicken in a frying pan of olive oil. After things had been cooked down a bit, I added the chopped spinach to the sauce and stirred it in. The resulting mixture was spread onto the pizza blank as the base.

Next, I laid out sliced tomatoes and dropped chicken chunks down covered by a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. The pizza was baked for 10 minutes at about 475 degrees.

Everyone loved the taste of the pizza. The only negative comment was my own. I think there is just too much sauce on the base which causes the pizza to have a heavy taste and makes people need forks to eat it. Though, the upside is that two slices fills the stomach of the average sized adult. In all I think this pie needs only minor tweaking in order to make it to the recipe list. More to come…

 

  

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

I vowed at the end of my last Pittsburgh Square Pizza Tour that I would attempt to discover the formula for these types of tray pizzas. After doing some research, I took my first shot. The result was very encouraging, but more work is needed.

The key to this pizza seems to be lots of yeast, a warm dough temperature and two nice long rise periods. Here’s the recipe:

2 Packets of IDY dissolved into
1 cup hot water
allow yeast to activate and double in volume

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups high gluten flour

The dough mixed in my bread machine for 10 minutes until smooth and I allowed it to have it’s first rise in the machine for 20 minutes. Fill the bottom of a cookie sheet with olive oil, enough to eventually deep fry the crust. Wipe some on the sides of the tray as well. Next, remove the dough and loosely form it into the shape the cookie sheet. I found it helpful to stretch it on the counter then place it into the tray. It should almost touch the edges. Lightly spray the top of the dough with oil to avoid letting it dry out.

Next, I allowed it to rise a second time for about 15 minutes in a warm dark place. I typically turn my oven on the lowest setting while the dough mixes then turn it off when I place the dough in for a rise period. It should be around 100 degrees and moist.

Once the dough rises to fill the tray, it can be topped. I used Neapolitan sauce and placed pepperoni on half on the sheet pie. The pie baked for 15 minutes at 450 degrees and turned golden brown. The bottom gets nice and crisp while the rest of the slice has a nice soft bite.

This pizza was not bad at all for the first attempt. I should have let it rise for much longer the second time, and also should have baked it longer. These changes should make a huge difference in the overall flavor. I was very encouraged by the texture and taste of the pizza. It’s not very comparable to the ones I had in Pittsburgh, but it’s definitely on the right track! Stay tuned as I work this one out.

UPDATE: Extending the rise time and a longer bake made this pizza turn out much better. Read more about tray pizza round two.

Nothing says love like a classic calzone and some Neapolitan sauce…

 

  

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

  

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

In the something-besides-pepperoni category is this great example of a well rounded meal on a pizza that is my latest experiment – the Spinach Alfredo Garlic Chicken pizza. The base is a garlic alfredo sauce containing fresh leaf spinach. On top we have roasted garlic chicken, sliced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Here’s how it was done:

Spinach Alfredo base:
1-1/2 light cream
2 Tbl butter
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
1 tsp Oregano
2-3 oz Fresh Leaf Spinach, chopped

The cream is heated to boiling then turned down to a simmer while the other ingredients are mixed in. Remove the mixture from the heat when it begins to thicken.

Meanwhile, I lightly coated 2 boneless chicken breasts with flour and fried it lightly in Olive Oil and about 2 cloves of minced garlic. The spinach alfredo sauce was spread onto a 16 inch blank of 24 hour Bill’s Traditional dough. Next, the chicken, tomatoes and cheese were added.

The pizza baked for about 12 minutes at 480 degrees. When it cooled, I served it to some hungry folks. Each slice sagged with toppings and tasted ridiculously good. In fact, I could only eat one and a half slices before feeling full (this is not normal for me at all). This pizza was a huge hit with my guests and my wife. I can’t wait to try it again. I need to figure out a way to keep the crust from sagging, but this is an otherwise immediate touchdown!

Here are some pics…

  

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©2004 pizzamaniac.com

I got a reader note asking me to settle the difference between a Calzone and a Stromboli. An important question like this requires proper treatment and as such I am still doing my research. However, I’m pretty sure that I can create a whole new foldy-pizza-roll-thing by combining my stromboli recipe with some ricotta cheese.

So, I’d like everyone to hail my original Stromzone! This baby involved ham, pepperoni, sausage, mozzarella, parmesan, ricotta and, of course, a dash of mustard. Everything was rolled up neatly and baked for 25 minutes at 425 degrees. After baking, we devoured it without a hitch. I dipped mine in some home made Neapolitan sauce.

The taste was outstanding! I may be including ricotta cheese on many more of my Stromzones. At least until I figure out what a strombolis or calzones really are!

Stay tuned…

  

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I got hungry for a steak sandwich tonight. Not just the kind that you buy here in central Pennsylvania, but the kind I used to eat when I worked at Pizza Outlet in Pittsburgh. These steak hoagies used slab steak for the base – the ones that look like “steak-umm”. My favorite one would be stacked tall with mushrooms, onions, green peppers, mozzarella cheese, lettuce and loads of Hellman’s mayo. To take me back I had to whip up a batch of my hoagie rolls.

While the rolls cooled, I heated the slab steak and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Once cooked, I placed them on the roll with the veggies and cheese and broiled them until the mozzarella melted and browned. Next, I added the cold toppings and served.

The taste was pretty close to the ones I used to eat while on pizza delivery runs. This sandwich is delicious and quick so there’s no doubt I’ll be doing this again soon. It’s no Philly Steak, but it is a very different and tasty steak sandwich experience.

View the Hoagie Roll Recipe used here…

  

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I’ve been tossing around the idea lately for a peanut butter and jelly pizza for my kids. I know that this is not an original idea, but it would be a first for anyone in our family. Having a small amount of left over dough, and seeing that the kids had already eaten a healthy dinner, I decided that the time was right to give it a shot.

The pizza was quite simple – I spread the peanut butter on the dough and baked it. Then, I spread some black raspberry jelly onto the now melted peanut butter base. It still looked uninteresting so I made some drizzle topping from confectioners sugar and water. Having drizzled this onto the pizza, I served it up.

The kids and I thought it was one ugly looking pie, but after one bite they were asking for a second slice! I tasted it and I have to admit that it was quite tasty. It almost tastes like hot peanut butter and jelly toast.

I’m sure this pizza would be a successful dessert pizza if I could only find a way to make it look nicer. Until then this gets the ol’ experimental tag…

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

Tonight I was the hungry one of the group so I got to claim half of this pizza by piling on large quantities of thinly sliced mushrooms! They are my favorite non-meat topping, after all. My wife got her own quarter topped with lightly sauteed green peppers and the kids got their four slices of plain cheese. Everyone was happy.

The dough was a 24 hour batch of boli dough and the sauce was made from CENTO tomatoes and the ingredients for my Neapolitan sauce. Good stuff!

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

There has been a few questions about what the recipe for my hoagie rolls is so I’ve decided to post the recipe in a more clear manner. This is a scaled down version of a recipe that I got from the PMQ Recipe Bank. Here are the ingredients and the process:

1-1/8 cup water (about 70 degrees F)
1-5/8 tsp Salt
3-3/8 tsp Sugar
1-2/3 Tbl Olive Oil
16 oz Strong Bread Flour or Hi-Gluten Flour
2-1/2 tsp Yeast

Mix the ingredients until smooth and well-blended. Scale the dough into 3.5 oz balls. I usually get about 7 balls from a batch this size. Allow them to rest for 20-30 minutes then roll them into a thin sheet about 1/4 inch thick. Roll each sheet (jelly roll fashion) to form long slender loaves. Place loaves onto a baking sheet with the seam side down. Keep them 2 inches apart so they do not touch during the next rise.

Place the tray of formed loaves in a warm oven (ideal is 100 degrees with 75% humidity). I usually place a bowl of water in the lower oven to keep things humid. Allow the loaves to rise for 45 to 60 minutes.

Once risen, use a razor to make a 1/4 inch deep slit on the top of the loaves and mist them lightly with water. Bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees or until they turn brown.

Remove them from the oven and cool them on wire screens or racks. The rolls last only a day or two before becoming stale. They are great for Italian hoagies or Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches.

Enjoy!

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

I promised my friend (and summer intern) a night of all the free pizza he could eat. Eric wasn’t picky about toppings, so I tossed a large pepperoni, sausage and mushroom pie and got the toppings together for a cinnamon peach dessert pie. We baked them up and dug right in.

Eric showed that he has pizza skills by eating lots of slices. Then, I served the dessert pie and we ate it just about entirely. As you can see by the pictures, he was one happy pizza ninja. You’re welcome for pizza anytime Eric!

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

It’s official – my white pizza recipe has passed the deliciousness test and can be moved to the recipe list from the experimental list. We tweaked it a bit tonight, added some ricotta cheese clumps and BAM! The pictures make my mouth water just thinking about it.

Here are the instructions for the (modified) white garlic sauce base:

2 cup whole milk
2 T cornstarch
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
2 T Parmesan cheese, finely grated

The ingredients were mixed in a medium sauce pan and brought to a boil. Once they had boiled for 2 minutes, I allowed them to simmer on medium heat until the sauce began to thicken.

I coated the blank with a light coat of olive oil then spread the white sauce onto it, thickly. Next, I topped it with thinly sliced tomatoes, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, several clumps of fresh ricotta cheese and a sprinkle of oregano. Bake for 9 minutes at 450 degrees.

If you’re looking for even more garlic, consider lightly brushing the crust rim with olive oil and sprinkling on some garlic salt.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

As mentioned in an earlier post – I’ve been pre-cooking Italian sausage and freezing it. Even though I froze almost a pound of sausage, my supply has come to an end today. The last bag of sausage found it’s way onto a large pepperoni and sausage pie topped for the first time with an Italian blend of cheese that I found at the market.

The pizza was tasty, but I think the cheese is better used in some other Italian dish. It melted poorly and had a watered down taste. I have yet to find the perfect pizza cheese locally. More to come on that.

The pizza baked for about 9 minutes and looked very good coming out. The boli dough crust was strong enough to hold the toppings but not too thick. I enjoyed the pork topping which is a good thing since I bought enough to make many, many more pizzas.

View the Pizza Sauce Recipe used here…
View the Pizza Dough Recipe used here…

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

With the small amount of dough left from my last double batch of boli dough (I’ve been making two 22 ounce balls and one 13 ounce ball from a double batch) I thought it might be an opportunity to hone my daughter’s pizza skills. Both of them got a 6 ounce ball to toss, top and bake for themselves!

They both chose pepperoni for their topping since bubble gum was not an option. Each girl successfully tossed and caught their dough blank (with a little help from dad) and spread on their own sauce. After topping them, they helped me slide them off of the peel and into the oven. A few minutes later, they held their pies proudly for a photo.

We had already eaten dinner, so the girls decided to deliver their pizzas to our neighbors. I hear they enjoyed them very much. Way to go girls! As soon as I can convince your mom, you’ll be tossing dough in your own pizza joint. I know I can’t wait.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

A double batch of boli dough and a package of great sweet Italian sausage from the local market came together tonight for a delicious pizza feast. I purchased the Italian sausage in a link and balled it by hand. Next I fried it and let it cool. Incidentally, this stuff can be cooked and frozen in bags for later use. I put almost a pound of it away for another day since prepping it makes a mess of my stove.

Once the blank was stretched onto my pizza screen, I topped it with Neapolitan sauce, pepperoni, sausage and mozzarella cheese. After 8 minutes of baking at 485 degrees she was ready to eat. The sausage was full of flavor and set off the pizza very well. Here are the pics…

The result was outstanding despite the rather thin outer layer.

View the Stromboli Recipe used here…

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

 

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

Now and then I get a hankering for Chicago Style pizza! Besides, I’ve run out of high gluten flour again and my favorite Chicago recipe calls for all purpose flour.

This pie was pretty straight forward having the normal layers of sliced mozzarella and provolone then pepperoni and mushrooms (first time for shrooms on this style of pizza) then Neapolitan sauce. After baking for about 15 minutes at 450 the pizza had browned beautifully. I must have pressed more dough out to the edge this time as there was a pretty large amount of crust sticking out of the pan. It gave the pizza a nice appearance and I liked the thickness of the slices that resulted.

The mushrooms were a nice touch for sure. I’ll have to try them again very soon. Overall it was a great night for pizza.

edit: I walked a slice over to my next door neighbor and he told me today that the pizza was a bit too spicy for him. I noticed some kick, but I think it may have been the pepperoni. I’ll have to take him something milder next time. lol.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

What’s a guy to do when he buys all of the ingredients for a peach dessert pizza except for the peaches?? What else, but improvise! Tearing the refrigerator apart, I came across what turned out to be a terrific substitute – a huge bowl of sliced strawberries that had been used for making strawberry shortcake.

I used the base from my Cinnamon Peach pizza recipe which consists of cream cheese, milk and marshmallow cream. Then, I topped it with the sliced strawberries which had been mixed with some confectioners sugar (forgive the lack of measurements – I was not expecting to make this pizza). Next, I sprinkled the pie with home made struesel and baked it for 13 minutes at 480 degrees.

Once it was out of the oven and had a minute to cool, I globbed some whipped cream onto the pizza and served it up to our guests! This pizza went over extremely well and almost looks patriotic. In fact, this pizza will be a wonderful summer recipe as soon as I can work out the problem of soggy crust. The moisture from the strawberries soaked through the cheese and made the whole thing very soggy. No one minded, but if the slice could stand on its own it would make for a much better experience. I’ll keep this baby around and try to squeeze off a more official version of this pizza in the very near future.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

The first time I made white pizza my wife did not get to try it. Since she loves white pizza, I promised I would make one for her tonight. I made this one just like the other so that she could taste it as it was. I was hoping she could tell me what she thought was missing.

While prepping the pizza, I realized that two of my tomatoes had gone bad! That meant we would barely have enough tomato slices to cover the pie. I decided to go forward with what we had and deal with a slightly silly looking white pizza.

I am happy to report that she enjoyed the pizza very much. Now I can get on with my experiments and try to give this recipe the little bit of pep it needs to be outstanding.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

I’ve been back to boli dough lately. Tonight I threw together the old standby – pepperoni pizza. This time, I used great pepperoni from the local meat market and some blended pizza cheese made by Kraft (labeled as pizza cheese, mozzarella and smoked provolone). This particular cheese and pepperoni combination went very well together. I’ll have to try the Kraft cheese on another pie soon.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

In the spirit of mixing things up a bit, I set out tonight to test a recipe I’d found for a white pizza. The pizza was built on a batch of 24 hour boli dough and topped with a garlic base, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Here are the instructions for the garlic base:

2 cup whole milk
2 T cornstarch
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
2 T Parmesan cheese, grated

The ingredients were mixed in a medium sauce pan and brought to a boil. Once they had boiled for 2 minutes, I allowed them to simmer on medium heat for a few more minutes. The sauce began to thicken.

I coated the blank with olive oil then spread this sauce onto it. Next, I topped it with thinly sliced tomatoes and about 2 cups of mozzarella cheese. After baking for 9 minutes at 450 degrees, my first white pizza was ready to eat.

My first reaction is very positive. The base sauce was delicious and the pie had great flavor. My only hesitation is that it seemed to need a bit more flavor or substance. Maybe next time I will add some ricotta cheese or spinach.

I’m very excited to have this pizza added to the menu – it was a real crowd pleaser and a welcome change from the normal red sauce pie. I will definitely be working on this pie again very soon. Until then, here are some pics…

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

Tonight was the big night for me while on vacation. I was to cook 6 pizzas for a house full of 12 adults and 6 children. I was excited to meet the challenge and had prepared 6 balls of dough – four boli dough balls and two cracker thin dough balls.

The beach house had a double oven which made my operation even more exciting. In fact, the bottle neck for my operation turned out to be screens which kept me from prepping more than 2 pizzas at a time. I was baking pizzas for a few minutes then removing the screen from the oven so I could continue. It was a juggling act to keep both ovens in use.

I made pizza for almost an hour straight (not to mention the enormous amount of time spent prepping dough, sauce and toppings the previous day). We served a pizza with the works, a mushroom and pepperoni, a bbq chicken pizza, a taco pizza, a pepperoni and a vegetable lovers. I had a blast and I think everyone else did too. Out of all the pizza I baked, there were only six slices remaining! I consider that successful. I can’t wait until next year’s pizza feast.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

We took our pizza gear on vacation with us again this year. In fact, I think making pizza on vacation is one of my favorite activities. Everyone who was there from the previous year began asking about pizza right away. Since my night to cook was Thursday, I decided to give them a preview by making Chicago style for lunch on Tuesday.

I found some good looking sausage at the local Food Lion but the selection of tomato products was disappointing to say the least. I ended up with a can of Furmano’s peeled tomatoes for the base of my sauce.

The flavor of the sauce was not right when I combined my normal amounts of seasonings due mostly to the tomatoes. I did a lot of tweaking to get a flavor that I though was acceptable. This concerned me since sauce is extra important for Chicago pies.

I put together the first pizza and topped it with mozzarella, provolone, pepperoni and sausage. I had to bake one pie at a time because I only have one deep pan. After it came out, I put it on another serving plate and started the second pie.

Within minutes after baking (each pie took over 20 minutes at 450 degrees) there was not a slice to found! There were 12 adults and several children who all seemed to enjoy it very much. In fact, I barely had a chance to take a picture for the site. I was excited and looking forward to Thursday even more.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

Lately I’ve been making double batches of boli dough and making three dough balls from it – two 22 oz balls and a smaller 13 oz ball from the left over dough. Today for lunch we planned to make a small pie for the family from the 13 oz ball. However, we got two unexpected visitors and invited them to stay for pizza. This created an interesting situation.

I decided to stretch the little dough ball into a full 16 inch pie! She was extra thin, but there were no tears or holes so I topped it with the last of a bag of cheese and a leftover handful of pepperoni and mushrooms. Our guests were delighted and I fed 6 people. Here are some pics…

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

I’ve not been quite happy with the brands of pepperoni that are available at any of our local grocery outlets. In search of an alternative, I headed to one of the stores nearby that is known for it’s meat. In the Karn’s deli, I found their home brew pepperoni and decided to give it a shot. Then, I grabbed some of their sweet Italian sausage.

At home I cooked up the sausage and stretched the 22 oz. ball of Boli Dough onto a 16 inch screen. I topped it with Neapolitan sauce, pepperoni, onions, green peppers, mushrooms and sausage. After baking it slightly longer than normal, it had a beautiful brown crust and looked ready to eat.

The pie tasted very good. All of the toppings were noticeably more flavorful. The sausage is my favorite to date. The pepperoni was tasty – probably better than I’ve had, but I’m still searching for that special brand that will set my pizza apart. Any suggestions are welcome!

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

Tonight I thought I would revisit an old recipe – my original thick crust pan pizza dough. In the past, I had used this dough, baked in a cookie sheet, to make pizza in short notice. As that situation arose, I decided to give it a shot once more. This time, I decided to bake the pizza in the 17 inch round deep pan I use for Chicago pies.

The dough was mixed as before and came out with the familiar wet feel that the others had. I was able to get the pizza dough into the pan and shape it to roughly the size of the pan. For a bit of a change, I decided to make this pizza into a barbecue chicken pizza using bbq sauce, chicken, red onions and cheese.

The pie was baked for 10 minutes and came out brown and even. The crust cooked to a nice thickness and with decent texture. I must say, however, that this dough just isn’t in the same league as the other styles have been. It seemed to lack flavor and crispness.

I will continue to search for modifications that will make this pizza dough more tasty. In the meantime, here are some pics…

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

One small ball of boli dough was left in the refrigerator which was begging to be stretched. We decided it was best to make a cinnamon peach dessert pizza with it since it was too small to be a meal. I began topping the pizza when I realized that we were out of butter. This meant that making streusel was impossible. Searching the cupboards, I came across some graham crackers and decided that they might do for the crunchy topping of the pie.

The crackers did not look very appetizing before the pizza went into the oven. They looked worse when it came out. The flavor of the pizza was nothing like the normal recipe and I won’t be doing the graham cracker thing again to be sure. I should have went next door for butter.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

Tonight we were in the mood for some vegetables so we chopped some fresh green peppers and onions to add to the top of our pizza. The base was 24 hour boli dough stretched onto a 16 inch pizza screen. Toppings were added and the pie was baked for 9 minutes at 480 degrees.

The pizza turned out quite well with a great crust and wonderful flavor. The voids in the crust rim were worth noting as they seemed large and airy. In all this was a good night for pizza. Then again, when is it not a good time for pizza?

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

Nothing special with today’s pizza – we were hungry so I rushed the dough and baked it as a young batch. Topped with pepperoni and cheese, it hit the spot.

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

  

©2004 pizzamaniac.com

The last few times I made Chicago Style pizza, I had attempted to use straight tomatoes on the top and simply sprinkle the seasonings over the sauce. The result has been good, but the flavor of the seasonings just wasn’t coming through the way I wanted it to. This time, I decided to use my Neapolitan sauce on the Chicago pizza so that the seasonings would be mixed through the sauce.

The pie was topped with sliced mozzarella, provolone, pepperoni, sweet Italian sausage, Neapolitan sauce, then parmesan cheese. I baked the pie for 20 minutes or so at 450 degrees. The result was fantastic! This was by far the best pie to date. I’ll be doing this with my sauce from now on.

Here is the recipe for this Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza:
3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Water
1/2 cup Yellow Cornmeal
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast (ADY)

It is based on a recipe by DKM at pizzamaking.com

They made a pepperoni and black olive pizza and I made a pepperoni and mushroom pie for my wife and I. Both pizzas came out very well and the 24 hour boli dough had great texture. The girls got great enjoyment from this project and loved eating their pie without dad’s help! We will definitely be doing this again soon.

 

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com

  

©2004 goCrawford.com